I had been a little nervous all school year because Kaylin has been completely in charge of her own homework. I have literally not looked at one paper or asked her about studying or ANYTHING. I told her I'd keep off her back, but when the first progress report came, if it wasn't good, things would change. Kaylin insisted she was getting everything done and promised to come to me if she didn't understand something. Progress reports were sent home yesterday. Four As and one B. Yes!
As I have stated approximately 12,000,000 times, I hate parental involvement in homework. I hate homework period, but stuff that requires parental involvement particularly burns me. I in no way feel it is the teacher and the public school system's lone job to educate my children. I take them to all kinds of educational places and am constantly teaching them everything from nature and animals to how to load and put away dishes from the dishwasher or the potential evils of credit cards. We apply math and reading to everyday life. Gene shows them how to build and fix things. Gene and I are involved with our children and care deeply about all aspects of their education.
However, don't force me to spend 30 minutes helping my son color a picture. My evening time is extremely limited and valuable. I have approximately 2 1/2 hours to make, serve and clean up from dinner, take showers, do laundry, deal with the pets, deal with correspondence from school and help with homework. I also have a very physical job that keeps me on my feet all day long and I mostly want to sit down and relax. I believe required parental involvement results in a whiny, crying kid who expects the parent to do everything for them. No. My kid needs to learn to read better. He needs to read and answer ALL of his own questions. He needs TIME to practice spelling and reading (I will certainly help with spelling.) When he spends 40 minutes on a gigantic word search that I end up half doing because it takes so long and is so frustrating, he has NO time for spelling and reading. Logan's teacher is probably the most regimented and organized teacher we've ever had. We get a homework list at the beginning of the week with all assignments listed. It is too much homework for a 2nd grader. And all of it requires at least some effort on my part. There is literally not enough time in the day. This is going to be a long year!
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I'm totally with you. Parental involvement means doing what you're doing already. You're creating a home environment which values learning and enriches your kids' intellects. Good enough! You very likely also have high expectations for your kids and the research shows that's the #1 most important kind of involvement for kids doing well in school.
When my children were in elementary school in the late 1980s and 90s, they had no homework at all, but were supposed to read at night. They're both thriving, well educated kids who went to good colleges. All the ridiculous pressure on kids and parents now is counterproductive.
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