Hey y'all!!
I had an interesting conversation this past weekend with someone. A had mentioned that she had homework on the first day of school. For the record, she's only in second grade! In the teacher's defense, it was a quick math worksheet, along with some (20 minutes) reading. But still, it was the first day of school. During the conversation, I mentioned that I started the timer on the microwave for 20 minutes and then instructed A to do the worksheet and that whatever amount was left would be what she would need to read and if she chose to read more than that, it was her choice. After that, a statement was made that I was encouraging her to disregard the teacher's authority.
Authority is a tricky thing. At school there are lots of different authorities. There's the teachers, they have authority in their classes. There's the aides, they have authority in their respective areas. There's the secretaries, who have authority in their area, and the principal, who is the authority in the whole school. I would never encourage either of my daughters to disregard an authority figure while at school. In fact, we've repeatedly told our girls, that unless an adult asks you to do something that will hurt someone else or themselves or is wrong, they are to follow instructions given. In the event that they are asked to do something that they feel is wrong, they are to calmly and respectfully explain why they are refusing to do something, and while we will back them up when appropriate, they know that their choices have consequences that they have to face.
See, here's the thing, at home, Z and I are the authority, and since research has been unable to prove that homework improves student performance. See recent article about a North Texas Teacher (Second Grade, hmmm) who canceled homework for this reason
here. I have no problem with making my second grader complete school work after school if she doesn't get it done in class, but as parent's Z and I made an informed decision, based on research and conversations with his dad, who is an elementary teacher, that we would only allow our children to do 10 minutes of homework a night for each year of school (starting in first grade). First Grade = 10 minutes, Second Grade = 20 minutes, etc. This does not include work that for some reason doesn't get done in class, but frankly, that's not typically a problem with our girls. They LOVE school. We are not raising a child who feels that she can buck rules. In fact, just the opposite, she follows the rules and accepts discipline when she's made bad decisions. We are, however, raising both girls to understand that there are different expectations for the many different roles they play and at home, chores and being a positive part of the family are more important the fight that often ensues in order get excessive (over the 10 minute/night rule) homework done every night.
Stepping off my soapbox now.
Thanks for stopping by!!!
{Becky}
