Why homework packets only on Mondays

and not Fridays? Apparently, this is a very common practice. They do it at
DS's school. The teacher was sending DS homework on Fridays until he could
get with the program, but is there any reason not to give a kid more time to
do it, more flexibility to build in extracurricular activities? It's not
that the teacher doesn't have it together by Fridays. In fact, DS's teacher
had everything ready by Thursday, but she just doesn't hand it out until
Mondays, because that's how the school does it. Is there a reason behind
that? I plan to work around that by buying the workbooks and having DS do
some of the work through the weekends (it looks like the pages assigned are
pretty predictable) so that he is not overwhelmed on the weekdays,
especially if I have to work or we have an activity that day. It just
stumps me why they do this, though.

I've heard one of the reasons is they want the children to have some free
time, but I think the parents should know if the kids would do better with
the homework spread out over 7 days versus 4, don't you think? Then the
parents can alot the homework as necessary, or the children can do it if
they are old enough. Personally, we like having 7 days to do the work. The
days are much less stressful.

"toypup" wrote in message
. net...
and not Fridays? Apparently, this is a very common practice. They do it
at
DS's school. The teacher was sending DS homework on Fridays until he
could
get with the program, but is there any reason not to give a kid more time
to
do it, more flexibility to build in extracurricular activities? It's not
that the teacher doesn't have it together by Fridays. In fact, DS's
teacher
had everything ready by Thursday, but she just doesn't hand it out until
Mondays, because that's how the school does it. Is there a reason behind
that? I plan to work around that by buying the workbooks and having DS do
some of the work through the weekends (it looks like the pages assigned
are
pretty predictable) so that he is not overwhelmed on the weekdays,
especially if I have to work or we have an activity that day. It just
stumps me why they do this, though.

I've heard one of the reasons is they want the children to have some free
time, but I think the parents should know if the kids would do better with
the homework spread out over 7 days versus 4, don't you think? Then the
parents can alot the homework as necessary, or the children can do it if
they are old enough. Personally, we like having 7 days to do the work.
The
days are much less stressful.

Some schools, and some entire districts, have policies that prohibit
homework assigned over the weekend for children in elementary school. They
feel it is too much, and kids should have the weekend off. And most
teachers like having the weekend to tweak their homework for the next week,
as by then they know exactly what they finished. I suspect if they moved
the homework to be handed out to everyone on Fridays they would find more
homework creeping in, as now the kids have 7 days to finish it.

In article , Cathy Kearns
says...


"toypup" wrote in message
.net...
and not Fridays? Apparently, this is a very common practice. They do it
at
DS's school. The teacher was sending DS homework on Fridays until he
could
get with the program, but is there any reason not to give a kid more time
to
do it, more flexibility to build in extracurricular activities? It's not
that the teacher doesn't have it together by Fridays. In fact, DS's
teacher
had everything ready by Thursday, but she just doesn't hand it out until
Mondays, because that's how the school does it. Is there a reason behind
that? I plan to work around that by buying the workbooks and having DS do
some of the work through the weekends (it looks like the pages assigned
are
pretty predictable) so that he is not overwhelmed on the weekdays,
especially if I have to work or we have an activity that day. It just
stumps me why they do this, though.

I've heard one of the reasons is they want the children to have some free
time, but I think the parents should know if the kids would do better with
the homework spread out over 7 days versus 4, don't you think? Then the
parents can alot the homework as necessary, or the children can do it if
they are old enough. Personally, we like having 7 days to do the work.
The
days are much less stressful.

Some schools, and some entire districts, have policies that prohibit
homework assigned over the weekend for children in elementary school. They
feel it is too much, and kids should have the weekend off. And most
teachers like having the weekend to tweak their homework for the next week,
as by then they know exactly what they finished. I suspect if they moved
the homework to be handed out to everyone on Fridays they would find more
homework creeping in, as now the kids have 7 days to finish it.



Ah yes this is the Weekends Are Sacred thing. Thou Dasn't Sully Family
Weekends, Thou Shouldst Cram Monday Through Thursday Intead.

Right - it doesn't work well for many families.

Can you get the teacher to give you a packet early? My son did have a third
grade teacher who would have this option, and it made it a lot easlier on us a a
family.

Banty

"Cathy Kearns" wrote in message
. com...
Some schools, and some entire districts, have policies that prohibit
homework assigned over the weekend for children in elementary school.
They
feel it is too much, and kids should have the weekend off. And most
teachers like having the weekend to tweak their homework for the next
week,
as by then they know exactly what they finished. I suspect if they moved
the homework to be handed out to everyone on Fridays they would find more
homework creeping in, as now the kids have 7 days to finish it.

Ahh, maybe that's why they do it like that here. I suppose I'll just do
what I was planning to do with DS, then. I'd rather do 4 days of homework
over 7 days with DS, but I can see where homework creeping can happen where
he would get 7 days of homework to do over 7 days. There's enough pressure
for that around here.

"Banty" wrote in message
...
In article , Cathy
Kearns

Ah yes this is the Weekends Are Sacred thing. Thou Dasn't Sully Family
Weekends, Thou Shouldst Cram Monday Through Thursday Intead.

LOL. So very true.


Right - it doesn't work well for many families.

Can you get the teacher to give you a packet early? My son did have a
third
grade teacher who would have this option, and it made it a lot easlier on
us a a
family.

I did and she did, but she said she could only do it until DS could
transition to the regular schedule. She said it haltingly, like she knew
she shouldn't be doing it but she will. He is doing fine in class now and
even requesting to do enrichment homework. Watching the other kids struggle
in class, I just couldn't bring myself to continue asking for it early. I
think what Cathy said about the policy may be correct, because they all seem
to do it that way here. I just wanted to find out why. I am waiting for my
books to arrive so we can start doing the work over the weekends again. I
like to go at a relaxing pace. Makes family life go by smoother.

toypup wrote:
and not Fridays?

Well, there's a lot of variation. Many
schools *do* send home the packet on Fridays. Others
(like ours) don't send home packets at all. They just
assign things on a day-by-day basis.
Those that don't give you the weekend probably
have some policy about not assigning routine homework
on weekends. This is, as you say, somewhat shortsighted,
in that depending on the child's schedule, some kids would
rather spread the homework out and do some of it on the
weekend. On the other hand, I wouldn't bet the farm that
if they went to a Friday-to-Friday scenario, the homework
wouldn't increase in volume over time ;-)

Best wishes,
Ericka

Most parents seem to feel that if it's sent on a weekend, it needs to be
done on a weekend, so when my school tried sending packets home the previous
Friday, there were a lot more complaints than sending them on Monday, even
though there was no requirement that the work be turned in until the
following Friday.

In addition, since homework needs to follow what the children really have
learned, by sending them on MOnday, the teacher has more time to grade work
from the last week and pull appropriate materials, especially if there is
any effort whatsoever made at individualizing homework to match a student's
needs.


--
Donna DeVore Metler
Orff Music Specialist/Kindermusik
Mother to Angel Brian Anthony 1/1/2002, 22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP
And Allison Joy, 11/25/04 (35 weeks, PIH, Pre-term labor)

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
...
In addition, since homework needs to follow what the children really have
learned, by sending them on MOnday, the teacher has more time to grade
work
from the last week and pull appropriate materials, especially if there is
any effort whatsoever made at individualizing homework to match a
student's
needs.

All the homework is the same for each grade level at DS's school. The
teacher has no control and no ability to individualize except to assign
extra homework to struggling students.

In 2nd grade, we had homework handed out on Monday for activities for
spelling words, but it was no where near as complicated as you are
experiencing. It was a tic-tace-toe sheet and the kids had to pick three
assignments each week that were in a row and complete by Friday for their
spelling test on Friday. Wednesday's were a math sheet and that was all
there was for homework. None of it took large amounts of time and the girls
found it fun and easy. They hand homework out on Monday to give them all
week to complete it. If your child is not able to complete it in the time
frame, then it is either too hard or too much and that is something you will
have to address. I have not had nearly the problems with homework as many on
this board seem to have. DD3 hates to do homework, but what she gets doesn't
take any time at all and she complains about it longer than it does to do
it. We have been very lucky in our school district.
--
Sue (mom to three girls)

"toypup" wrote in message
. net...
and not Fridays? Apparently, this is a very common practice. They do it
at
DS's school. The teacher was sending DS homework on Fridays until he
could
get with the program, but is there any reason not to give a kid more time
to
do it, more flexibility to build in extracurricular activities? It's not
that the teacher doesn't have it together by Fridays. In fact, DS's
teacher
had everything ready by Thursday, but she just doesn't hand it out until
Mondays, because that's how the school does it. Is there a reason behind
that? I plan to work around that by buying the workbooks and having DS do
some of the work through the weekends (it looks like the pages assigned
are
pretty predictable) so that he is not overwhelmed on the weekdays,
especially if I have to work or we have an activity that day. It just
stumps me why they do this, though.

I've heard one of the reasons is they want the children to have some free
time, but I think the parents should know if the kids would do better with
the homework spread out over 7 days versus 4, don't you think? Then the
parents can alot the homework as necessary, or the children can do it if
they are old enough. Personally, we like having 7 days to do the work.
The
days are much less stressful.

"toypup" wrote in message
. net...


All the homework is the same for each grade level at DS's school. The
teacher has no control and no ability to individualize except to assign
extra homework to struggling students.

Wow. IMO, that is a horrible, useless and lazy policy. As a third grade
teacher, the homework I assigned matched what we were doing in class each
day for practice and reinforcement. Sounds like they are giving homework
just to give it. I can hear the frustration in your posts. Good luck.

JennP.