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Is Anyone else's child overloaded with schoolwork these last weeks?
I have just about had it! My dear daughter is in 6th grade. She's in an accelerated program. School is out in 8 days but the amount of projects, tests and papers that are due is insane. I sat with her today to plan out the next 2 weeks with what has to be done and when. She has 2 projects in Reading and Language Arts due one on Thurs and one on Friday, a written report in PE due on Friday, science and math test Friday, Science worksheets every day this week along with math worksheets. There are a couple other things but for now that's what I remember. It's way too much.
Now here is a question for all the creative moms...one of the projects is a slang dictionary. She just got finished reading Tom Sawyer and has to make a slang dictionary out of 10 words from the book. It has to be creative. It's worth 50 pts. so the more creative the better the grade. What can we do? She has to have one word, the origin, the meaning and a sentence on a page. she'll end up with 10 pages. What can we do to embellish and enhance what seems to be cut and dry?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm angry so my creative juices have shut down! Thanks so much.
I don't have any advice about the assignment, but wanted to let you know I do share your frustration about workload - but in the opposite direction. My daughters have had a noticeable DECREASE in workload ever since they took the standardized tests in late March (and we live in one of the top school districts in the state). And these last two weeks look like they're going to have zero homework. I'm all for giving kids a break, but I would like them to be learning and working at a constant level through the year. Piling the work on at the end of the year - and especially as young as 6th grade - seems really silly!
Wow - that's a lot. Did she just find out about all these assignments?
I know how you feel windycitystamper. My kids are all grown now but I thought those last few days of school were a waste when they had to be there but the books had been checked in, grades already prepared, etc.. They watched movies and played games.
Wow - that's a lot. Did she just find out about all these assignments?
I know how you feel windycitystamper. My kids are all grown now but I thought those last few days of school were a waste when they had to be there but the books had been checked in, grades already prepared, etc.. They watched movies and played games.
I'm used to having the kids work up until the very end or students misbehave because it isn't really school. This year is different, though. Because of renovations, we have to be out one day after the kids at 4:00PM sharp. Grades will be done early, packing will be going on, etc.
To the origianl poster:
I'm not trying to be preachy, but if a student is in an accelerated program, extra homework should be expected, especially at the end of the year when the last day is the end of a unit for every class. An excelerated program also means that she is expected to be creative and doing her assigments on her own. Like I said, I'm not trying to be preachy, but that's probably where her teachers are coming from. If it was too much this year, it may be wise to reevaluate her class load for next year. What will be best in the long run for her future goals?
I have just about had it! My dear daughter is in 6th grade. She's in an accelerated program. School is out in 8 days but the amount of projects, tests and papers that are due is insane. I sat with her today to plan out the next 2 weeks with what has to be done and when. She has 2 projects in Reading and Language Arts due one on Thurs and one on Friday, a written report in PE due on Friday, science and math test Friday, Science worksheets every day this week along with math worksheets. There are a couple other things but for now that's what I remember. It's way too much.
Now here is a question for all the creative moms...one of the projects is a slang dictionary. She just got finished reading Tom Sawyer and has to make a slang dictionary out of 10 words from the book. It has to be creative. It's worth 50 pts. so the more creative the better the grade. What can we do? She has to have one word, the origin, the meaning and a sentence on a page. she'll end up with 10 pages. What can we do to embellish and enhance what seems to be cut and dry?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm angry so my creative juices have shut down! Thanks so much.
I can relate all three of my children are in the accelerate program but unfortunately they are a minority so therefore they don't have any homework but are bored out of their skulls. But enough of that here's my suggestion for your project considering it's on Tom Sawyer why not do a mini lunch (sandwhich-whatever you call them in the US) bag scrapbook? I think it would be perfect given the assignment and you could embelish it with rustic looking items such as sanded down buttons, pieces of jute or hemp, maybe if you have them the skeleton leaves or just stamp the leaves on. If you use colours from the earth elements I think it would be absolutely darling. Just a few ideas. have fun with it... just think of it as her little master piece and going out with a bang!
__________________
Creativity is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to God.
Thanks so much. I like the idea of the paper bag book and so does my daughter. My friend owns a scrapbook store right in town so we'll hit it later tonight, maybe, and pick out some embellishments, diecut with a boy in overalls, etc... It'll be fun but rushed!
I know that a school or a teacher can not please all but I have to agree that it should be a consistent amount of work throughout the year. The workload is heavy and my daughter has been able to accomplish what was expected and has received straight A's the whole year. But what have we as a family sacrificed? We actually had to cancel a weekend getaway because of a project that was due on a Monday. We've changed plans because of weekend homework and she has missed her dance class on many occasions because of homework load. Too often the projects come near the end of a marking period so I feel that the teachers are trying to get more grades in before the time is up. Academically, she is handling it. It's the emotional frustration of having 6 teachers all pile on loads of work at the end. Yep, she found out Friday before the holiday weekend of the slang dictionary project, which she worked on. We just need the creative part of it now. That's in addition to a Newspaper that she has to design, write an account of the trial in the Tom Sawyer book and then draw pictures to display the courtroom scene. The other projects and announcement of tests came today. I check her agenda every day which is where all the assignments are written so I trust that she hasn't been procrastinating. I think we can all say we're frustrated right now no matter if it's too little or too much. Come on summer vacation?
Anyone out there have year round school? I can't even imagine!!!!
Thanks so much. I like the idea of the paper bag book and so does my daughter. My friend owns a scrapbook store right in town so we'll hit it later tonight, maybe, and pick out some embellishments, diecut with a boy in overalls, etc... It'll be fun but rushed!
I know that a school or a teacher can not please all but I have to agree that it should be a consistent amount of work throughout the year. The workload is heavy and my daughter has been able to accomplish what was expected and has received straight A's the whole year. But what have we as a family sacrificed? We actually had to cancel a weekend getaway because of a project that was due on a Monday. We've changed plans because of weekend homework and she has missed her dance class on many occasions because of homework load. Too often the projects come near the end of a marking period so I feel that the teachers are trying to get more grades in before the time is up. Academically, she is handling it. It's the emotional frustration of having 6 teachers all pile on loads of work at the end. Yep, she found out Friday before the holiday weekend of the slang dictionary project, which she worked on. We just need the creative part of it now. That's in addition to a Newspaper that she has to design, write an account of the trial in the Tom Sawyer book and then draw pictures to display the courtroom scene. The other projects and announcement of tests came today. I check her agenda every day which is where all the assignments are written so I trust that she hasn't been procrastinating. I think we can all say we're frustrated right now no matter if it's too little or too much. Come on summer vacation?
Anyone out there have year round school? I can't even imagine!!!!
Sixth grade is a tough transition for every student. Most seventh graders say that the HW load is lighter. It isn't really. They are just usually better at handling 6 teachers and more assigments. Summer is almost here! You can do it! I think you said 8 days. Woo hoo! I know I'm counting... especially with so many teachers on SCS saying they are already done!
I was thinking the contrary... my kids seem to have NO work coming home. Of course, state testing is over, so there's no pressure on the teachers. LOL
To be serious though; our eldest daughter skipped a grade (1st to 3rd) and is in GATE...so we see loads of work during the year. We've had experiences with teachers who give too much and experiences with teachers who give too little. The only advice I could give, after verifying that your child didn't "just put it off" (which I'm sure he/she didn't), is to call the teacher and ask "what's up?" One of our eldest's teachers wasn't even aware that she had stepped up the amount of homework. Once we let her know, she backed off a touch.
As for missing the extra-curricular activities; like I've told my kids, there are times when work responsibilities get in the way of play. Compared to other countries, our kids are in school far less and have many more activities.
Year round isn't as bad as you might think... it actually takes the stress off of the end-of-the-year rush.
__________________ "Just because it's unexplicated does not make it unexplicable." - HOUSE
Hi? I had to reply to your post!! I don't have any advice for your current project...my kids school ended last week, my brain is not working due to a school year of overload!
I have been upset about this for years. I have a 16 year old son who is going to be a junior in high school next year, and my daughter will be a freshman. My son is gifted and he gets all A's because everything comes easy to him. My daughter gets all A's but she has to work for them, and she put pressure on herself beyond what a child should have.
I think our children have more than a full time job. They leave the house at 6:20 am and are still doing homework past 10:00 pm. When I went in to school and complained, the teachers acted as if we were the only ones having this problem. (Not so!!!!) That was the end of any type of teacher/ parent relationship. It got to the point where I couldn't even call the teacher with a concern.
My dissapointment with this issue is deep. We have missed out on so much family time. My children did not have the free time to go out and play (which is a great learning experience in itself). Sometimes we were so stressed over projects and homework I wanted to home school them. I felt I have wished away their childhood... as I would say "I wish this school year would end!"
I could go on with details of BITCHY teachers, but I think you understand. All I can say is I wish every teacher have the same happen to them! Maybe then they will let up!!!!!
I'm going to speak as a teacher. Often these really great assignments come at the end not because you want to pile on more grades (who wants to be grading these things at the last minute anyway? Not me) but because they are a culminating activity that allows the student to synthesize what they have learned from the unit (in this case reading the book) and move what they have experienced out beyond the reading experience and apply it to their world. This is really important stuff. But it often gets done at the last minute because the reading of the book took longer than anticipated.
Also, school districts often have a list of things that teachers MUST "cover" in a year. This "coverage" model has forced teachers to rush through things and drive the kids faster than needed. The teacher's hands are tied-- he/she must comply or lose their jobs. But as moral/professional individuals, we don't want kids to miss out on the valuable creative/critical thinking experiences that special projects like this dictionary offers. What is our choice? Do it all. Frankly we need to move to a different model. When you cover something, you lay an opaque blanket over it, making it hard or impossible to see clearly. We should instead work towards a model of "uncovering" the material so that kids can work to study and think in depth about a few things, rather than being forced to "cover" more and more and leaving none of it clear for kids to really understand.
Finally, I find that 6th grade teachers do feel it is their responsiblity to prepare a student for "junior high" so they lay it on near the end. I do think a large project should be revealed to the kids from the beginning. I work on a syllabus model (or did when I taught full time-- I'm part time and raising babies right now) where I handed out a mini-syllabus for each unit so that all the projects listed and described from the beginning with due dates and points totaled. Then, as we approached the project, I would handout further material that would describe the projects clearly. Many teachers are not as type A as I am about these things though (I'm terribly organized at work but the opposite at home).
Hang on there. It will all be over soon. And as one other poster said, there is a HUGE amount of development going on in the next two years. By late 7th to early 8th, the kids generally handle their homework much more independently. The interesting thing about gifted kids is that while their intellect develops quickly (ei they can even read Tom Sawyer in the 6th grade) but their emotional development coincides with all other kids. So, often they can't deal as well with the increased work load they shoulder because they are in AP classes....
__________________ Life is too short: eat chocolate and stamp up a storm. It will come out OK in the end.
Hi? I had to reply to your post!! I don't have any advice for your current project...my kids school ended last week, my brain is not working due to a school year of overload!
I have been upset about this for years. I have a 16 year old son who is going to be a junior in high school next year, and my daughter will be a freshman. My son is gifted and he gets all A's because everything comes easy to him. My daughter gets all A's but she has to work for them, and she put pressure on herself beyond what a child should have.
I think our children have more than a full time job. They leave the house at 6:20 am and are still doing homework past 10:00 pm. When I went in to school and complained, the teachers acted as if we were the only ones having this problem. (Not so!!!!) That was the end of any type of teacher/ parent relationship. It got to the point where I couldn't even call the teacher with a concern.
My dissapointment with this issue is deep. We have missed out on so much family time. My children did not have the free time to go out and play (which is a great learning experience in itself). Sometimes we were so stressed over projects and homework I wanted to home school them. I felt I have wished away their childhood... as I would say "I wish this school year would end!"
I could go on with details of BITCHY teachers, but I think you understand. All I can say is I wish every teacher have the same happen to them! Maybe then they will let up!!!!!
Please don't be upset. You have struck a nerve. I wish there was a way that teachers and parents could come together to solve this problem without the administrations and poleticians and junk that ultimately gets in the way. I hear your frustration. I hope you will hear mine with an open mind.
Perhaps you should look to the conditions which create this situation, namely the increasing pressure for accoutablity which says that all schools should be better than average, which is statistically impossible because the very nature of "average" is that 50 percent are above and 50 percent are below. So, for a school to do well, they have to push and push students to do better than all previous students, each year upping the bar a bit more so that their scores can be a bit better than the school across town, etc... They especially push AP students because their scores compensate for students who are developmentally delayed and therefore incapable of being "at grade level" and non-native speakers who also find it impossible to perform at grade level.
Teachers are underpaid considering the amount of education they must maintain (my first year I made 24,000 with a MASTERS DEGREE). Their workload is increased every year as they are told they must "cover" more and more material with more students in the classroom and less materials. Plus, they are asked to do more and more extra-curricular activities because the school doesn't want to pay to have someone else do it...
Frankly, it made me really tired and cranky sometimes. I was so stressed out my first year of school that I was sick for literally 7 of the months. I'm so thankful I didn't have kids at the time or I would have laid down and died. That's why I left teaching while my kids are little. No one goes into teaching for any other reason than because they LOVE kids. There is no other reason to stay at it otherwise because the pay is signficantly below professionals of equal training and experience in other fields (compare a nurse of equal experience and education...)
If you don't like the situation, PLEASE become active with the school board and lobby to change things. When they propose more requirements, urge then to drop others. Most importantly, vote consciencously. Teachers don't want to cover all the material they are given. They are forced into it by public expectation. Scores on an ISAT are not everything. In fact, they can't even measure important skills like critical and creative thinking and problem solving. Those skills are the most important your kids can learn and they are what is tacked on at the end after they cover the things that the board has determined are REQUIRED of them.
__________________ Life is too short: eat chocolate and stamp up a storm. It will come out OK in the end.
stampysister] I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to upset anyone! If you knew me you would know I do have an open mind. I have even approached the teachers, with the attitude that this is all pressure they pass on from the school board and the state. I don't want to go into details. But I have had many issues with this. I spoke to the school principle, and that got me nowhere. There is supposed to be grade level homework guidelines.(20 minutes of homework per year, up to a maximum amount of time).These guidelines were not followed. Some night my children had homework from all their classes.One year when my son was in the 5th grade he had to do a cross country project. He had to pick 10 destinations and get to each destination a different way (plane, bus, boat, rent a car and more) But they had to be real flights and flight #'s with real prices.Then he had to tell what he planned to do in each place how much money he spent and on what. He had to tell how he got from one place to another and how much gas and food was, oh yeah and where and what did he eat. He had to have the company names of the rent a cars,planes buses and prices, and how many miles he had to drive. This project nearly killed us! I read both of your posts and I do agree with you. It has been my experience that the teachers have not been willing to see our side. My kids need more time to be kids!
Wow, checking back on my original post, I realize that neither the parents or the teachers have much control but it's more on the local county or state. I do realize that! I'm sorry if I upset anyone or got anyone fired up.
I also have a 3rd grader who is also in the AP classes. She however is much more of a worrier and is more compulsive! The workload is manageable but the worry is killing her and making her sick...seriously. She is on prevacid for stomach and now I have to take her to a gastro doc to see what is causing her stomach. She is sleep walking at night. I find her in my husbands closet, sitting on her floor rearranging things or roaming the house asking where her stuff is. I'm sure the problem will go away in 10 days. I met with the teacher about knocking her down a level for 4th grade but they don't want to do it for some reason. She said that my daughter tests in high 90's and keeps up (but with tears and worry). Apparantly, her 3rd grade math is already doing beginning 5th grade stuff. Her teacher admitted that they spend a little over a week on each unit. You either get it or you don't. We will continue to follow next years placement and make necessary changes!
I have to agree with the poster about how much has been given up to be in these classes. I am so proud of my daughters and what they have accomplished but I worry that they too have missed out on fun! My oldest daughter (6th grader) is up at 6:30, out by 7:45 home at 4:00, homework until 6:00 and then more homework for the remaining 2 hours before bed. She gets 25 minutes for lunch. How many employees get more than 25 minutes for lunch? This weekend she was assigned 8 chapters of Tom Sawyer. The teacher even made the comment that they will have time to read since it's a long weekend. I too have tried to speak to school officials but get the textbook answer. It's a very frustrating situation. We keep our children in our prayers even more so the older they get!
Is Anyone else's child overloaded with schoolwork these last weeks?
