Homework Hassles

“Education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the human individual, and is acquired not by listening to words but by experiences upon the environment."

---Dr. Maria Montessori

Growing up, my parents were as serious as a heart attack about school. My father was elected to his hometown school committee long before he ever had children. My mother chose to go to a private Catholic high school using her babysitting money because the public schools were, in her mind, "Not up to the task." She wanted more than sewing class and home ec. In private school, she was allowed to take biology and physics instead, and when she graduated, she joined the Navy as part of a flight crew. While neither of my parents went to college, they were two of the most educated people I've ever known.

 Naturally, when I had kids, I was committed to being the "Education Mom." I bought flashcards and worksheets the summer leading up to the first day of Kindergarten for my oldest. As a writer, I filled the house with books. The answer was never “No” if we were out and he wanted to buy a book. Not that math and science and history are not important subjects, but it mattered a great deal to me that my kids learn to love words. Reading, writing, and really, almost every other subject in school all starts with having the right words.  Looking back, I think I might have been overdoing it. This was pointed out to me when I went to my first back to school night and read the cute note that all the kids leave for their mom or dad on their tiny little desks. For what it's worth, it's overkill to take a red marker and make edits in the margins. Sorry, Andy.

Once my other two children came along, I relaxed. Schoolwork was (and still is) always a priority, but I didn't go all Tiger Mother about it. With my first, I would never have considered giving him an answer to a math problem. Mostly because once he got past third grade, I usually didn't know the answers, but still, homework was his job, not mine.

Now, with my third? Yes, OK, maybe back in elementary school I "helped" her with the spelling word sentences a few times. I specifically remember her thinking the word “underdog” referred to body parts that were on the underneath of our puppy, Oscar, the Wonder Pug. There was no way she was going to school having written, "Oscar likes to lick his underdog parts." That wasn’t something I wanted on her permanent record.

Homework has changed over the years; actually, it seems to change every school year. With each new teacher, new grade, and new school, the homework issue morphs into something different. The teachers I always respected the most and who were genuinely gifted educators, were the ones who didn’t make a big fat hairy deal over homework.  They looked at the child’s entire set of skills. What they did well, what they needed help with, and they went from there. 

If I had my way? Homework would cease to exist. While my background isn’t in child development or education, I’ve read and written about enough neuroscience studies to know a little bit about how the brain works, and pages of math facts, test prep worksheets, and arts and crafts do almost nothing to help children really learn. The dreaded "Group Projects" should be entirely done during school hours because then there is no 9:30 PM mad dash to Staples for poster board, note cards and at least one impossible to find item like green play dough. Then it becomes a Google search for "Playdough recipes" at ten o'clock because your kid forgot to tell you his part of the eco-system project was pond scum. Children are already too busy, and so are their families. Most homework, in my not-so-humble-opinion, is a waste of the precious hours kids have after school.

We need to take education seriously, but it doesn’t need to involve math homework that takes ten minutes to finish the equations and another hour to illustrate a cartoon story of Pete Protractor and the Pythagorean theorem. Why do students in some other countries have higher test scores than we do? Because they don’t color in math class, that’s why. 

Homework is here to stay, despite a lot of evidence that it doesn't improve the education our kids are getting. I just wish it could be more thought-provoking than the latest photocopies of MCAS "practice" tests and more relevant than whatever bits of glue and construction paper you can shove into a shoebox diorama. But what do I know, I got all the way through college without ever having to make a model of the Great Wall of China out of sugar cubes. It's a wonder I can think at all.

Back to School Isn't Just About the Kids

“You learn something new every day if you pay attention.”

---Ray LeBlond

While one doesn’t have to be in school to learn, it is that time of year. Folders, binders and
supplies are flying off the shelves, the big yellow buses are rolling, and it’s what some parents
(and at least one store advertisement) have called “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”
I get that. Summer is great fun for the kids, but it can be a hassle for parents. The beach,
backyard BBQs, longer days, sea breezes and sand are a much-needed part of growing up. So is
an education and, when September comes, that’s where you’ll find more than a few grumpy
kids.

Parents can breathe a little easier when school starts, at least for the first week or so. They no
longer have to be the activities director. The house is quiet for a few hours and there isn’t a
constant stream of Fortnite players and floss dancers bouncing off the walls. While many might not admit it, the kids get over the moodiness of summer’s end pretty quickly. So, parents are happier now, the kids can start their fall sports and see their friends every day, what’s not to like?

Well, I think we are forgetting a few people in the back to school crunch. What about the
teachers? Summer time, at least part of it, is a huge break for them. Summer means that the
alarm clock isn’t bleating like a lost sheep at some un-Holy early hour. There’s no pile of papers
to grade every night. Lesson plans are not due, classrooms are locked and the fun beach books
are in the “to be read” pile instead of IEPs and curriculum changes. How hard it must be for
educators to put away the sunscreen and, once again, clean, unpack and decorate a classroom.

Think about the first day of school. You arrive at your child’s school, dragging a case of Kleenex
and a tub of wet wipes. The desks all have place cards on them, with the names of students.
There are theme boards with cutesy calendars, and color-coordinated task charts. Who did all
that and when did they have time? The teacher did it, and they make the time while most of us
still have our toes in the sand and a drink in hand. The whole “Teachers have it made, they
don’t work all summer” concept is a lie. Every single teacher I know spends a good part of the
summer on continuing education, cleaning classrooms, buying supplies with their own money
and planning the year to come. Also, not every teacher can take the summer off. Many have a
second job, because rent needs to be paid in the summer too.

No one likes the fun to come to an end, but teachers have to be ready, on the first day, to take
on the entire year. No kid shows up on the first day of school already knowing how they are
going to teach the unit on fractions, but the teacher does. That’s because they likely worked it out over their “vacation.” Teachers show up at the school room door already knowing the
names of more than 20 kids and the family and health information on a good many of them as
well. They didn’t wait until Labor Day weekend to think about how their classroom should look.
They were likely in that classroom during the dog days of August, setting up a reading corner
and moving furniture around. There is no “Laminating Fairy” that sneaks into the teacher’s
lounge and heat seals 50 sets of handwriting cards and multiplication tables. There are no
education elves that neatly sort crayons and markers into brightly colored bins. That is done by
the teachers while their students are still hitting the waves.

While it’s a lot of work and a job I could certainly never do, many of my friends who are teachers say back to school is a new beginning for them. New faces, new challenges and, at
least for the first few days, the fresh clean smell of Xerox paper and red rubber kick balls for recess. January is the start of a new year and when many of us make resolutions to get
organized, start over, do better at something. Personally, I find no renewed motivation for anything but Netflix and bacon during the frigid days of January. September and back to school is my jam. What a perfect time to turn over a new leaf, when they’re all gorgeously gold and red, showing their best sides. Teachers know this too, and they’ve come prepared to make it happen for our kids. So while you dance back to the car after drop off, take a minute to realize that this day didn’t just appear out of thin air. It happened because dedicated education professionals skipped a few beach days. To the teachers I know, welcome back, you were missed.