Here's an interesting take on homework by some education trainers:
http://www.mynewsletterbuilder.com/tools/view_newsletter.php ?newsletter_id=1409594543
Scroll down and check out the article on homework... I found the opening two paragraphs to be highly interesting:
The drive to assign more and more homework to children at younger ages is in full force in many schools. The desire to increase achievement and raise the test scores has fueled the increased homework phenomenon.
Ignoring the research which shows there is no evidence that any amount of homework improves the academic performance of elementary students and that there is only a moderate correlation between homework and achievement in middle school, the beat goes on. Assigning of homework continues to grow. In addition, research shows clearly that homework practices tend to be based on individual teachers' beliefs about homework rather than on research-based practices.
Seems to me to the questions they provide would be good ones to ask ourselves in examining the homework issues with our children - the answers would help provide a systematic approach for discussing the issues with the teachers.
Just food for thought.
For this to be a beginning 1st grade class, NT or not, it's too much for the student to decipher. I'd request to see what the learning objectives for the entire year are in order to get an idea of where he is expected to be, and where the students coming in where expected to begin - they've got to have them written down somewhere. Once you have that baseline established, I'd discuss it with the teacher. Once frustration and negativity about learning sets in, it's hard to get the student back on track.
I have a 2nd grader doing 3rd/4th grade work, and even she had a hard time understanding what was asked when I showed her your question.
First grade homework here is beyond belief, too. If the school is a "blue ribbon" school, then they slam the kids with academics really, really early so that by the time standardized testing is done, the school's scores look good.
Ridiculous. I wrote a note last week stating Cole was taking a week off of handing in his homework. TOo stressful on top of 3 hours of speech therapy and getting used to the new curriculum and teachers.
You aren't alone, my friend. This stinks!
Oh I feel your pain too. My ds had to do homework last night for the first time and it turned in to a battle of wills. All he had to do was write his name but he refused and wanted to write daddy and circles insted?! I got really mad and lost my cool. He eventually wrote his name but it was very upsetting for both of us. I hope this is not waht I have to look forward to this coming year.Fellow parents, boy have I been there done that. Luckily first grade here in Norway is like first grade was when we were kids -- not the stressful rocket race towards super-kid status that America seems to favor these days.
I read recently that the rule of thumb for homework amount is 10 minutes for every grade. First grade is 10 minutes times 1, second grade 10 minutes times 2. I'm willing to push my child a little harder to compensate for his disability, but in second grade I pushed him too hard. The combination of his academic weaknesses and his autistic reluctance to follow any one else's ideas made homework sessions into hour long marathons (or more). School started in mid-August, and by the end of September he was so stressed out that he went around saying "everything's hard", burst into tears sometimes (very unlike him), and even had nightmares. The teachers and I agreed that it wasn't healthy for him to continue doing the same homework as the rest of his class. It was a blow to my hopes and dreams for him, but it was necessary for his mental health.
It is imperative that you talk to the teacher to set an appropriate time limit on homework sessions and find an appropriate difficulty level. If the work is too difficult, your battles will be worse. It is important that your son accepts homework as a fact of life.
Yesterday I told the school what I thought would work best for my son's homework (he's in 4th grade).
- He should get homework on Monday through Thursday.
- Homework should last for max half an hour of effective work.
- Homework shouldn't vary much from day to day (new types of assignments are more intimidating for him, and increase the battles).
- Homework should focus on basic skills like math and writing. He reads aloud as part of the bedtime routine, but if they want him to have reading homework in addition, it should have a big enough text size and not too much text per page.
- They should give him praise and feedback on his homework every day.
Some other tips:
- During the early grades, my son seemed bothered by my pointing to things on his homework. It helped if I used a red light (laser pointer, but we used a toy).
- Keep homework supplies in a basket in the kitchen (if that's where you do homework).
- If the teacher okays it, make accommodations. Focus on the learning objective of the homework. If it's math, you can read the questions for him, since reading is not the objective. You can let him write the numbers backwards, since writing is not the objective.
- Keep a homework diary and schedule a meeting with the teacher to go over it. How long does it take? What tasks go well? What tasks are sheer hell?
- My son still double counts, skips numbers, etc., although he's way better than he was in first grade. If I were you, I'd try and get the school to evaluate his math skills and see if he needs extra help. Does your son have an IEP? Are you satisfied with it?
Here's another topic about homework. It focuses more on older kids, but there are tips and resources useful for all ages.
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19343&am p;PN=1
Good luck with everything.
Thanks for all your responses. My son's OT'ists are willing to help with homework issues. They have given me a couple of suggestions so we'll see. His homework yesterday was to draw your favorite animal and explain why it's your favorite. The first animal he said was elephant so I drew an elephant and then I asked him why he likes elephants and he couldn't tell me, he just started listing other animals which we did the night before for homework, so I asked again, and he said "I told you already, stop asking me" and then he started saying more animals. So, I wrote my own explantion and signed by "mom". I did leave blank lines in between my sentences for him to copy so that was his effort - copying. He is just not cooperating and hears what he wants to hear when it comes to homework. He just has a mental block when it comes to doing "school work" at home. Not a good start to the year.
Homework has become a huge burden at all grade levels. When I was going to school in the UK I didn't start getting homework until age 11 when I went to middle school. I don't know if it's still the same there. My cousin in the UK refuses to send his child to public school because of the pressure to achieve. He attends a Steiner Waldorf school where kids are encouraged to develop their imaginations and encouraged to express themselves, they have daily down time where they sit in the dark with garden gnomes (I swear that's what my cousin told me). My cousin's son who is 7 does not do homework and they "Play" at school. I'm sure Chrisitian would love that!
I've decided school work is not going to stress me out and creat chaos in my house anymore! Amen!
Last night I blew my top about homework. I only had 15 minutes between the end of dinner and leaving for a meeting at school, and my son started his litany about "I've told you a million times. School is school and home is home."
I tried to make it cozy, cuddling with him in the recliner and having him read aloud, but he wouldn't even get started. So I said, okay, first I'll read it for you and you can read when you're ready. So what does he do? Covers his ears! I yelled, "Fine! You can do your homework with your Dad then" (Dad is much less patient than I am, at least normally
Well, I went downstairs to put away clean clothes and he went to the kitchen where his brother and Dad were doing homework. He actually started working. When I came back up, he made eye contact as he walked to get a piece of paper, and I must have still looked a little angry because he came back just bawwwwwwwwwwling. I felt so bad. We said our mutual apologies and he did his homework with a positive attitude.
I do hate these fights, but I'm hopeful that he'll settle into the routine in the fairly near future.
Christian started 1st grade last week and yesterday brings home a math homework sheet
The homework was to fill in the blanks. There were 6 problems/ways to make 7.
[ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ][ ] (seven boxes)
___ (+ /-) ___ ( = ) __7_
How on earth is Christian expected to do this? I can’t even explain to him that he needs to break up the boxes so that they total 7 in terms that he will understand. Is this appropriate homework for a child with learning disabilities? Could any of your 1st graders do this homework? We did some simple additional and that was a fight. He just doesn’t want to do anything. He can count on one to one ratio but gets overwhelmed when there are 2 or more parts to a problem. I gave him a bowl of Cheerios and an empty bowl to help him count. So if the problem was 5 + 1 he would count out 5 cheerios and put them in the empty bowl and then add one then count the total. This seemed to work okay at first but after the second problem he would double count or miscount. I think because he’s lazy but also tired (I don’t get home from work until 7:00pm). So he decided to poke me with pencil, he twisted my wrist and bite me. I just bit him back (not hard) and asked him how that felt. Is this what I am going to have to deal with for the next 12 years of schoolwork? I did the homework and wrote a note to his teacher that I cannot explain it to Christian.
In his homework folder she wrote “try your best”. What does that mean? If he doesn’t want to do it then it’s okay? What sort of message is that? I felt like giving him a good spanking last night but I know that it won’t solve any problems and that he probably can’t help it. Christian can barely hold a pen and rarely lifts a finger yet when I ask the teachers (ESE included) they say he’s doing fine.
Guess I better prepare myself to tonight’s battle with homework. I am so frustrated with the constant battles, battles to eat, to sleep, to go the school, to do homework, to clean his toys. Christian will be 7 in January. I have to dress him, feed, change him, and bathe him etc like he is still an infant. I’m worn out and he’s only been in school for 2 weeks.
Did I mention that his fingers are pretty nimble when it comes to the Playstation 2 and the computer? Funny that !
Have you talked to his teacher at all. This doesn't seem like it is appropriate homework and the fact that she doesn't think he can do it makes it even more frustrating. Something I might try with those problems to is to write them out one to a page and then get something bigger like money or apples and then have him count them the first time. Write down the answer. Count them the second time. etc. It really sounds like he is playing the same game my son plays where he will do things at school but by the time he gets home he is so sensory overloaded that it is a battle to get him to do anything. I know one of the things we have done with the playstation is we have gotten a couple of the larry boy, cars, and spongebob games because they actually have some math, shapes, and colors in them to be able to play. Other than that Good luck. Talk to his teacher and find out what she is doing or expects because it sounds like she isnt' on the same page with you.
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