Homework help

For kids in the primary grades, some parents and teachers see homework as just busy work. Others value it as a bridge between home and school and a way to teach children to take responsibility for their own learning. But one thing is clear. In several jurisdictions parents feel that kids are dealing with heavier homework loads as teachers attempt to cover more material in less time in order to meet new curriculum demands. And this homework overload can cause serious family stress.

Homework help
Will doing homework improve your child's performance? Research indicates that high school students who spend 60 to 90 minutes a night on homework can improve their grades. But for elementary school students, especially those in the primary grades, there are no answers about the effectiveness of homework to improve grades. By the time students are in grades 4 to 6, however, there is more consensus among educators and parents that applying what they've learned in class by doing assignments as homework is a good way for kids to learn to work independently. A recent study reported in the journal Child Development looked at parental assistance in homework for seven- to 10-year-old children and found that struggling children showed improvement at school when parents were supportive.

Just as teaching methods have changed over the years as we've learned more about human intellectual development, so has the concept of homework changed. A trip to the zoo, an afternoon in the park collecting leaves to mount and label, or tallying the number and length of commercials in a few television programs are all different forms of homework, that is, schoolwork outside the classroom.

By the time they're nine years old, and increasingly from then on, many children consider homework something of a chore, something to fit in between time spent with friends, watching favourite TV programs or playing. Teachers recognize that many children aged six to 12 have busy schedules of lessons, group activities and team sports, so some elementary schools make it a policy never to assign homework on weekends. Adding major homework assignments for Monday just means adding more stress to family life.

While no national guidelines for time spent on homework are set in Canada, the National Parent-Teacher Association in the United States suggests a rule of thumb that a number of Canadian schools agree with: 10 minutes of daily homework per each grade increment.

Ages six and seven
For grades 1 and 2, the recommendation is 10 to 20 minutes of a basic math exercise and a reading or other language activity with Mom or Dad each day. Ontario's 2003 Early Reading and Early Math Strategies focus on improving skills in these subjects for junior kindergarten to Grade 3.

Ages eight and nine
By Grade 3, a child's homework may consist of a page of mathematics that wasn't completed in class or a special project that requires some research. At this age, many schools begin teaching a required second-language curriculum, for which practice at home may be helpful. In Alberta, beginning in 2006 from the Grade 4 level, second-language learning will be mandatory for all students. In total, kids may spend about 30 minutes a night on their homework. For this age group, most teachers give outside class assignments for the weekend only if the child has been absent and needs to catch up to his peers.

Ages 10 to 12
By Grade 5, the number of homework assignments and special projects increases. Depending on their classroom teacher, students may have to spend up to 50 minutes a night on their schoolwork. By this age, managing his time to handle short-term (next day) and long-term (individual or group projects) homework assignments becomes a learning activity in itself. These skills are essential for success in senior elementary school and in high school, and even as a life skill.