Doing Homework In Car? The 118 Detailed Answer

Today’s youth are under a lot of pressure.

They are under pressure to be successful, to win, to be the best and to get into the top colleges. With so much pressure, is it any wonder today’s youth report is under as much stress as his parents? According to a previous survey by the American Psychological Association, “Stress in America,” teens report experiencing adult-reported levels of stress during the school year.

If you ask a teenager what excites them so much, the topic of school is likely to come up. School can cause a lot of stress, which can lead to other serious problems like sleep deprivation. According to the National Sleep Foundation, teenagers need between eight and 10 hours of sleep each night, but only 15 percent get anywhere near that amount. During the school week, most teens only get about six hours of zzz’s a night, and some of that sleep deficit can be attributed to homework.

When it comes to school, many adults would rather not swap places with a teenager. Think about it. They get up at dawn and get on the bus when it’s pitch dark outside. They spend an entire day sitting in class for hours (sometimes four to seven different classes a day) just to get more work on them to do at home. To top it off, many children have extracurricular commitments such as B. Extracurricular activities such as clubs and sports, and some have to work. After a long day, they finally come home to do even more – schoolwork.

Homework is not only a source of stress for students, it can also be a nuisance for parents. If you’re the parent of a child who strives to be “perfect,” then you know only too well how much time your child spends making sure all their homework is done, even if it means staying up all night on the page If you’re the parent of a child who has decided that school will end when the last bell rings, then you know how exhausting that homework tug-of-war can be. Stop the joke because your child excels at tests and quizzes grades but does not turn in assignments. Academics’ woes can extend well beyond the confines of the school building and right into the home.

This is the time of year when many students and parents feel the weight of academic strain. After spring break, many schools across the country enter the final phase of the year. As a result, some teachers increase the amount of homework they give. The assignments aren’t a punishment, although they sure can seem like it to students and parents who need to constantly keep on top of their kids’ schoolwork.

From the teacher’s point of view, the tasks should help the students to better understand the course content and to prepare for upcoming exams. Some schools have state-mandated final or final tests. In these states, these tests can account for 20 percent of a student’s final grade. Therefore, teachers want to make sure they cover the entire syllabus before taking this exam. In addition to the state-required tests, some high school students are enrolled in college-level advanced or international high school courses that have final tests taken a month or more before the end of the semester. In order to cover all content, teachers must maintain an accelerated pace. All of this means more assignments outside of class.

Given the challenges children face, there are some questions parents and educators should consider:

Is homework necessary?

Many youth may be quick to answer “no” to that question, but the jury is still out. Research supports both sides of the argument. Personally, I would say yes, some homework is necessary, but it needs to be purposeful. If it’s a lot of work, then it’s a waste of time. Homework should be a supplementary teaching tool. Too often, some youth go home completely lost because they have not understood the concepts covered in class, and they can become frustrated and overwhelmed.

You know how frustrating this can be for a parent who has been in this situation, especially when it comes to an issue you haven’t encountered in a while. Homework can serve a purpose, such as B. improving grades, increasing test scores and instilling a good work ethic. Targeted homework can take the form of individualized assignments based on student needs or help students practice newly acquired skills.

Homework should not be used to increase class time to cover more material. If your child keeps coming home and needs to study the material before completing the assignments, then it’s time to contact the teacher and set up a conference. Listen when children raise their concerns (e.g., when they say they should know concepts that are not being taught in class) as they provide clues as to what is or is not happening in the classroom. Also, getting to the root of the problem can help keep the peace at home, since an irritable and grumpy teenager can disrupt harmonious family dynamics.

how much is too much

According to the National PTA and the National Education Association, students should only do about 10 minutes of homework per night per grade level. However, according to a survey of high school students by Statistic Brain, teenagers do a lot more than that. In this survey, teenagers reported spending an average of more than three hours on homework each school night, with eleventh graders spending more time on homework than any other grade level. In contrast, some surveys have shown that US high school students do about seven hours of homework per week.

Much of a student’s workload depends on the courses they are taking (e.g., advanced or college preparatory courses), the teaching philosophy of the educators, and the student’s commitment to getting the work done. Regardless, research has shown that students do not benefit from doing more than two hours of homework per night. Doing a lot of homework every day makes it difficult for teenagers to have free time, let alone family time.

How do we address the needs of the students?

As an educator and parent, I can honestly say that there is often a mismatch between what teachers claim is only 15 minutes and what is really 45 minutes. If you too find this to be the case, contact your child’s teacher and find out why assignments are taking longer than expected for your child to complete.

Also, ask the teacher if faculty regularly communicates with each other about big upcoming assignments. Whether it’s establishing a shared school-wide assignment calendar or collaborating across the curriculum at faculty meetings, educators need to discuss upcoming tests and projects so students aren’t faced with multiple assignments all simultaneously competing for their attention and time. It is inevitable that a student will be hit on occasion, but if they are on good terms with their teachers, they will feel comfortable enough to seek alternatives. And as a parent, you can encourage your child to have this dialogue with the teacher.

Oftentimes, teenagers would rather blend in than stand out. This is unfortunate, because research has consistently shown that positive teacher-student relationships are strong predictors of student engagement and achievement. On the whole, most teachers appreciate when students stand up for themselves and will go the extra mile to help them.

Can there be a balance between home and school?

Students can find a balance between school and home, but parents must help them find it. They need your guidance to learn how to better manage their time, get organized, and prioritize tasks, all of which are important life skills. Developing good study habits is just as important. Some students may need tutoring or coaching to help them learn new material or take notes and study. Also, don’t forget the importance of parent-teacher communication. Most educators want nothing more than to see their students succeed in their courses.

Learning should be fun, not banal and cumbersome. Homework should only be given meaningfully and in moderation. Just as important as homework is getting involved in activities, hanging out with friends, and spending time with family.

A task or task done at home, typically for school or a class

“Schools are allowed to give students some homework during the holidays, but the amount must be reasonable.”

Work or research done in preparation for a task or project

“In other words, I need to do my homework before I buy it to educate myself as much as I can about the product.”

An activity performed as an exercise or exercise

The devotion of time and attention to the acquisition of knowledge about an academic subject

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How much homework students should be given has long been a source of debate among parents and educators. In recent years, some districts have even instituted no-homework policies, as students juggle sports, music, and other after-school activities.

Parents of elementary school students, in particular, have argued that after-school hours should be spent with family or playing outside rather than completing chores. And there’s little research showing that homework improves the academic performance of elementary school students.

However, some experts say homework has value, even for younger students. If done well, it can help students practice core concepts and develop study habits and time management skills. The key to effective homework, they say, is keeping assignments related to classroom learning and adjusting the amount according to age: Many experts suggest no homework for kindergarteners and little to none in first and second grades .

value of homework

Homework provides an opportunity to reinforce what is being taught that day, week, or unit in the classroom. Practice is important, says Janine Bempechat, clinical professor at Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.

“There’s really no other area of ​​human ability that anyone would say you don’t need practice,” she adds. “We have kids who practice the piano and we have kids who go to gym several days a week after school.

Homework is also where school and family meet most often.

“Kids bring things home from school,” says Paula S. Fass, professor emeritus of history at UC Berkeley and author of The End of American Childhood. “Before the pandemic, (homework) was the only real sense parents had of knowing what was going on in schools.”

Harris Cooper, professor emeritus of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University and author of “The Battle Over Homework,” examined more than 60 research studies on homework between 1987 and 2003 and found that homework—when done right—leads to greater success the student can lead. However, too much is harmful. And homework is more beneficial for secondary school students (grades 7-12) than for elementary school students.

“Every child should do homework, but the amount and way they do it should be appropriate for their developmental level,” he says. “It’s a balancing act for teachers. Eliminating homework altogether is not in the best interests of children and families. But overburdening families with homework is also not in the interests of the child or a family.”

Negative Homework

Not all elementary school homework involves completing a worksheet. Chores can be fun, Cooper says, like taking students to educational sites, keeping stats on their favorite sports teams, reading for fun, or even helping their parents with grocery shopping. It’s about showing students that activities done outside of school can relate to topics learned in the classroom.

But assignments that are just strenuous work that require students to learn new concepts at home, or that are overly time-consuming can be counterproductive, experts say.

Homework that is just hard work.

Effective homework strengthens math, reading, writing, or spelling skills, but in a meaningful way, experts say. Assignments that seem more like strenuous work—projects or worksheets that don’t require teacher feedback and don’t relate to topics learned in the classroom—can be frustrating for students and stressful for families.

“The mental health aspect has definitely played a role here in recent years during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the last thing we want to do is frustrate students with labor-intensive or pointless homework,” says Dave Steckler, Principal at Red Trail Elementary School in Mandan, North Dakota.

Homework on materials that children have not yet learned.

Given the pressure to cover all topics in standardized tests and the limited time during the school day, some teachers assign homework that has not yet been taught in the classroom.

This creates not only stress but also equity issues. Some parents speak languages ​​other than English or hold multiple jobs, and they cannot help their children teach new concepts.

“It’s just going to be a pain for parents and children to work through this worksheet, and the goal is to get to the bottom of the worksheet with answers completed without understanding what any of it is important for,” says Professor Susan R Goldman, Co – Director of the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Illinois – Chicago.

Homework that is too time consuming.

The standard homework guideline recommended by the National Parent Teacher Association and the National Education Association is the “10 Minute Rule” – 10 minutes of late night homework per grade level. For example, a fourth grader would get a total of 40 minutes of homework per night.

But that doesn’t always happen, especially since not every student learns the same way. A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found that elementary school kids were actually getting three times the recommended amount of homework — and that family stress increased with homework burden.

Young children can only pay attention for short periods of time, so a lot of homework, especially lengthy projects, can negatively affect students’ attitudes towards school. Some long-term individual projects — like building a replica city, for example — tend to become more of a task for parents than for students, Fass says.

“It’s one thing to commission a project like this that has multiple kids working together,” she adds. “In (that) case, the kids usually work on it. It’s another thing to send it home to the families, where it becomes a burden and doesn’t really do much.”

Private vs. public schools

Do private schools give more homework than public schools? There is little research on the subject, but experts say private school parents are more likely to accept homework and see it as a sign of academic rigour.

Of course, not all private schools are the same — some focus on college preparation and traditional academics, while others emphasize alternative approaches to education.

“I think in the academically oriented private schools there is more support for homework from parents,” said Gerald K. LeTendre, chair of educational administration at Pennsylvania State University—University Park. “I don’t know if there’s any research that shows there’s more homework, but it’s less of a contentious issue.”

How to tackle homework overload

First, assess whether the workload lasts as long as it appears. Sometimes kids start working on a homework assignment, walk away, and come back later, Cooper says.

“Parents don’t see it, but they know their child started homework four hours ago and still hasn’t made it,” he adds. “They don’t see that there are those four hours when their child has been doing a lot of other things. So the homework itself doesn’t really take four hours. That’s the child’s way of approaching it.”

However, when homework becomes stressful or the workload is too heavy, experts advise parents to contact the teacher first, followed by a school administrator.

Children do better in school when parents take an active interest in their homework – it shows children that what they are doing matters.

Of course, helping with homework shouldn’t mean spending hours hunched over a desk. Parents can be supportive by demonstrating learning and organizational skills, explaining a tricky problem, or simply encouraging the kids to take a break. And who knows? Parents might even learn a thing or two!

Here are some tips to lead the way:

7 out of 19

To help children who are reluctant, first lower the barrier to entry. Make starting homework so easy anyone can do it. Here are two main strategies:

1. By Task: Choose a small task that your child can do to get started. When he’s assigned an essay, have him start writing the front page. If she’s assigned a 20-problem math worksheet, have her do the first two—and then take a short break.

2. By time: Some children need a timer. I find it best to use 10 minutes – I call it the “bearable 10”. Just tell your child, “Okay, focus as best you can, as best you can, for just 10 minutes.” When time is up, allow them to run a lap in the living room or do a quick stretch.

Whether task- or time-motivated, your child will notice that the job is not that difficult once the barrier to entry has been lowered.

[Get this Free Handout: Simple Shelters for Children with ADHD]

How many times have you found yourself staring at your textbook around midnight (or later!) even when you started your homework hours early? These lost hours could be explained by Parkinson’s law, which states: “The work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” In other words, if you take your time all night to study these geometry formulas for Memorizing your quiz tomorrow, you’ll inevitably find that a 30-minute task has kind of filled your entire evening.

We know you have more homework than ever. But even if you’re busy, a few tweaks to your study routine could help you spend less time getting more done.

Here are 8 steps to use Parkinson’s Law to your advantage:

1. Make a list

This should be a list of everything that needs to be done that evening. And we mean everything from re-reading that morning’s history class notes to taking the Spanish vocabulary quiz.

2. Estimate the time it will take to complete each item on your list

You can be a bit careless here. No matter how long you think a task will take, try to shave 5 or 10 minutes. But be realistic. You don’t magically become a speed reader.

3. Gather all your equipment

Gather EVERYTHING you need for the homework you are working on (like your laptop for writing assignments and pens for assignment sets). Getting up for supplies throws you off course and makes it that much harder to get back to your homework.

4. Pull the plug

The constant ringing and beeping of your devices can make it impossible to focus on what you’re working on. Turn off or mute your phones and tablets, or leave them in another room until it’s time for a tech break.

Read more: How to calculate your grade point average

5. Time yourself

By noting how much time something actually takes, you can better assess and plan your next study session.

6. Stick to the task

When fact checking online, it can be as simple as surfing to a completely unrelated site. A better strategy is to jot down what information you need to find online and do it all at once at the end of the study session.

7. Take lots of breaks

Most of us need a break between subjects or to break long periods of study. Active breaks are a great way to keep your energy up. Tech breaks can be a great way to combat the fear of missing out while immersed in your work, but they also last a lot longer than originally intended. Stick to a break schedule of about 10 minutes.

8. Reward yourself!

Ready early? If you scheduled 30 minutes to read a biology chapter and it only took you 20, you can use those extra 10 minutes to take a quick break — or just get on with your next assignment. If you stay on track, you can get your work done fast enough to catch up on some Netflix.

Our best advice? Keep it up. The more you use this system, the easier it becomes. You’ll be surprised how much time you can save on homework by focusing on and committing to a distraction-free study schedule.

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Parents often blame themselves when they help their child too much with their homework. Sometimes the homework battle can be made a little easier if you simply tell your child what to do or just do it for them. At least it’s done you think.

Teachers have spoken of parents writing their children’s assignments, taking responsibility for homework, and emailing teachers outside of class hours or, in one case, showing up at a teacher’s home on weekends to check for assigned homework to ask.

However, research shows that too much help can stunt your child’s skill development and make them feel incompetent.

Helping with homework can create tension or pressure for the child to succeed.

That’s not to say parents shouldn’t get involved, as research shows it’s an important factor in academic success. But parents need to know when it’s appropriate to do so and when to step back.

Helicopter Parenting

Overparenting has been described as providing appropriate parenting traits to a degree where they are no longer beneficial. This approach can lead to anxiety, narcissism, low resilience, and an external locus of control in children.

When parents take responsibility for always making their child happy and successful, they discourage their child from developing age-appropriate autonomy and encourage the child to expect other adults to protect them against any challenge.

One study showed that children over the age of nine viewed parental help or supervision of their homework as a sign of their incompetence. It can be useful to offer this type of support when a child is younger, but parents need to adjust their approach to homework as the child gets older and only help when specifically requested.

For adolescents, parental help with homework was postulated as developmentally inappropriate. The child should manage their own workload, so this type of help can limit the adolescent’s development of autonomy and responsibility for their schoolwork, leading to poorer homework performance.

By the age of 12, the parents should withdraw completely. If they don’t, students can rely on the adults in their lives to take on a high degree of responsibility for completing their academic work, which can reduce their motivation for schoolwork.

A recent study of parents from Catholic and independent schools found that those who support the superparent belief tend to take more responsibility for their child’s homework and also expect their child’s teachers to take more responsibility for it, particularly in the middle and high school years.

This research could explain why some parents remain heavily involved in their child’s college work and do not allow their child autonomy over their own decisions. These parental actions have been linked to higher rates of depression and reduced life satisfaction in college students

Learn how to provide the appropriate level of support.

Tips for Parents

But despite the well-documented evidence that sleep is necessary for learning, students continue to face increasing strains on their time. Children often participate in extracurricular activities and do homework for hours each evening.

What really happens while you sleep?

Sleep occurs in several phases, with each phase serving a specific purpose. The human body takes care of its physical needs first. The body quickly cycles through brief stages one and two, and settles into several hours of stages three and four asleep. During these phases, neurons in the brain have locked into a regular rhythm and the body begins to repair itself. The immune system is restored, muscles and cardiovascular system are rejuvenated and the positive effects on metabolism and muscle building through exercise come into play.

“If you haven’t had a good night’s sleep, it’s really difficult to learn new things because you haven’t cleared all the synaptic connections.”

“The reason for a good night’s sleep is really so you can enjoy the next day and consolidate what you did the day before,” said Dr. Matt Carter, senior fellow at the University of Washington, in a recent webinar.

Towards the end of a typical six to eight hour night, the brain gets its chance to rejuvenate during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. This is the phase that is crucial for learners, as the brain solidifies everything that was taken in the previous day and erases old, unnecessary memories to make room for new information.

“In REM sleep, your brain basically replays everything that happened during the day and solidifies what you’ve learned,” Carter said. During the learning process, the brain’s synapses fire in specific patterns. At night, these patterns keep firing, reinforcing the path. Equally important, the brain remembers many small details from the previous day that it doesn’t need. During REM sleep, the brain removes unnecessary detail to make room for new learning the next day.

“If you haven’t had a good night’s sleep, it’s really hard to learn new things because you haven’t cleared all the synaptic connections,” Carter said. The brain-rejuvenating functions take place in REM sleep, a later phase of sleep. So if a student doesn’t get enough sleep, they won’t spend much time in REM.

Just like adults, sleep-deprived children may not be able to focus as well, and over time the effects of sleep deprivation will take their toll on the body.

What is the solution?

Educator Madeline Levine and author of Teach Your Children Well says high schools should adapt their schedules to the needs of teens. School was due to start at 10am to ensure sixth form students get the nine hours they need. It would help them focus in class and might even prevent depression, a condition that’s increasingly being linked to lack of sleep.

And it’s not just about the number of hours in bed – it’s about the quality of sleep. “Sleep is something to prepare for and think about,” Carter said, adding that people assume sleep comes naturally to children. But it’s especially important for young people to establish a routine, not eating carbs before bed and avoiding bright screens before bed — the glow biologically resets the circadian rhythm, which responds to how much light enters the eye . For children who have trouble falling asleep, parents should teach them relaxation techniques, like deep breathing and listening to slow music—this helps neurons fall into their synchronized pattern faster.

People with ADHD have brain differences that affect their attention span. They are more easily distracted than people who don’t have it. They often have trouble staying organized, concentrating on a task, and finishing what they started.

ADHD also affects behavior. Some people may have trouble sitting still, waiting, or listening. Some interrupt too often or get upset easily. Some do things in a hurry instead of taking their time. ADHD affects different people in different ways.

If you have ADHD, you know that sometimes you can feel misunderstood and frustrated. ADHD makes it difficult to do your best at school, at home, and with friends. But it doesn’t have to hold you back. Instead, learn as much as you can about it.

Learning to manage ADHD takes time—there’s no quick fix. Treating ADHD can mean taking medication or working with a therapist. Most people with ADHD have both.

You can also try these tips to help with school:

The department of

Resources for people with disabilities and educational services

College of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Educationalist Denise Pope has found that too much homework has a negative impact on student well-being and behavior. (Image credit: LA Cicero)

A Stanford researcher found that too much homework can negatively impact children, especially their lives outside of school where family, friends, and activities are important.

“Our results on the effects of homework challenge the traditional assumption that homework is inherently good,” wrote Denise Pope, associate professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education and co-author of a study published in the Journal of Experimental Education.

Researchers used survey data to examine perceptions of homework, student well-being, and behavioral engagement in a sample of 4,317 students from 10 high-performing high schools in upper-middle-class California communities. In addition to the survey data, Pope and her colleagues used open-ended responses to examine students’ views on homework.

Average household incomes in these communities exceeded $90,000, and 93 percent of students attended either a two-year or four-year college.

Students at these schools do an average of about 3.1 hours of homework each night.

“The findings address how current homework practices in privileged, high-performing schools maintain student advantage in the competitive climate, but impede learning, full engagement, and well-being,” Pope wrote.

Pope and her colleagues found that too much homework can reduce its effectiveness and even be counterproductive. They cite previous research that suggests the benefit of homework is about two hours a night, and that 90 minutes to two and a half hours is optimal for high school.

Their study found that too much homework is linked to:

• Major stress: 56 percent of students see homework as a primary source of stress, according to survey data. 43 percent considered tests to be a primary stressor, while 33 percent applied pressure to get good grades in that category. Less than 1 percent of students said homework was not a stressor.

• Health Impairments: In their open-ended responses, many students indicated that their homework burden led to sleep deprivation and other health problems. The researchers asked the students if they had any health problems, such as headaches, fatigue, sleep deprivation, weight loss, and stomach problems.

• Less time for friends, family, and extracurricular activities: Both survey data and student responses suggest that too much time was spent on homework, meaning students were “not meeting their developmental needs or cultivating other important life skills.” , according to the researchers. Students were more likely to give up their activities, not meet up with friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoyed.

A balancing act

The findings offer empirical evidence that many students struggle to balance homework, extracurricular activities and social time, the researchers said. Many students felt compelled or obligated to prioritize homework over the development of other talents or skills.

There was also no correlation between the time spent on homework and the enjoyment of it. The study quotes students as saying they often do homework that they see as “pointless” or “pointless” in order to keep their grades.

“This kind of busy work inherently discourages learning and instead encourages doing homework just to get points,” Pope said.

She said the research questions the value of assigning large amounts of homework in high-performing schools. Homework shouldn’t just be given up as a routine exercise, she said.

“Rather, every homework assignment should have a purpose and benefit and be designed to promote learning and development,” Pope wrote.

Powerful paradox

In places where students attend high-performing schools, too much homework can reduce their time to foster personal responsibility skills, the researchers concluded. “Young people are spending more time alone,” they wrote, “which means less time with family and fewer opportunities to get involved in their communities.”

Student Perspectives

The researchers say that while their open-ended, or “self-report,” methodology for assessing students’ concerns about homework might have limitations — some might see it as an opportunity for “typical adolescent grievances” — it was important to understand first-hand learn what students believe.

The paper was co-authored by Mollie Galloway of Lewis and Clark College and Jerusha Conner of Villanova University.

Education Educational inequality: Homework and its negative impact on students

Schools are getting rid of homework from Essex, Mass. to Los Angeles, California. While the trend of not doing homework may sound alarming, especially to parents who dream of their child getting accepted to Harvard, Stanford, or Yale, there’s mounting evidence that doing away with homework in elementary school can actually be big have advantages, particularly in terms of educational equity.

While the abolition of homework may surprise many of us, the debate is not new. Parents and educators have been talking about this issue for the past century, swinging the educational pendulum back and forth between the need for homework and the need to eliminate homework.

The problem with homework: It highlights inequalities

One of the big but often forgotten problems with homework is that it disproportionately affects students from less affluent families. The American Psychological Association (APA) stated:

“Children from wealthier families are more likely to have resources such as computers, Internet connections, dedicated areas for schoolwork, and parents who tend to be more educated and available to help them with tricky tasks. Children from disadvantaged families are more likely to work extracurricular jobs or be home in the evenings unsupervised while their parents work multiple jobs.”

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While students growing up in more affluent areas are more likely to play sports, participate in other after-school activities, or receive additional tutoring, children in disadvantaged areas are more likely to go to work after school and take care of their siblings while their parents work or take care of themselves they take care of an unstable family life. Adding homework into the mix is ​​another thing to deal with — and if the student is struggling, the task of completing the homework at the end of an already long school day can be too much to think about.

While all students may groan at the mention of homework, for poor and disadvantaged children it can be more than just a nuisance, it can become yet another burden to bear and manage.

Aside from the logistical issues, homework can have a negative impact on physical health and stress—and this, in turn, can be a bigger problem for economically disadvantaged youth, who typically have higher levels of stress than their non-poor peers anyway.

But today it is not only the disadvantaged who suffer from the stress of homework. A CNN article, “Does Homework Make Your Child Sick?” addressed the issue of the extreme pressures on affluent children, looking at the findings of a study that surveyed more than 4,300 students from 10 high-performing public and private-bourgeois Californian communities.

“The results were worrying: research showed that excessive homework is associated with high levels of stress, physical health problems and a lack of balance in children’s lives; 56% of the students in the study cited homework as the primary stressor in their lives,” read the CNN story. “That children growing up in poverty are at risk for a range of diseases is both intuitive and well supported by research. Harder to believe is the growing consensus that children at the other end of the spectrum, children raised in wealth, may also be at risk.”

When it comes to health and stress, it’s clear that excessive homework can be harmful to children on both ends of the spectrum. Which begs the question, how much homework is too much homework?

How much homework is too much homework?

The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association recommend that students spend 10 minutes per grade level per night on homework. This means that first graders should spend 10 minutes on homework, second graders 20 minutes, and so on. But a study published by the American Journal of Family Therapy found that college students get a lot more than that.

While 10 minutes a day doesn’t sound like much, that quickly adds up to an hour a night in sixth grade. The National Center for Education Statistics found that high school students get an average of 6.8 hours of homework per week. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), this is far too high. It should also be noted that this figure does not take into account the needs of the underprivileged student population.

A study by the OECD found that “after about four hours of homework per week, the additional time spent on homework has a negligible impact on performance”. This means that not only are we not helping our children by asking them to do homework for an hour or more a day, but we are also harming them physically and emotionally, according to the studies cited above.

Additionally, as the name suggests, homework must be completed at home after a full day of study, which typically lasts six to seven hours, including breaks and lunch. However, an APA study of people’s skills development found that top musicians, scientists and athletes only do their most productive work about four hours a day. Similarly, companies like Tower Paddle Boards are experimenting with a five-hour workday, assuming people can’t be truly productive for much longer. CEO Stephan Aarstol told CNBC that he believes most Americans only get about two to three hours of work in an eight-hour day.

How teachers can help

To help students find the right balance and be successful, teachers and educators need to start the homework conversation, both internally at their school and with parents. But to be successful in advocating for students, teachers must be well-informed on the subject and fully understand the research and results that can be achieved by eliminating or reducing the homework burden. There is a wealth of research and writing on the subject for those interested in self-study.

For teachers looking for a more in-depth approach, or for educators with a strong interest in educational equity, formal education may be the best route. If that latter option sounds appealing, there are now many reputable schools that offer online Masters of Education degrees to help educators balance the demands of work and family life while continuing to educate themselves to help others.

YOU ARE INVITED! Watch the free webinar on USD’s Online M.Ed. on. program >>

Does homework really help students learn? A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student and a fourth grader

“Good homework is engaging and relevant to children’s lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and ties them to the community and their families. In some subjects like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over again.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If it just could be that easy.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. Things have only gotten more tense in recent years amid concerns from some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, clinical professor at Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. Author of the essay “The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help” in Education Next Winter 2019, Bempechat, has explored how the homework debate is affecting the preparation of teachers, parents, and students about learning and school policy.

She is particularly concerned about socio-economically disadvantaged students in underperforming schools, who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a school in suburban Boston, and future first-year teacher Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to to talk about what quality homework looks like and how it can help children learn and how schools can empower teachers to design it, evaluate it and support the role of parents in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who oppose elementary school homework say there’s no research definitively linking it to children’s academic achievement in the early grades. You said you missed the point.

Bempechat: I think teachers give homework in elementary school to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older — to teach them a sense of responsibility and learn planning and organizing skills. That, in my opinion, is the greatest value of homework – in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. When we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive children and parents of the opportunity to teach these important study habits and skills.

We know that from late middle school through high school there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That, in my opinion, is the greatest value of homework – in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

They talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to children’s lives. It gives them autonomy and integrates them into the community and their families. In some subjects like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over again.

“Parents don’t really need to help with homework for children to do well,” says Bempechat, who has studied how the homework debate affects teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies. “You can help in other ways — helping kids organize a study space, providing snacks, being there for support, helping kids work in groups with siblings or friends.” Photo by Cydney Scott

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make – that homework “punishes the poor” because low-income parents may not be as well-equipped as wealthy parents to help their children with homework – troubles me greatly. There are no parents who do not care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t necessarily have to help with homework for children to do well. You can help in other ways – by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there for support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about abolishing homework mostly taking place in wealthy communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear from kids stressed out by too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. This is problematic for physical and mental health and general well-being. But research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations of low-income children. Schools should have a responsibility to provide support for children to do their homework – after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It doesn’t do children any favors if our expectations of them are lower.

Talking about homework is to some extent a matter of social class and social justice. If we eliminate homework for all children because wealthy children have too much, we are really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and any student can rise to the challenge if there is enough support.

What have you learned by studying how educational schools prepare prospective teachers to complete homework?

My colleague Margarita Jimenez-Silva at the University of California, Davis School of Education and I surveyed faculty members at educational schools and supervising teachers to find out how students are prepared. And it seemed they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any research readings or conversations about what quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get on homework?

Bruce: I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come. I gave many lessons to students. I’ve been in classrooms where teachers don’t give homework and I’ve been in rooms where they split many hours of homework a night. But I never thought of homework as something that was my choice. I just thought it was something I would pull from a book and it was done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first task was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if Mom is cooking dinner while you do your homework.

The second night I asked her to talk to an adult about how to do your homework during the week. The kids enjoyed it very much. There is a running gag that I teach life skills.

On Friday nights I read all my kids’ answers to their homework for the week and it’s wonderful. They pour out their hearts. It’s like we’re chatting on my couch Friday night.

It is important to know that the teacher cares about you and that the teacher cares about what you think. Homework is a way to connect home and school…so parents know teachers welcome them and their families.

Bempechat: I can’t imagine most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had to design homework the way she did.

Ardizzone: Talking to kids about homework, feeling like you’re being listened to — that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework… I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher – I loved her – gave us feedback and met with all of us. She would say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she really cared.

Bempechat: It is important to know that the teacher cares about you and that the teacher cares what you think. Homework is a way to connect home and school…so parents know teachers welcome them and their families.

Ardizzone: But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and getting too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat: There is good help and there is bad help. The bad help is what you describe – when parents float inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling, telling them what to do.

A good help is when parents recognize that a battle is on and instead ask informative questions: “What do you think you did wrong?” They offer hints or hints instead of saying “You missed that” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce: I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock find a way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, I didn’t even think about it on the first day of school—until a kid put up their hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I had had a plan from day one.