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We broke out the crisp printing paper, sharpened his new fat, yellow pencils and opened his fresh box of Crayola crayons. And then my eyes glazed over after 10 minutes while he decided what words he wanted to use that started with the letters "A" and "B" that he could also illustrate.
When he was nearly done (30 minutes later) and accidentally ripped a hole in the paper while erasing a letter, we called it a night and deemed his first attempt the rough draft. We'd do the final copy the next night. (This is what happens when your mom is a writer...you hear her referring to rough drafts and final copy and start tossing those phrases around). It took about an hour total for the kid to write out six words (using his "kid spelling") and draw six pictures. My enthusiasm for kindergarten homework slightly waned.
Shine user Cher is floored that schools are making kindergarteners do homework: "I know they need to know things but I feel maybe 1st grade is a better start on giving homework out. My son is in the 2nd grade and he has ALOT of homework to do. He started with subtraction and addition last year, and spelling. I know they have guidelines the teachers need to follow but this is insane."
I'm fine with homework for kindergarteners as long as it's not excessive. I like that it teaches them about responsibility and taking pride in their work. It's never too early to start those lessons.
What say you? Is kindergarten too early to start giving kids homework?
And while we're at it, Cher also would like to know when your kids do their homework. Right after school? After dinner? (My son comes home, has a quick snack and some quiet chill time, and then we try to get the homework out of the way so he can have playtime.)
