xposted: Do you 'plan' to assign homework to 7th/8th graders and up?

[Kathie in VA]

My dd is going into 8th grade and my ds is going into 7th. Up to now I've scheduled everything into our 'school day' and anything that doesn't get finnished is homework (well usually... sometimes it just gets push to the next day :glare:).

So here I am planning for next year and realizing that I can squeeze all or most of what I'd like them to do into 7 hours of work which can be done during 'school hours' (I think)... and then anything not finnished is homework. But I just started to wonder about this plan. It seems most other kids their age typically have homework. I don't want to plan busy work but I wonder if

maybe I'm not expecting enough for this level or
allowing my kids to get used to completing homework (as additional work) would be a good practice for high school and/or college?

So what do you think?

Oh another question: If you think I should plan homework, then should I consider freeing up some of their day and planning some of that work for evenings? Meaning instead of scheduling the ... say literature reading during the day I tell them it's homework? Or instead of giving them time during the day to work on their writing paper I tell them to do it for homework?
OR should I leave the day as I currently have it and add in something that I wanted to have them do but couldn't fit it into the school day?

So what does the hive think?

TIA

[Karenciavo]

No, I don't plan on homework. Most traditional school children have homework because there isn't enough time to teach the lesson and do the work in class. Much of my older boys' work is self-directed, but even the courses I teach have their work done immediately after. My oldest son, 9th grade, has had weeks when he had to read at night and some weekends, but that's it.

Karen

[Quiver0f10]

No, I don't plan on homework. Most traditional school children have homework because there isn't enough time to teach the lesson and do the work in class. Much of my older boys' work is self-directed, but even the courses I teach have their work done immediately after. My oldest son, 9th grade, has had weeks when he had to read at night and some weekends, but that's it.

Karen


:iagree: This is how I feel too and the only time they have homework is if they don't finish what I assign during the day, but they have more than enogh time and have very rarely needed to do something at night.

[2cents]

We never do 'homework'. We just do the lessons during the homeschool day and that is it.

[Jackie in NE]

I don't know if it's actually called "homework", but my dd often has reading that she's doing in the evening and on week-ends. (Usually for her online Omnibus class, but also with science because sometimes the experiments take up a lot of "class" time).

When I think back to my own middle/high school experience, the reason that homework happened was because there wasn't enough time to get the work done during class time. Usually, that was because of other issues related to the classroom... questions from other students, administrative stuff, discipline issues. But in home-school, those issues are non-existent.

So, long answer to the question.... No, I would not schedule homework. But I think that as the course-work becomes more difficult, my dd (as well as those that follow), will be doing reading on evening and week-ends in order to be prepared for class, and to stay on schedule.

Jackie

[Cedarmom]

Beginning in 7th grade, I let my son be more in charge of how he arranged his day. As long as work was getting done, he could take breaks when he needed them. So some stuff was done in the evening and Saturdays.But it wasn't "homework" it was just time he worked on school. More important than homework, is learning how to schedule your time wisely.

[Chris in VA]

Hey, it's ALL home-work! :lol:

Seriously, I think homeschooling is a heck of a lot more efficient than school, so we can get more done during the day. Once in a while I do say to ds that I want something done overnight for the next day--sometimes he has time in the school day to do it and sometimes not. And, occasionally I double up assignments in Apologia if he's behind, so he'll have to do a day's work (sonlight schedule) over the weekend.

In general, tho, no, I don't feel ds has to do homework. With the level of work he's doing, it's far more than public school, esp in the literature dept.

[Chris in CA]

:iagree: Too!