CrossRoads Farm

Parental Involvement

11 May, 2005 - 8:09 am

Two weeks ago I got a note from K’s teachers imforming me that due to the improving weather and the onset of baseball season the homework load was going to be slashed. Spelling sentences and the Poem of the week would be done at school. Math homework would come home two days a week and there would be a reading comprehension sheet due on Fridays and that was pretty much it.

It would be fair to say that I was furious.

K had finally gotten the concept of time management and homework was becoming less of a battle. Naturally I was angry at the teachers. My impression was that the teachers just didn’t feel like correcting homework for the rest of the year. I was wrong.

As it turns out this less homework initiative came from the parents. They simply stopped sending it. Baseball is apparently more important. I was astounded.
Last night I dragged myself to the parent teacher meeting that was scheduled. It was gorgeous outside. About 75 degrees, sunny, beautiful. I wanted to spend the evening on the porch with D. But I had been asking for this meeting for months. I had to go. Out of the 41 students in the 3-4 grades team there were only 8 parents there. Three of those were parents of second graders who would be joining the 3-4 grade classes next year. I was the sole representative of the what-happened-to-the-homework camp. The woman sitting across from me feels that there shouldn’t be any homework – ever. She feels that academics should be handled solely at school so that home time is for other types of enrichment – dance classes, sports, etc.

When I got home I asked K about the homework situation. She was adamant. Spelling sentences should be done at home. She said that the reading group she is in does their sentences in the school library and they aren’t allowed to talk at all. So if she needs help with a definition or the spelling of another word in the sentence she is stuck. I suggested she take her dictionary with her. She tracked it down and put it in her backpack. When I tucked her in she asked me if I thought her teacher would let her bring her sentences home to do. I told her I would ask her today when I go in to pick up H.

D told me that as soon as I left K had discussed the spelling sentences with him. She told D that the boy who sits next to her feels the same way. This boy told K that handling baseball and homework was no big deal. Baseball is only a couple of nights a week – “I have the whole week to do the homework.”

The parents don’t want homework – the kids do… Anybody out there find that weird??

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