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Posted by: Jack
« on: May 27, 2018, 11:40:37 am »

Quote from: Zyngaru on May 27, 2018, 11:37:08 am
I know.  Teachers hate my philosophy.  So be it.  It is what it is.  No adult likes to have to bring their work home with them, especially when they are not being paid to do their work at home.  Why should it be any different for kids.

I should point out first that, it's different for teachers.

Secondly, I should point out that homework is set so that kids can do enough repetition to master a skill.  It is for their benefit, unlike an employee, where it's done for the employer's benefit.

Having said that, I think that there was a period when there was some mystic benefit seen in homework, or maybe teachers felt they had to assign a lot so people (parents and admin) saw that they were doign something.  Either way, I think that there is a good reason for homework, but I think it needs to be pretty limited.
Posted by: Zyngaru
« on: May 27, 2018, 11:37:08 am »

I never worried about homework.  If I got it done at school.  During free time, homeroom, study hall, library time, then it got done, otherwise it didn't get done.  I did not do homework at home.

My philosophy has always been that school is school and home is home and never the two should meet.  Kids are in school long enough every day to do whatever it is teachers want them to do.  There is no reason for a kid to have to take schoolwork home to interfere with their home life.

I know.  Teachers hate my philosophy.  So be it.  It is what it is.  No adult likes to have to bring their work home with them, especially when they are not being paid to do their work at home.  Why should it be any different for kids.
Posted by: Jack
« on: May 27, 2018, 11:13:02 am »

Quote from: Journey on May 27, 2018, 09:00:50 am
It's a good habit for kids to develop. Noting down my homework in a journal saved me multiple times during my college years.

It's a good habit for most people, honestly.  I keep a doc open on my phone where I can jot down reminders of things I need to do that don't really fit onto the calendar or alarm.
Posted by: Journey
« on: May 27, 2018, 09:00:50 am »

We did talk about this, Jack, although for some reason, I thought we did it in this forum and not the old one.

I don't think I mentioned this before, but after you explained what exactly the homework folders were, I realized that the concept wasn't really new to me. During my grade school years, each student was required to have a homework notebook. There were three columns - one for date assigned, one for the instructions, and (I think) one for the submission date.

I remember some teachers would print out the instructions and have the students paste them onto the notebooks. As we got older, teachers would get less strict about the homework notebooks until they would eventually become optional notebooks in late elementary school or in high school (can't remember which).

It's a good habit for kids to develop. Noting down my homework in a journal saved me multiple times during my college years.
Posted by: Jack
« on: May 27, 2018, 04:18:06 am »

With the end of the school year approaching, grades and homework are getting more than normal attention.  In the last week or two, I have mentioned those things several times.  In chat the other day, it turned out that one member was really confused about the homework folders.  I know the old forum had a section about this, and I remember discussing it with Journey in depth, but the information doesn't seem to be available here, so I thought I'd recap it.

First, let me say that the basic idea was my dad's, and I honestly haven't changed it much since he came up with it.  While I have trouble sorting out a lot of exact details about when I was in college, I'm pretty sure this was when Ben was in 6th grade, which would have made me 20.  Ben had been having a lot of trouble keeping up with homework, stuff hadn't been being turned in, and Ben had been lying about it.  It only took a couple of weeks to fall apart, and I remember Ben got his butt torn up.

I'm not exactly sure when I started using them.  Steve's mom had taught him to keep a spiral notebook with him when he went to class, and he jotted down notes for things he needed to do, and that always worked for him.  I think I first introduced them to my kids when Mikell came along, because he was very smart, but very disorganized.

I will tell you know that this is a family thing, not a school thing, though many of my boys' teachers know about it, and I know it's been passed on to other families.  It's honestly pretty easy, and it's a great way to keep up with everything and make sure you're not forgetting things.

You can really use anything, though I prefer a small brad notebook with pockets.  You take a peace of paper and date it, then write each period down.  When in class, the boy writes down homework (if any).  In Ben's case, and something I've done before with a few boys, is to have the teacher initial what they've written, but that's only when there's trouble.   

First Period Math

Second Period Reading

Third Period History

Fourth Period (Gym)

Fifth Period Science

Sixth Period (Art)

Seventh Period Health

Eighth Period English

We've made a simple word doc, and adjust it for each boy.  The hardest part is getting the dates correct.  There is supposed to be a way to do calculated dates, but because of weekends and holidays, it's just easier to do it by hand so far.  We use holed printer paper, which is a bit more expensive, but very much worth it.  That meant there was just a bit of trial and error in adjusting the tabs, and then I can have each boy adjust for his own schedule, then we're off to town.  I do have three small columns to the right - one for the boy to check when he finishes, one to put a grade, and one for the teacher to initial.  We rarely bother with the third, and most of the boys don't bother with the second.

As for checking on them, all the schools have online grade books of some type these days.  While the software varies a bit, it's usually just a case of going to the school's web site, logging in, then selecting which of kids I want to check on.  I rarely bother to compare the homework folders to the online grade books, unless I see a specific problem.  The only reason it's hard at all is because of the number of kids on whom I'm checking.