I didn’t know there was someone championing this, but I’m hopping on this train. Growing up, my mom always advocated for less or no homework, and as an adult, I see why.
Our younger kids go to a public Montessori school with no homework. I adore Montessori for a thousand reasons, and no grades/homework is most definitely one. The older ones have transitioned to a traditional school in middle/highschool without any problems, but the no-homework approach in the younger years fosters a genuine love for learning and time/space for family, creativity, and boredom - all necessary! Joining you in fighting this battle for all kids because the data is real & families don't need one more stressor on their plates. Yes, we need widespread educational reform but it ain't coming from worksheets and workbooks. Good for you for saying no.
Absolutely. Former teacher here (middle school—rarely assigned homework other than independent reading in a book of choice) and fan of Alfie as well!
As a mom, I’m right there with you in the no homework advocacy! I told our middle kiddo’s kindergarten teacher last year that we were not doing it. School was already a lot for her and it just was not going to happen, and as you said, I wasn’t about to spend the evenings battling over a worksheet instead of doing life together and connecting with her. We did it some nights, here and there, when she felt like it. I did feel judged by the teacher but I didn’t care. Worth it. It just doesn’t make sense.
Count me in. I heard about a friend-of-a-friend a few years back who told this to her kids' teachers and my reaction was "wow, I wonder if I could pull that off ... probably not." It seemed like a really radical, courageous stand to take. Reading this piece and the comments section makes me feel empowered to actually do it. Thank you!
Yes, do it! Most teachers are giving homework because, as Claire mentioned, parents and/or admin expect them to. Lots of them don't even believe in it themselves; it's just part of the pressure of the job.
My first grader came home with weekly homework sheets. A piece of paper we're supposed to keep track of for week and sign sending it back on Friday indicating the child read a bit every night, studied their spelling words every night, did some math problems every night, and watched a video a few times of their weekly reading comprehension book being read out loud. None of it is necessarily burdensome, per sé. But, good grief, with the exception of going over THAT story, or going over THOSE words, these are things that we naturally do very night. (I have some in public school and some I homeschool depending on their needs.) What I disagree with is, expecting parents and kids to have another added responsibility of keeping track of a piece of paper all week to send it back AND assigning "classroom points" as a reward for doing it. Nevermind my own and my daughter's ADHD-brain having to remember a piece of paper throughout the week in a large household of rambunctious and messy children, but what about the kids whose parents or guardians don't help out or don't want too. Or can't (we have a very diverse international community, not everyone has English as even their second language, let alone their first).
I know she is a new teacher - just graduated in May - and I'm sure she is both enthused and worried because our state just changed their standardized testing, but...come on...these kids are 6-7. They need to run and play when they get home.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Love all of this. So far, our experience has been no homework in K-2 except for reading each night (and, um, that's not a problem around here). (No documentation required for the reading, either.) In third grade there was a weekly math worksheet with 2-3 problems and in 4th grade it's a daily math worksheet with 2-3 problems. Our daughter has finished these in about 10 minutes with no issues or grumbling, so I've let it be. But if it ever became a wedge in our household or a distraction from the things I think matter a lot more (many of which you listed!), I would have NO problem explaining our perspective and opting out to the teacher.
Last year for the first time I was told to "track" Benjamin's reading minutes...I told his teacher "he literally reads for an hour every single night, and if that changes I'll let you know."
One of our favorite things about our school is that they don’t assign homework until middle school 👏 I’m always flummoxed when friends tell me about their kindergartens doing an hour of homework- I truly don’t understand why any teacher thinks that’s a good idea. Good for you guys for opting out!!
Former middle school English teacher. I was expected (by admin and many parents) to assign at least a small amount of homework Mon-Thurs, but no homework on the weekends. (The only exception was you could have a long term project that kids have been working on in and out of class for weeks, etc. due on a Monday with lots of warning, basically “finish up if you’re not already done & bring it in on Monday!”) I thought it was an ok balance, considering admin expected homework to be some percentage of the kid’s overall grade— I needed at least something to put in that column!
I tried to balance it by giving kids at least some amount of time to do “homework” in class. I offered 20 min of free reading each day (block classes). Kids could do their English assigned reading, read a free choice book, or even read another textbook if they had homework in that class (SS, Sci, etc.) Audiobooks were fine as long as you were also reading the text along with it. I tried to set up kids with the Libby app as needed/interested, though it required a public library card.
If I assigned grammar or more writing oriented homework, I tried to assign Monday, due Friday so kids had options of when to do it.
We also took 10 min breaks outside halfway through class, because I was expected to teach three 110 min blocks with only a lunch break and ~35 min of planning. Lol. We all needed some fresh air with a class that long.
I think more than anything else, kids liked taking a 10 min break outside to stretch their legs, run a little, chit chat, have a snack, etc. We just went to the little lawn directly outside my building. Everyone was SO much calmer when we came back in.
As a SAHM now, I do miss teaching sometime, especially beginning of the school year! But I’m SO much less mentally stressed/more physically healthy, that it’s hard to want to go back, even when I do want to, if that makes sense haha. If I do go back to teaching, I try to remember— I only taught for a few years at one school in one grade level, so maybe that setting wasn’t the right fit for me, but maybe something else would click better. I plan to keep renewing my license, just in case. 😉
Yes! My 4th & 1st grader have less homework than last year and you know what I’ve noticed? My 1st grader can actually read every night! I was struggling when she was in kindergarten with worksheets every night to have the time to sit down with her and help her while she was still learning to read. Working with her through a short book every night is so much better than a silly worksheet! Better because it’s reading AND because it’s intentional one-on-one time that she sorely lacks as the compliant middle child.
So interesting to read this as a teacher and thinking/reflecting on my own practices when it came to homework for my middle school students(8th grade). I totally had days where I assigned lots of reading, of the history text(social studies classes), so we could work with that read material the next day. But so many kids didn’t come in with it read AND then I made the lame worksheets to get them to read. 🤦♀️ but something I’m realizing is I’m not sure if I learned how to do it differently! Or if I did, I fell asleep in my classes those days?!
I love the advocacy to just tell the teachers- well, we will opt out. As a rule follower to an extreme sometimes, that’s such an insight that I could just do that!
YES, preach, word, or whatever the kids are saying 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I taught middle school Language Arts for 2 years and then high school theology to juniors and seniors for 2 years. I NEVER assigned homework (sometimes long term projects they could absolutely work on at home but always have ample class time). I only had one set of parents ask why and try to “encourage” me to give homework and I very firmly, happily, and kindly told them no, there is nothing assigned in my classroom that can’t be finished there.
When I started teaching high school, their jaws hit the floor when I said “no homework.” And the looks of relief on their faces because now they had time for their other classes, sports, the jobs most of them worked. Honestly it was the beginning of the end of my relationship with education. Homework is a major aspect that is sucking the wonder of learning from our kids. Time for that shit to gtfo 💃🏻
This captures so well my internal struggle of deciding where our kids should go to school! We have a lovely little Catholic school right down the street (walking distance!), but they’re doing full days for kindergarten with homework and a toooon of extra parent responsibilities (lots of fundraising and volunteer expectations). I felt overwhelmed just as a preschool parent! So we chose a little Christian school across town that does half-days for K-12 and teaches a homeschool curriculum in the classroom. 🙌🏼 My oldest just started kindergarten there, and it’s such a good pace, he’s still enjoying school but can still ride his bike in the daylight and spend some quiet time at home without school taking over our entire family life.
Yes, this is definitely a school-by-school thing. I haven't found any trends of Catholic schools giving more or less homework--I know some that give none at all, and I know some where the second graders have *an hour* of homework every night because *we're academics-focused*. 💀
I’m a teacher (lower school music, which gives no homework) with 30+ years in the classroom and two adult kids. I hate homework. I know that some cultures and types of parenting revel in it, however, and that pressure keeps our teachers assigning it. I hear urban legends of families that just don’t do it. They tell the teacher not to expect it, and that’s that. I wonder what would happen if more folks took that approach.
Yep--that's what we do! I have a feeling it would start to change. I totally believe the teachers that a lot of the pressure comes from the parents. People are so used to thinking more homework = smarter kids, and changing that idea is going to take time + conversations + data.
Yes, we had a summer boys' camp once during which a mother came by every other day to take her 9 year old son out of camp to go do advanced math tutoring, because he wasn't ready for calculus yet. Sometimes, dodgeball is more important, I think.
I couldn't agree more!! I always believed in the power of reading. We started with my (now 21yo) son from infancy, reading to him. Made sure he had plenty of different books to read. Growing up and even in univ., I was a "memorizer"...afraid of forgetting what I was taught, but not always "learning". I was afraid to think or trust I could figure it out. So as my young son would ask a question, I'd always say "what do you think" and engage him in dialogue. (This was often in contrast to my husb who wanted to feed him the answers. LOL). This taught son to listen more carefully, reason things, and ask better questions. I never wanted him to feel embarrassed for a wrong answer; I just wanted him to feel free to ask "why" or "how" and then come up with his own creative ways of answering. And man that boy has creative thinking and mad Lego building skills!
Now....I will admit that elementary school homework would have been helpful for teaching him how to print because his handwriting is still nearly illegible. But that's my own desire; he can read cursive so that makes me happy. He has the know-how to debate, how to research, how to remember. And how to discern what is worth remembering and what he "has to" learn because a school class told him to (which he will likely not retain once it's over). And I don't think any of that came from assigned homework.
This piece just justified my renewed subscription! ;)
I’m really shocked kindergarteners are getting homework! That’s crazy! I live in Ireland and the first two years of primary school are play based, 4.5 hours per day and include two sessions of outdoor play per day. Definitely no homework !
The thing with the US is that it's just so big and there are so many schooling options, you get a very wide variety. So some kindergarteners don't but some absolutely do. Some kindergarteners are morning-only and some are full day. Our elementary school does offer two long recesses a day, which is fantastic.
YES (from another fan of public school)!! At curriculum night for our middle schooler the other day, the science teacher said he doesn't assign homework and explained his reasoning - I clapped & cheered. Fortunately, our kid wasn't there to be mortified by me.
This is maybe the first of your letters I DISAGREE with! Haha. I used to be on this train, but then my kids went to a no homework school and it was a disaster. Now I am very in favor of an appropriate amount of homework. Here's why: I need my kids to bring some work home so I can know what they're doing, and provide a little extra help when they need it. No homework might work IF schools were very good at communicating with parents and IF all kids were getting the attention they need. Neither of those is true. At all. Public schools simply don't have the resources they need to begin with and many actively discourage parental involvement. (And for context, we are a military family who has attended many different schools, I promise you this is a widespread issue, not just one "bad" school.) Our experience at one of these schools (which we had heard was sooo good--eye roll) is one of the reasons we switched to Catholic school after our last move. It has been a hard adjustment but I'm really glad we are now at a school with higher standards. My 5th grader in particular has some major gaps we're working through (after getting all excellent grades at his last school)--that I wasn't aware of bc he never brought anything home! And remember, no hw often also means no meaningful tests so these kids can't spell, don't know their multiplication tables, don't know how to be accountable for their own work, etc. Trust me--you do NOT want your kid to first encounter homework and test taking in middle school. I would much rather build up to it slowly.
I didn’t know there was someone championing this, but I’m hopping on this train. Growing up, my mom always advocated for less or no homework, and as an adult, I see why.
Our younger kids go to a public Montessori school with no homework. I adore Montessori for a thousand reasons, and no grades/homework is most definitely one. The older ones have transitioned to a traditional school in middle/highschool without any problems, but the no-homework approach in the younger years fosters a genuine love for learning and time/space for family, creativity, and boredom - all necessary! Joining you in fighting this battle for all kids because the data is real & families don't need one more stressor on their plates. Yes, we need widespread educational reform but it ain't coming from worksheets and workbooks. Good for you for saying no.
Absolutely. Former teacher here (middle school—rarely assigned homework other than independent reading in a book of choice) and fan of Alfie as well!
As a mom, I’m right there with you in the no homework advocacy! I told our middle kiddo’s kindergarten teacher last year that we were not doing it. School was already a lot for her and it just was not going to happen, and as you said, I wasn’t about to spend the evenings battling over a worksheet instead of doing life together and connecting with her. We did it some nights, here and there, when she felt like it. I did feel judged by the teacher but I didn’t care. Worth it. It just doesn’t make sense.
Yes! More of us need to do this! Especially at the older ages--even the data for *high schoolers* getting homework is mostly inconclusive.
Count me in. I heard about a friend-of-a-friend a few years back who told this to her kids' teachers and my reaction was "wow, I wonder if I could pull that off ... probably not." It seemed like a really radical, courageous stand to take. Reading this piece and the comments section makes me feel empowered to actually do it. Thank you!
Yes, do it! Most teachers are giving homework because, as Claire mentioned, parents and/or admin expect them to. Lots of them don't even believe in it themselves; it's just part of the pressure of the job.
God Bless you!
My first grader came home with weekly homework sheets. A piece of paper we're supposed to keep track of for week and sign sending it back on Friday indicating the child read a bit every night, studied their spelling words every night, did some math problems every night, and watched a video a few times of their weekly reading comprehension book being read out loud. None of it is necessarily burdensome, per sé. But, good grief, with the exception of going over THAT story, or going over THOSE words, these are things that we naturally do very night. (I have some in public school and some I homeschool depending on their needs.) What I disagree with is, expecting parents and kids to have another added responsibility of keeping track of a piece of paper all week to send it back AND assigning "classroom points" as a reward for doing it. Nevermind my own and my daughter's ADHD-brain having to remember a piece of paper throughout the week in a large household of rambunctious and messy children, but what about the kids whose parents or guardians don't help out or don't want too. Or can't (we have a very diverse international community, not everyone has English as even their second language, let alone their first).
I know she is a new teacher - just graduated in May - and I'm sure she is both enthused and worried because our state just changed their standardized testing, but...come on...these kids are 6-7. They need to run and play when they get home.
Oh my gosh--classroom points?! My mom would have a heart attack and die. That is wild! You're doing a great job mama!
Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Love all of this. So far, our experience has been no homework in K-2 except for reading each night (and, um, that's not a problem around here). (No documentation required for the reading, either.) In third grade there was a weekly math worksheet with 2-3 problems and in 4th grade it's a daily math worksheet with 2-3 problems. Our daughter has finished these in about 10 minutes with no issues or grumbling, so I've let it be. But if it ever became a wedge in our household or a distraction from the things I think matter a lot more (many of which you listed!), I would have NO problem explaining our perspective and opting out to the teacher.
Last year for the first time I was told to "track" Benjamin's reading minutes...I told his teacher "he literally reads for an hour every single night, and if that changes I'll let you know."
One of our favorite things about our school is that they don’t assign homework until middle school 👏 I’m always flummoxed when friends tell me about their kindergartens doing an hour of homework- I truly don’t understand why any teacher thinks that’s a good idea. Good for you guys for opting out!!
That is amazing!!
This is amazing! What kind of school is this?
It’s a private Christian Montessori school
Former middle school English teacher. I was expected (by admin and many parents) to assign at least a small amount of homework Mon-Thurs, but no homework on the weekends. (The only exception was you could have a long term project that kids have been working on in and out of class for weeks, etc. due on a Monday with lots of warning, basically “finish up if you’re not already done & bring it in on Monday!”) I thought it was an ok balance, considering admin expected homework to be some percentage of the kid’s overall grade— I needed at least something to put in that column!
I tried to balance it by giving kids at least some amount of time to do “homework” in class. I offered 20 min of free reading each day (block classes). Kids could do their English assigned reading, read a free choice book, or even read another textbook if they had homework in that class (SS, Sci, etc.) Audiobooks were fine as long as you were also reading the text along with it. I tried to set up kids with the Libby app as needed/interested, though it required a public library card.
If I assigned grammar or more writing oriented homework, I tried to assign Monday, due Friday so kids had options of when to do it.
We also took 10 min breaks outside halfway through class, because I was expected to teach three 110 min blocks with only a lunch break and ~35 min of planning. Lol. We all needed some fresh air with a class that long.
I don't envy teachers--I know the pressure is out of this world.
I think more than anything else, kids liked taking a 10 min break outside to stretch their legs, run a little, chit chat, have a snack, etc. We just went to the little lawn directly outside my building. Everyone was SO much calmer when we came back in.
As a SAHM now, I do miss teaching sometime, especially beginning of the school year! But I’m SO much less mentally stressed/more physically healthy, that it’s hard to want to go back, even when I do want to, if that makes sense haha. If I do go back to teaching, I try to remember— I only taught for a few years at one school in one grade level, so maybe that setting wasn’t the right fit for me, but maybe something else would click better. I plan to keep renewing my license, just in case. 😉
Yes! My 4th & 1st grader have less homework than last year and you know what I’ve noticed? My 1st grader can actually read every night! I was struggling when she was in kindergarten with worksheets every night to have the time to sit down with her and help her while she was still learning to read. Working with her through a short book every night is so much better than a silly worksheet! Better because it’s reading AND because it’s intentional one-on-one time that she sorely lacks as the compliant middle child.
You're doing a great job!!!
So interesting to read this as a teacher and thinking/reflecting on my own practices when it came to homework for my middle school students(8th grade). I totally had days where I assigned lots of reading, of the history text(social studies classes), so we could work with that read material the next day. But so many kids didn’t come in with it read AND then I made the lame worksheets to get them to read. 🤦♀️ but something I’m realizing is I’m not sure if I learned how to do it differently! Or if I did, I fell asleep in my classes those days?!
I love the advocacy to just tell the teachers- well, we will opt out. As a rule follower to an extreme sometimes, that’s such an insight that I could just do that!
I would be confident that it isn't widely taught, sadly.
YES, preach, word, or whatever the kids are saying 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I taught middle school Language Arts for 2 years and then high school theology to juniors and seniors for 2 years. I NEVER assigned homework (sometimes long term projects they could absolutely work on at home but always have ample class time). I only had one set of parents ask why and try to “encourage” me to give homework and I very firmly, happily, and kindly told them no, there is nothing assigned in my classroom that can’t be finished there.
When I started teaching high school, their jaws hit the floor when I said “no homework.” And the looks of relief on their faces because now they had time for their other classes, sports, the jobs most of them worked. Honestly it was the beginning of the end of my relationship with education. Homework is a major aspect that is sucking the wonder of learning from our kids. Time for that shit to gtfo 💃🏻
This captures so well my internal struggle of deciding where our kids should go to school! We have a lovely little Catholic school right down the street (walking distance!), but they’re doing full days for kindergarten with homework and a toooon of extra parent responsibilities (lots of fundraising and volunteer expectations). I felt overwhelmed just as a preschool parent! So we chose a little Christian school across town that does half-days for K-12 and teaches a homeschool curriculum in the classroom. 🙌🏼 My oldest just started kindergarten there, and it’s such a good pace, he’s still enjoying school but can still ride his bike in the daylight and spend some quiet time at home without school taking over our entire family life.
Yes, this is definitely a school-by-school thing. I haven't found any trends of Catholic schools giving more or less homework--I know some that give none at all, and I know some where the second graders have *an hour* of homework every night because *we're academics-focused*. 💀
I’m a teacher (lower school music, which gives no homework) with 30+ years in the classroom and two adult kids. I hate homework. I know that some cultures and types of parenting revel in it, however, and that pressure keeps our teachers assigning it. I hear urban legends of families that just don’t do it. They tell the teacher not to expect it, and that’s that. I wonder what would happen if more folks took that approach.
Yep--that's what we do! I have a feeling it would start to change. I totally believe the teachers that a lot of the pressure comes from the parents. People are so used to thinking more homework = smarter kids, and changing that idea is going to take time + conversations + data.
Yes, we had a summer boys' camp once during which a mother came by every other day to take her 9 year old son out of camp to go do advanced math tutoring, because he wasn't ready for calculus yet. Sometimes, dodgeball is more important, I think.
I couldn't agree more!! I always believed in the power of reading. We started with my (now 21yo) son from infancy, reading to him. Made sure he had plenty of different books to read. Growing up and even in univ., I was a "memorizer"...afraid of forgetting what I was taught, but not always "learning". I was afraid to think or trust I could figure it out. So as my young son would ask a question, I'd always say "what do you think" and engage him in dialogue. (This was often in contrast to my husb who wanted to feed him the answers. LOL). This taught son to listen more carefully, reason things, and ask better questions. I never wanted him to feel embarrassed for a wrong answer; I just wanted him to feel free to ask "why" or "how" and then come up with his own creative ways of answering. And man that boy has creative thinking and mad Lego building skills!
Now....I will admit that elementary school homework would have been helpful for teaching him how to print because his handwriting is still nearly illegible. But that's my own desire; he can read cursive so that makes me happy. He has the know-how to debate, how to research, how to remember. And how to discern what is worth remembering and what he "has to" learn because a school class told him to (which he will likely not retain once it's over). And I don't think any of that came from assigned homework.
This piece just justified my renewed subscription! ;)
Yes--memorizing and learning are very much not the same!!! Sounds like you did a great job with your son! :)
I’m really shocked kindergarteners are getting homework! That’s crazy! I live in Ireland and the first two years of primary school are play based, 4.5 hours per day and include two sessions of outdoor play per day. Definitely no homework !
The thing with the US is that it's just so big and there are so many schooling options, you get a very wide variety. So some kindergarteners don't but some absolutely do. Some kindergarteners are morning-only and some are full day. Our elementary school does offer two long recesses a day, which is fantastic.
YES (from another fan of public school)!! At curriculum night for our middle schooler the other day, the science teacher said he doesn't assign homework and explained his reasoning - I clapped & cheered. Fortunately, our kid wasn't there to be mortified by me.
This is maybe the first of your letters I DISAGREE with! Haha. I used to be on this train, but then my kids went to a no homework school and it was a disaster. Now I am very in favor of an appropriate amount of homework. Here's why: I need my kids to bring some work home so I can know what they're doing, and provide a little extra help when they need it. No homework might work IF schools were very good at communicating with parents and IF all kids were getting the attention they need. Neither of those is true. At all. Public schools simply don't have the resources they need to begin with and many actively discourage parental involvement. (And for context, we are a military family who has attended many different schools, I promise you this is a widespread issue, not just one "bad" school.) Our experience at one of these schools (which we had heard was sooo good--eye roll) is one of the reasons we switched to Catholic school after our last move. It has been a hard adjustment but I'm really glad we are now at a school with higher standards. My 5th grader in particular has some major gaps we're working through (after getting all excellent grades at his last school)--that I wasn't aware of bc he never brought anything home! And remember, no hw often also means no meaningful tests so these kids can't spell, don't know their multiplication tables, don't know how to be accountable for their own work, etc. Trust me--you do NOT want your kid to first encounter homework and test taking in middle school. I would much rather build up to it slowly.