We are on Facebook and Twitter!

Like us on facebook - www.fb.com/thelearningcraft
Follow us on Twitter - @learningcraftNG

16/08/2012

When 'homework' takes center stage!

Excessive homework can create family stress, cut into family time and generate tension and tears among Nigerian children. Homework has become a tough issue for parents to deal with. 

Parents and tutors silently grumble at the thought of dealing with homework. The idea behind homework is to give the child an assignment that they could go home and try (without) having to receive active adult supervision. On the contrary, homework has become a 'google tour'. It even cuts into very late hours for some kids as parents struggle to get results. Children spend an average of 7-9hours in school on weekdays. I would expect that those hours were thoroughly used in imbibing the concept and skill that a homework checks; so why all the exhausting homework? Shouldn't homework be similar to  a pattern of checklists? By checklists, I mean a process where parents identify the progress of their child's work in the task given effortlessly. 

Parents should be allowed to spend more quality time doing other things with their children as against having to meet with the demands of a tedious homework. Who benefits from these homework? Teachers.......come on!

16 comments:

  1. i concur. even as a child, i was silently complaining within me.
    It pains to know that the children are subjected to these continuous mind tasking assignments even when the teachers know they can't solve it thereby involving the rest of the family.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. chioma anozia okafor17/08/2012, 09:06

      i love this blog.great insight.we all need it.


      spot on! for a parent,its even tasking to put the kids together for this mind blowing task.sometimes its take psychology to get them arranged.i mean.....what is this?

      Delete
  2. Nice 1,I doubt with the volume of homework teachers give kids now that they(kids) wld be able to handle on their own that's y the involve their parents. I think you should stress more on what hoem work is all about not giving kids what wld keep them away frm the wkend fun.Nice 1 tho,we really need this in Naija.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Homework is designed to reinforce what students have already learned. It also provides an opportunity for parents to participate in their children's education. Student learning however improves when the homework is given appropriately. If the homework is such that the student and parent are wondering how to get through it maybe because the concept has not been properly taught or introduced, to whose advantage does it serve? It would tend to foster a lot of tension and tears. Parents who have had to go through this, help me out here!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is soooo true. I know how it feels to be doing homework for so many hours. Teachers should do their job and please send home the work that the children can do at least 95% of the way.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Innocent castro16/08/2012, 21:40

    Homework is a task assigned to students by their teachers to be completed outside of class.,the main objective of homework is to increase the knowledge and improve the abilities and skills of student...but to me homework cite as grind work designed to take up children's time without offering tangible benefit..research shows dat too much homework could be counterproductive and every homework is supposed to support the '10 minute rule' i.e 10 mins per grade e.g grade 1 shld not use more than 10 mins and grade 2 shld not use more than 20 mins etc anytin more than dat to me is crap and is not helping students rather it is only depriving them of their time

    ReplyDelete
  6. chioma anozia okafor17/08/2012, 09:21

    pls take a look at the image and illustration on this blog.what do u infer from it? for me confusion,strife,some sort of imbroglio.schools should see this and get their teachers to visit this blog.a lot will be corrected.our children well benefitted.


    EDUCATION SHOULD BE ENJOYED NOT DESTROYED....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have it all figured out. Education should be enjoyed!

      Delete
  7. Home shd not be excessive. Teachers shd give not more than 5sums as home work since its just a follow up to what has been taught earlier the essence of home work is just to check if the child has understood the concept. Parents can only supervise the child but not do the teachers job of teaching d child all over again. When a teacher does a thorough job d child won't spend much time in his or her home work

    ReplyDelete
  8. I quite agree with floflo's submission above. Homework should serve as an appraisal of a child's grasp of what has been taught as against the drudgery of the avalanche of the present interpretation by present academic citadels. Unfortunately, due to the present demands of existence, many parents find it difficult to be hands with these assignments. Using my own example, I had made it a priority to always go through my wards homework having discovered that the domestic aid (in all fairness to her efforts) was adding another academic syllable to the whole exercise. Previously, the kids could return from school, hae an afternoon siesta, then proceed to do homework before dinner, but with what is on ground, that plan has practically disappeared. Sadly, without this extra rest, they has less time for the brain to recuperate and the plan for excellence is defeated since all they do is cram and just absorb the information for the moment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Kola and Floflo. The onus is on the school system to insist that homework stands for what it represents; implying that it MUST be done with little or no assistance. Teachers must perform their duties thoroughly.

      Delete
  9. Nice one, i totally agree with you, home-work is not suppose to be too tasking for the child, it should be what the child can confidently do without adult supervision.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nice blog there, homeworks this days are really perplexing.... I think the teachers are the ones benefiting from it....

    ReplyDelete
  11. Correct blog, i've been thinking of who would talked about something of such..... Nice one!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I concur .....

    ReplyDelete

Please leave your thoughts. I'd like to hear from you. :)