I go to a school now with no homework and our high school does better then all the rest in my town. My friends (that go to diffrent schools) get way to much! If schools wouldn’t waste so much time they wouldn’t need homework.

I go to a high school with no homework and we score better then all the other schools in my town. If schools wouldn’t waste time then they wouldn’t need to give homework.

I agree with you 100% Alisyn about no homework. Kids spend most of the day in class, then come home to 4-5hrs more of homework - why? This promotes stress and burnout in these little guys. Kids need the opportunity to be kids. Thank you

My 8 year old was watching your show this morning, and asked me for a piece of paper. He proceeded to write this letter. I promised him I would e-mail it to you exactly as it’s written(spelling and all)

Dear fox and friends
I watch your show EVERY day and I totally agree with the to much homework thing! luckily on friday We have no homework! so I can only play with myh friends on the weekend!
p.s.( the you tube thing was awesom I sometimes go on you tube.)

By: Wyatt
2nd grade
Irmo, South Carolina

He was on your show (in the background) in July. He, his sister and Dad went to your studios at 6:30am. That was on their list of things to do on our trip to New York.

Thanks Alisyn you just made his day!

I don’t think homework is a bad thing. However, I do think that schools and teachers should remember that going to school is not the only thing that a child should be doing. A child should be allowed to be a child and pursue learning as only a child can do. Homework at a young age should be kept to a bare minimum. When I was a kid, a very long time ago, homework was only given or required when you were unable to complete your work during class time. With my son and now even more with my grandchildren, it seems that homework is given as a daily requirement. I would like to see that homework be directed at the higher grades not the elementary grades.

The only thin about kids doing homework is I believe it makes them a little
more responsible and gets them ready for a job that may require that extra
effort in the future. I have a 17 year old daughter that does great in school
and is very responsible with her homework. She still has plenty of time for
the other good life experiences!

I teach a Freshman college course in which I ask, “On the average, how many hours a week do you spend on homework outside of school?”

The average response is less than 2 hours a WEEK. This does not adequately prepare students for college which requires 20-30 hours of homework a week.

Homework reinforces the days studies and teaches responsibility as well. My son’s school gives very little homework on Fridays and the amount varies during the week.
However, do we want to raise a nation of idiots who are unable to compete with other European countries and/or Japan???
As far as legislating homework, it appears someone has a bit too much time on their hands.

I send my son to a private school because the public education system in my aera is not worth 3 cents. He started the seventh grade this year , and on the third night since school had started he brought home 50 pre-algebra problems , spelling test to study for , a report to do for the next day. I work full time and when I get home , I would like to relax , but I end up working a second job helping my son with his homework. I understand the need for a good education , that is why I am sending him to private school , but I also understand that kids need to have the chance to be kids. By the time we get his homework finished , its time for him to go to bed. How many of us have to take our jobs home with us ? Well , Alisyn probaly has to being in the news industry , but most of us when we clock out , we forget what we had been doing at work just a few seconds before we clocked out. Why should our kids have to take their work home ? A report and studying I understand , isin’t that enough ? I am going to quit now , my bp is going up…

I hated homework but I see the benifit of it. I think it can teach kids responsibilty and time management. And it sets you up for college where most of your work is done in your room or the liberey. Now 4 or 5hrs of homework for a 3rd grader or whatever is a little overboard but and hour or so after school can help to keep the mind thinking about the concepts covered that day or will be covered the next day. Maybe breakup when certain classes can give homework so the high school kids wont have homework from all 6 or 7 classes.

Anywho…whose are my thoughts.

I am a recently retired math teacher. I think that many teachers do give too much homework, however, I do believe that giving a shorter homework assignment (20-30 min for early primary, 30 min to 1hr for upper elementary) is beneficial for many children (I taught in an at-risk middle school). I have found that many teachers think that their class is the most important and assign entirely too much. My 8-year old granddaughter attends a private Christian school and receives an excessive amount (2 to 3 hours) on some nights.

I can understand that jr and high schools will give out homework but for petes sake don’t give them so much that by the time they are done, its time for bed. Time management is a factor and I think most schools do not think about that. All they want is the homework assiagnment done and on there desk in the morning, not even considering that the student may have assignments from other classes. They sould give high school students homework on how to balance a checkbook and taxes.

Alisyn, I hope you received my message about the Canon Rebel. My wife is a teacher. I think she assigns less homework now than in the past; but feels the classes are overcrowded and students need to learn more at home……

Clearly we are doing somthing wrong in our school system. I watched “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader last night and was embarrased for our school system. They had Frat Boys that clearly had no idea. Parent involvement and more of it is needed and not homework that only serves to keep kids off the streets.

My children are grown, however, my 17 year-old nephew is very smart and does have homework. I do see, though, that he spends a lot MORE time playing World of Warcraft than he does doing homework.

This is so stupid!!!!! Everyone crying that their kids have too much homework. “oh my son/daughter just has too much to do” sniffle sniffle. PLEASE the only reason you all are crying is that you dont want to take the time to help them or even take the time to know what they are studying. I guarantee you all dont whine when your overweight son or daugher have there nose pickers on a game control or sitting their wide butts infront of a computer playing some non-educational game.

Sad thing is that each teacher assigns homework as if that were the only class the students have. My grandchildren have homework EVERY night and they often are busy with it all evening.

Alisyn,
I direct an after school program for middle school students and i see first hand the stress that a number of these kids endure because of homework. We also discovered that when we help the kids that request it, that most of them expect you to just give them the answers so they can hurry and “get it done”. I don’t remember having the amount of homework they seem to at an earlier age.
I do know our having a free, structured, safe place for these students to go after school twice a week has really helped some of these families where both parents work till 5:30 or 6. I’ve had parents tell us that what we do has really helped to reduce stress in their home because their children have at least got a good start if not have finished their homework by the time they go home for supper. It is too bad 5th/6th graders have to have that much homework so they are fighting w/their parents already.
dj

It was a very long time ago; but I went to a one-room school in Ontario, Canada. We very seldom had homework. There as time during school hours plus there were “resources” there. We worked quietly while the teacher tended to the 7 other grades. We walked home from school (exercise) and then had chores to do (responsibility). If there was homework we were excused from chores after supper. By the time I reached highschool the concept of homework was still new and besides somehow I knew that I had a lot to learn and that was the time to do it.

Years ago it was uncommon for both parents to work outside the home. Moms could help the kids with homework and still get dinner on the table and have time for family fun before getting everyone ready for bed. With both parents working, and kids being involved in more sports and things, 2 hours of homework gives the kids no room for down time. Even kids need time to relax.

As the mother of 4 sons, I have helped with lots of homework over the years. Generally, I believe that homework is a good thing and helps reinforce what was covered in class. I do, however, believe that some teachers give far too much homework. Some teachers also give homework in complete disregard for the fact that the students have homework in other subjects. So there’s a balance there that can easily tip one way or the other. I like the homework-free weekend idea. Also, many teachers in our area do not give homework on Wednesday. Wednesday is typically church night or prayer meeting night, and is quite often off limits to homework or sporting events in a rural, Southern community.

My youngest 2 sons are twins (now 20 and in college). My biggest problem with them in elementary and middle school was the fact that the school did not want them in the same class. They normally were assigned to different classes and teachers in the same grade. I have always thought this to be an asinine policy. At night I had 4 children with 4 completely different sets of homework. Pretty tough there for awhile; but now we’ve made it through all of that.

Hi Alisyn

Last year my youngest daughter was in the 5th grade. I kid you not her homework just about every night took nearly 4 HRS to complete. I try very hard to open all options to my daughter. She enjoys piano and dance but I remember several late nignts past 10 PM in which we were still completing her homework. I addressed my concerns with her teacher and principle and both stated that was there 5th grade requirements. They each explained to me that this would help her grow to complete middle school and high school.

Anyway, I am glad that you talked about this issue. Not only does homework effect the child but it does effect what i can do as a parent during evening hours.

thank you & keep smiling.

Homework is out of control, Steve Doocy is very accurate. And there is no real data that says homework works. I homeschool one child because we were spending between 3 and 5 hours a night working on schoolwork. They had him 6 hours, there has to be a life for kids. My older ones are faster workers, but it is not fair because you do have learning problems that the kids and family suffer. There were many football games my little one was doing work while other kids were playing around.

Down with Homework!!!!!!

HOME WORK , ABSOLUTELY, I HAD ON AVERAGE FOUR HRS. PER NIGHT,
ALSO EVERY ONE NEEDS TO SPEAK ENGLISH,
AND MAINTAIN THEIR NATIVE TONGUE IF THEY CHOOSE.

Yes I get to much homework—- im in highschool…ughh essays essays essays

I don’t have any kids, but based on what friends & family tell me … Some schools are giving out way too much homework …

In fact, in the Edmonds School District … The kids are required to bring their homework back to school on those lil USB flash drives … and that’s the elementary school students … The teachers are too lazy to deal with papers marked up with pencil/pen …

The Shoreline School District has a program where laptops are loaned out to EVERY kid in the district … and the families have to pay like $60 or $80 for the carrying case & insurance …

When I was in K-12, we’d have some homework (Aly, you & I are the same age) … But, not the amount that’d take us all night to do … unless we had procrastinated on a term paper that was due the next day … The teachers would also work together so that they didn’t all pile the homework on the same day …

Thoughts from a teacher! I am a mother of a 5th grader, 3rd grader, and a 3 y.o. My 5th grader had TONS of homework last year and it TOTALLY turned her off of school. During this time we actually took her to a counserlor who diagnosed an anxiety disorder, but she still had lots of homework each evening. Luckily my husband and I could take turns helping her because my younger daughters needed mom and dad too! I moved to 4th this year and try to keep last year in mind while assigning homework. My students don’t really get a lot, mainly just what they don’t get finished at school. I have 3 or 4 students who regularly get everything done every day. On the other hand, I have 3 or 4 who don’t finish anything at school and have to take it home. They have plenty of time at school, and no matter how much I encourage, prompt, whatever, they don’t do it. I always get them started so that I know everyone understands the assignment, but for some, unless I sat right beside them, they don’t do it! If they didn’t take it home, for some they would have nothing but zeros on my gradebook (I’m not a big fan of grades, but my hands are tied there!). Another problem with homework is that it is hard to take grades on because sometimes the grade is more a reflection of what parents know, not what the kids can do! I could go on and on…

As a father of six kids, homework has been a battle for a long time. After talking to teachers about how much homework is assigned, most do not take into consideration that although they may not assign much, multiplied by 4, 5 or even 6 teachers…..a half hour of homework can turn into three hours (or more) for the student. Okay….now multiply that by 6 kids! Even though I don’t have to help all of the kids all of the time……it is still overwhelming to work 8 to 10 hours a day and come home to a child that has spent 8 hours themselves in school and are now facing 3 more hours of homework. Squeeze in dinner, baths, family time and even some time to just be a kid…..now you have a complete meltdown of family sanity! Is it really acceptable to expect a child to spend 10 to 12 hours on school work? Surely there is a better way!

This is so stupid. American kids need more homework. I am from Albania and in high school I studied almost 8 hours every day. Kids that did not study ended up in the streets and i can assure you that is not a good thing. We need more discipline and doing your homework does that. If it was not for my 8 hours a day studying i would have never been able to come in the US and live the American dream.
I think schools in America are becoming a party land not study land. Have these people ever thought about the future of these children??? Are they going to tell their boss in the real world that i did not have time to get everything done cause i was too busy posting stuff on Youtube??? How are the Easter European Students and Japanese students surviving??

Fortunately, opinions of people who are not educated about the best practices for education are not the ones who always make decisions. The facts are that our country is behind other countries in terms of education and take into account No Child Left Behind. There is a demand for teachers to require students to use higher thinking skills. Classroom time is therefore utilized for teaching and modeling. Homework is then given as application and practice for students to internalize and retain the information given to them in class. Research has proven by above statement and think about it…why would teachers give out a lot of homework? You assume that we do it without thinking. But, again, when we leave work we want to leave work as well. The more homework, the more we have to grade. We don’t do it for our own health. We do it so that the students can become more knowledgeable about content and for the well-being of our society.

I remember as a child, that coming home after school meant going out and playing with my friends. Now, my daughter comes home at 3p. (leaves at 6:45am), I give her a break for about 30-40 minutes, and then we must start homework. Homework has consumed our lives. Usually from 2-3 hours to as long as 4 hours per night. That doesn’t include working on school projects that have short due dates, taking time for dinner, going to sporting activities, ccd. No wonder why our children are so tired. This is only 6th grade for cyring out loud!!
Weekends just means you can sleep a little later. Then work on homework, projects and not enough family time. It’s now Christmas season. We usually spend time decorating. We haven’t even got that far yet.
As a surprise for our daughter, we took time for “family” and went to the new Sonic for dinner. Even if it was in the car, we spent time together without books!
Something must be done soon to limit homework time. It truly has gotten out of hand.
Especially if the child needs special help.

I now after reading this from all of you who agree with the no homework thing and now Im even learning how you seem to have done far well in schooling versus the child who is not so fortunate. I wish there was a way to protest this in some way. My daughter is just this year in kindergarten and Im telling you she comes homes DAILY with loads of it. And I have ever so plainly seen a difference in her always loving to go to school the way she did in her two years of pre-school. Nothing against learning a foreign language but, in kindergarten? It’s been WAY TOO much information to process for a child that age so quickly they seem to expect. And how about NO MORE PLAYTIME OUTSIDE? According to my daughters teacher, “playtime and free-time” are EARNED! I’ve never seen anything like it. Glad to see Im not alone on some of these issues. It’s a little encouraging.

I am a teacher. If I am able to leave my classroom 25 minutes after the final school bell then why would I assign an hour of homework when I don’t even have to stay after school that long? My assigned homework night (divided between our four sixth grade teachers) is Monday. I usually give the kids a worksheet that takes 5 minutes to complete to try something new I have introduced in class. When I get the worksheet back it gives me an idea of how well the students have been understanding what I have been trying to teach them. It is for my benefit to be able to address the class needs as well as identify kids who are way off base and need some one on one work.

Like everything else, I believe it is moderation. I think teachers may sometimes compensate for there inability to get through to large classes by giving too much home work.

Just remember if you have 5 classes a day and each one gives an hour or so of homework, the child will be swamped.

A few examples to reinforce the days lesson can’t hurt anybody. But if the teacher is going to invade a family’s space then they should be available on a chat line to answer questions as they come up. Then it would be a productive interchange and perhaps the kids would not be on my space so much.

Homework…I think it is valuable and necessary. The 8-year above, you answered his letter, used excellent writing, grammar and spelling! Note that his ‘no homework’ is on Fridays…so his weekend is free. Perfect! Plus, are elementary students still in one class all day long?? If teachers are going to give homework, I think they should try to give about 1 hour a night M-R or maybe 2hrs worth 2X a week. Kids need to be kids; we are forcing our Stress style lives onto our kids way too much…even High schoolers. An HSer should NEVER need Red Bull or Rock Star or other drugs to keep going just for French Club, Cheerleading, Softball, Play, etc etc.

HW should increase as kids move up…Jr High maybe 1-2 hours 3 - 5 nights per week. By HS, regular 1-2 hours nightly plus usually you have some sort of semester project. if school is out at 3PM and you have an extra curricular (practice or some such) for a couple of hours, then dinner and a couple of hours of homework…you are still looking at 8-9 PM at the latest. Relax with fam for an hour or two and to bed…

Home work is NOT the reason American kids are fat. Japanese students study late into the night almost everyday, and do not have a weight problem!!! Maybe fast food is the problem!!!

Hi Alisyn,

It was great meeting you the other day. I just wanted to let you know that I followed up with the head of your elementary school and we had a wonderful conversation about education and homework.

My children are in their 20’s now and I still remember them telling me they had no homework because they had time to do it in school during “study time”. To this day I do not know how they graduated from college and are in grad school. We constantly hear how teachers are always stressed out dealing with students all day and they have a terrible job.

Perhaps we should stop lowering our test standards, SAT requirements and look at the typical school day. Homework is not the complete answer, structure and standards are just as important.

Homework

Heavy sighs, a case of the sweats and sleepless nights may seem like a bad case of the flu, but in actuality are symptoms to an incurable ailment … homework. And that is just reaction of the parents, not even beginning to describe the reaction of the student himself. Homework has become a hot topic of debate. This is especially true, when the amount of homework given by schools seems to have increased over the years. Students in the current educational programs are increasingly bringing more homework than even a decade before, much to the frustration of parents who have to monitor and often assist in making sure the homework is done with integrity. It is not uncommon for students to spend hours on homework. Weekend getaways are put on hold, dinners out are replaced by take-out and a family time is replaced with all night report writing sessions. Winter and spring breaks, and are no longer a time to rest, but to catch-up on extra learning. More recently, the city of San Marino, an affluent suburb of Los Angeles, found homework to be such an imposition on family time, that many of the parents contemplated taking their kids out of public school and put them in private school. Who would ever guess that public school would be perceived as more demanding than private. It seems that students today, even at the elementary school, are packed with so much homework, the concept of “free-time” is becoming passé.

Do students really need homework? Are all the hours spent “hitting the books” really make a difference in a child’s academic future? The answer is Yes. Having spent 23 years in the field of education, both as a teacher and an administrator, formal testing scores of students have shown that those students who regularly do homework, perform better. Academic standards today are more rigorous than they were 10 years ago. Almost all states have adopted academic standards at each grade level and our President himself monitors that progress through “No Child Left Behind”. When your child complains that” It is harder than your day, Mom”, he is probably right. The six hour day does not always give teachers enough time to “fit in” all the standards that are required to teach, let alone give them practice time to become proficient with the new knowledge that they are accountable for. Homework can assist in giving the much needed practice in acquiring new skills and knowledge. It is not the homework itself that is the demon but the AMOUNT of homework that creates the havoc on family life.

The key is time. More is not necessarily better. A child does not need to do 100 problems in math in order to get enough practice to master the skill. 10 are probably sufficient. A well-developed completed essay should not be required to complete in one sitting. Children should be given ample time to start an essay with a few days to edit and revise before they get the final product. It is not homework alone that is the culprit, but the amount of assignments given. The rule of thumb is 5 minutes for every year of age. That would mean a first grader would get 30 minutes of homework, while a fifth grader might get 50 minutes. This guideline takes into consideration the level of maturity of a child and the length of time that child can work independently. A 16 year old sophomore has the level of mental endurance to handle an hour and a half to two hours of homework. Any longer than that is simply overkill. After a full day at school, there is only so much the brain can absorb with any efficiency. Anytime above two hours is not only agonizing, but probably counterproductive.

The purpose of homework is review and practice the content covered during the day. It gives children an opportunity to practice the new information so that they can use the new knowledge with facility. If homework becomes so burdensome that a child becomes fatigued and frustrated, it defeats the purpose of the task. Children also learn from their environment. Trips to the museum, park, camping and the theatre are not only recreational, but are a source of new information and knowledge that makes a well balanced individual. If we do not give children ample “free time” to actually explore the world they are reading about, not only will we create a system that is ineffective, but will create a generation that will be turned off to knowledge. And that will leave a whole generation of children “left behind”.