no interest<\/strong> in.<\/p>\nThey have had to pull out and practice everything they know about discipline, good manners, concentrating, staying on task, listening, speaking and knowing when not to speak, walking in a straight line, putting their heads down and work work work.<\/p>\n
If they are lucky and finish all their work and make good choices they will have two blocks of up to 40 minutes each to go and play outside. This is after they sit down for 15 minutes to eat.<\/p>\n
They have so much to learn and do during the day that by the end of it their little brains are fried and they are exhausted.<\/strong><\/p>\nImagine you coming home after a restrictive full day at prison<\/del> work, to only come home to more of the same work.<\/strong><\/p>\nYou wouldn’t cope. You’d be unmotivated, frustrated, and have a severely limited ability to think<\/strong>.<\/p>\nNot only that you’d be pissed because all you want to do is go outside and run off some steam with your mates; play with those you love, your barbies, your toys; practice the guitar that you are so passionate about<\/strong> and talented at<\/strong>; or go to Little Athletics because you have a dream<\/strong> to be the fastest runner in all of Australia.<\/p>\nBut you can’t do that because the next day at school your teacher will have her stern face on and her finger waggling because you put your dreams before work. Work you’d done already at school, that you didn’t care about then or now.<\/p>\n
And to be honest the teacher doesn’t care either she is just wiggling that finger because she has been told to, just like all the other teachers that came before her when the ancient teaching system<\/strong> began and has remained frozen since.<\/p>\nDo you get much out of you at the end of a long day, especially when you’ve just come from a job you hate?<\/strong><\/p>\nAnd adults are older and better equipped to cope. (I know it’s called wine)<\/p>\n
Let’s face it most kids don’t like school. We have to be honest here; you are not going to get much out of a tired and frustrated child.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Drain on Family Time<\/h2>\n You see your child for an hour maybe before school and then when they return home?<\/p>\n
Well that all depends on your work schedule<\/strong> and their extra-curricular schedule<\/strong>, but it couldn’t be much more than a couple of hours. And in that time there is showering to be done, cleaning and cooking. Doesn\u2019t leave much time for family time.<\/p>\nThat little bit of time you have left is gifted to homework<\/strong>. <\/strong><\/p>\nBattles ensue<\/strong> and you’re all left frustrated and annoyed that you can’t just have quality time after a long day.<\/p>\nYou remember how much you hated homework<\/strong> and how pointless you thought it was. You’re left battling to keep this quiet so your children learn to follow the rules and do what ever they have to do to get a good education.<\/p>\n<\/strong>We are giving away precious time with our babies for homework. Something that comes at the end of the day when they are tired, overworked, unmotivated and are struggling to connect with relevance<\/strong>– probably the number one thing that helps us to learn.<\/p>\nBeing relevant.<\/strong><\/p>\nThe New Homework Project<\/h2>\n When do we give our brains and our lives time to breathe?<\/strong><\/p>\nI think that should be the homework<\/p>\n
“You have a new project for homework tonight and every night. It\u2019s called ‘Play, Follow your Dreams and Let yourself Breathe’<\/strong><\/p>\nFrom now on,\u00a0 you must spend every night talking with Mum and Dad<\/strong> about anything you like, playing with your toys, taking one step towards that dream of yours, and then sit in a quiet space on your own, close your eyes and breathe.<\/p>\nI’m not going to check in on you that you have done it, because I believe you will. ”<\/p>\n
But what about Practice and Study for a Good Education?<\/h2>\n Here we go, that research thing again.(Says a lot for school education doesn’t it that we have to do it after school because we didn’t get it right at school?)<\/p>\n
Children need to practice what they have learned during the day.<\/p>\n
Ahem, here comes that novel. Most of what they learn in school is totally irrelevant<\/strong> as to how to live a happy, balanced and fulfilled life<\/strong>. What I outlined in my homework project above does.<\/p>\nBut yes, there are some things that definitely need to be learned and practiced – like reading, writing and ‘rithmetic. You know them, the three R’s, except one starts with A (see it’s not just homework that is the problem with schools)<\/p>\n
And of course life skills.<\/strong> You know that stuff that goes on around you every day.<\/p>\nThe stuff your children need to be interacting and engaged with. Not a sheet of paper that has them writing out the definition of a conjunctive verb<\/strong>. (Thank Christ, you say, because you don\u2019t even know what that is. It sounds like a festering eye disease)<\/p>\nParents we do Need Your Help with Your Child\u2019s Education<\/h2>\n Yes parents, your children do need to be learning at home<\/strong>.<\/p>\nThis is a given and should be happening from the moment they are born. It is not something that is done from 9am-3pm Mon – Fri<\/strong> and then for 30 mins<\/strong> of an evening during argument<\/del> homework time.<\/strong><\/p>\nIt is an ongoing process.<\/p>\n
The best thing that you can ever do with your children to help them learn and get a good education is the following. Follow this and you shouldn’t ever have to worry about homework.<\/p>\n
1. Read with them every single night<\/strong> from the day they are born. Make it a special night-time ritual. Talk to them about the story, the picture, and the characters. What do they think will happen next? Get them to guess the final rhyming word in the sentence. Inspire in them a love of reading.<\/strong>\u00a0 You want them reading every single night until the day they are old and wrinkly and on their way to the next life.<\/p>\n2. Involve them in everyday activities with you that involve math<\/strong>. Randomly count things together, cook together and talk about volume and amounts, talk about length, speed, and all those maths things that happen constantly around you. These don’t have to necessarily be scheduled “work” activities, just random stuff that you talk about together.<\/p>\n3. Foster in them a love of learning and a curiosity of the world<\/strong>. We all know the constant why questions children have; they drive us nuts. Quit complaining about it and think about the alternative- a life of school homework- and answer those questions<\/strong>. Tell your child what a great question it is, “I like your thinking,” “how can we find the answer<\/em>“. They are going to be asking you questions about things they are interested in<\/strong> and so will want to learn the answers<\/strong>– ah now we are talking about a good school system!<\/strong><\/p>\n4. Don’t give your child the answers.<\/strong> Encourage them to think of the solutions<\/strong>. When they come up with a solution, tell them why you think it is a great one. Even if it is not, let them know how much you love the fact that they are thinking of a way to solve a problem and then give them some guidance as to how we could probably solve it in a better way together. Again this is just random off the cuff, life learning<\/strong>. No scheduled time, but you got to be doing it every day as it arises.<\/p>\n5. Encourage them to follow their dreams and live their passions.<\/strong> Do not make them miss their practice and their dream-following for homework (I did not say that!)\u00a0 Find a way to make it work. Encourage them every day to take that step forward<\/strong> and to believe and you walk the dream with them. That will give you the treasured family time<\/strong>.<\/p>\nChildren will forget the homework, but they will never forget how you inspired them to live their dreams and how you taught them to be thoughtful, inquisitive, intelligent, independent, and creative human beings.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nIt all comes down to just living and learning from life.<\/strong> Nothing will prepare them more for it.<\/p>\nI am a teacher yes.\u00a0 I know with the views that I have I probably shouldn’t be. I don’t plan on it for much longer and maybe now I won’t get anymore work \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
I don’t believe in the system, and I feel so ineffective<\/strong> within it. I feel that I do more damage than good.<\/strong><\/p>\nMaybe one day society may come to realize that evolution is a given.<\/strong> We can no longer run our schools like they were 50 years ago, because life doesn\u2019t run like that anymore.<\/p>\nKalyra starts school next year and I am a little scared, but at the same time, I know that I am doing my homework with her now<\/strong> so we don’t have to worry about it too much in the future.<\/p>\nLet’s hope that more schools have banned it by then.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I saw an ad for tonight’s current affairs special on Today Tonight. All about homework and the drain it is putting on family’s life, the raging debate over whether it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,500],"tags":[174,542,541],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Should Schools be Giving Homework?<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n