I’m so thankful my girls do not get homework. At least not often. At their school children choose to bring work home if they need to get caught up or want to get ahead. They have weekly work plans. The children know what is expected of them all week, and they learn to manage their time at school to get everything accomplished. So when all goes well, there is no homework.
Which means our afternoons can be pretty simple. The routine is come home, put bags away, put lunches in sink and play. Just play! Go outside, read a book, call a neighborhood friend over, play a game with your sister. Simple play. I love that. And I truly believe that’s what childhood is all about.
Here’s a few snapshots of a simple afternoon, when there is no after school activities and NO HOMEWORK for my first and third grader. I’m so thankful of that!
On this day we started with picking a watermelon from our little garden and ate snack outside.
Then my youngest girl came to me and said, “MOM, I have THE BEST idea ever! Lets MAKE orange juice!” As if it had never been done before. My middle girl joined in, served us OJ and then they “mopped the floor.” It did help with the sticky mess. But as you can see by the last photo what I mean by “mop.”
Then came the matching game, followed by a few puzzles and Operation.
My oldest girl really needs down time after school, to unwind from the day’s happenings. She is wonderful at entertaining herself, reading books, or playing in her room with Legos. And playing with the simplest of things (even if she doesn’t like having her picture taken theses days).
I could rant on about why I don’t think kids need homework. But I’ll just sum it up with this…..
Recently this article ran in our local paper about heavy backpacks causing injuries in young children. I found this news absolutely absurd. If schools can’t teach what they need to teach between 8:00 -3:00, there is a problem with the system. Ironically right next to that story, was an education column titled School never actually stops, written by a parent whose children attend the same Montessori school as mine. Karyn Adam’s article does a fabulous job of explaining how life learning, beyond the hours of school and summer break, creates students who really love to learn.
The homework battle I hear about from so many parents is SO unnecessary. I think local writer Katie Allison Granju nailed that point over on Babble last month, in a piece called Homework: It’s What’s For Dinner.
Homework should not be for dinner. And the loom and doom of it should not dominate the precious after school time we have between 3:30 and bedtime. I’m a firm believer of that. Simple play is always the answer for a happy child. And sisters playing peaceful together while one girl reads a book day – always solidifies this belief for me.
I’m not saying all afternoons are perfect like this. Because they are not. And even on these peaceful days, there is a peppering of jabs, whines, and sister rivalry. But still, these simple after school days fill my heart with enough goodness to know we are doing the right thing. And in this tricky business of parenting, these moments are a beautiful thing.
As a former teacher, I shared the same philosophy. As Rebecca’s mother, she knows that. If my 8th grade English students didn’t finish what the majority of the students did in class, they had homework. On Fridays, it became a joke, “OK, now what is your homework for the weekend?” And the reply, “Spend time with family.” Did I teach in a private school? No. Did the parents like my ways? Yes. Did my students keep up? Top scores in the state all the time. I got out just in time when my first grandbaby was due. I could not do what my peers have had to switch to and take the independent creativity away from the students. Public school does not have to be what it has become, but since I know what they are doing for test scores, I am extremely blessed that my granddaughters in TN and CO do not have to attend traditional public schools in this age. Keep up the good works TN and CO families. These girls blow us away with how smart they are.
Knox County (at least Xander’s school) is finally getting the picture…all Xander has to bring home is one small, very short review sheet that shows us what he’s working on (think one math problem, one short sentence to write or analyze, one social studies trivia question – that’s it!). It helps us stay on the same page. 🙂
That’s good news Chrissy. I wish I heard the same from all parents.
Oh I dream to be able to send my children to a Montessori school! This would be heaven. I feel as if I would need to start saving now, it is so terribly expensive here. Delightful, dreamy afternoons 🙂