Homework – the one word that forms a serious bone of contention in every household and school the world over.
How much homework should your child be doing AFTER school?
With exam years in secondary school, we can understand why some students receive a lot of after school work, but when your child is between four and ten, should they really be spending hours in the evening trawling through copy books?
We think not, and we’re not the only ones.
According to a study conducted by Denise Pope, a senior lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education:
“Too much homework can negatively affect kids, especially their lives away from school, where family, friends and activities matter.”
“Too much can diminish its effectiveness and even be counterproductive,” Pope added.
And we at MummyPages are firm believers that children deserve the chance to be just that - children.
They should be able to go home in the evenings, enjoy quality time with family, play with friends, and take part in so many hobbies that they can’t choose their favourite anymore.
However, these days kids are coming home from school with backpacks they can’t even carry and a tonne of homework to accompany it.
They’re tired, uninterested and don’t want to listen to their parents' fighting over how to correctly complete a maths sum too complicated for Einstein.
That is why we were way too excited to come across a letter from the Markethill Primary School in County Armagh.
County Armagh principal cancels written homework in the hope that children will go outside and enjoy themselves or discover a new hobby... pic.twitter.com/3SqJxOY6CD
— Johnny Caldwell (@Johnny_Caldwell) 8 May 2017
Principal Richardson sent the note home with each pupil in the school stating:
“As we enter the third term and the lighter evenings approach we wish to inform you that written homework will be stopping in Markethill Primary School.”
It gets better...
Addressing parents, the principal requests:
“Instead can we encourage you to inspire your children to get outside and to get active; to go for walks or cycles; to spend time reading or drawing or playing with friends; to spend quality time with family or to find and develop a new hobby.”
Hoping that both children and parents find the time they spend together beneficial, we think we just found a school with a wonderful penchant for common sense.
The principal clearly outlines the decision: “Children will continue with the learning aspects of homework – spelling and tables and reading homework but written maths and literacy homework will not be set.”
What do you think? Do you believe this school took a step in the right direction, or do kids need extra learning hours?
