Is this much homework helping or hurting?

Caryl Mclaen: Is the 11 year old gifted? These are not typical classes for an 11 year old to be taking. I'm wondering if the demands on the child are too much. If the 11 year old is saying that he is overwhelmed you need to listen to that. As a teacher, I find that kids that are overwhelmed cannot concentrate. Often, parents panic when kids are not doing well, and start forcing extra practice on the kids, but then kids have even more work to do, and they feed off the stress from their parents, and then they can't concentrate even more, and then it becomes a vicious cycle. My suggestion is to relax, and let the kids find their way. Maybe get a tutor to help with the homework. Also, I'm questioning the 30 math problems per day. Are these just Math fact questions that they want the kids to be able to recall quickly? Or are they related to Math that they are doing in class? This sounds more like "drill and kill" work to me, rather than useful work. If your child ca! n do the 5 most difficult questions, he shouldn't need to do the other questions.Most elementary teachers use the following guideline for homewok - 10 minutes per grade per night. If your 11 year old is in grade 6, he should be doing about 1 hour of homework per night. The 13 year old should be doing about 1 hour 20 minutes. Some nights might be less, some might be a little more. More than that and they will burn out.I hope that helps!...Show more

Clemmie Burkleo: i dont think its the amount of homework that is causing them to not do their best but in fact the actual subjects they are trying to learn. no child that age or any age of that matter (until the age of possibly a jr in hs) should have to learn anything at a college level unless that is what they wish to do ( in our HS, freshmen can start taking college courses to get their credits earlier) but NOT an elementary student or middle school student, they should not be forced. i would suggest changing schools t! hat will allow them to CHOOSE their future instead of forcing ! it upon them...Show more

Toya Braskett: ditch the kids n find another man without kids