Thursday, January 1, 2015

Should Homework Be Banned

originally posted 09 NOV 2014

The best part of homeschooling, my children say, is that they have no homework. Now, I know, you're saying, "But, it's homeschool. Isn't all their homework at home?" No, not really, my kids have always taken some classes with other kids. They also do a fair amount while being chauffeured to their various classes, clubs and activities. My son, who is in high school, is taking all his classes at the Community College now so he does have homework but, when he was younger, he'd be done by early afternoon each day.

I've been reading how more and more elementary and middle schools are banning homework. We've been in the school system. We were all very frustrated by the amount of work coming home and it was and is a common complaint among my friends whose kids are still in traditional schools.
I really don't think it is needed. I have two children who learn very differently. My daughter has dyslexia. They have all their schoolwork done by the time most kids are breaking out their sandwiches for lunch. Both are doing wonderfully academically.

Studies have also shown that homework really doesn't have much value before high school. A study at Stanford found that the more homework kids have, the more likely they are to be stressed, less socialized (with more socialization problems) and tend to have a lot more health problems.

Really, getting their schoolwork done so early every day allows them to hang out with friends, join groups, get involved in the community and just be kids. Sometimes it makes me sad that while my kids have all their homeschooled pals over to hang out, some kids can't come over because they have too much homework. Socialization is important.

As more elementary and middle schools do away with homework, what do you think? Homework? Yay or Nay?

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