Curious How Much Homework Does Your 5Th Grade Receive?

I used to teach 5th grade. Sounds like he has a lot of work, esp for the weekend. Is he behind on something? Perhaps the math packet is a punishment or is make-up work for a few assignments he forgot or lost or just didn't turn in? The only time I ever gave weekend homework, it was just to get the child's Friday spelling test signed, with the misspelled words written 10 times each.

2 hours of homework daily sounds like a lot too. I used to assign ONE spelling assignment (sentences, ABC order, etc) and generally one other assignment, plus students had to read for 20 minutes and write the main idea of what they read - depending on the student, homework should've taken total of about 40 min - 1 hr.

If you're questioning the teacher and the workload, ask other moms you know. Ask your son if this is make-up work he's not telling you about. Ask the teacher if all students are recieving this amount of work. Remind the teacher that weeknds are your 'family time' and your son is really having a hard time completing all of his work plus going to the family events you have scheduled. Teacher can't argue and say that your son shouldn't go to his grandmas bday party or shouldn't go to the zoo with his family. If teacher does argue that -- then go to the principal b/c the teacher is out of her mind to think that a 5th grader should have the same responsibilites as an adult.

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Well my son does have a focusing problem. So it is possible it takes him a bit longer than the other kids. He always does good on his school work.
He takes advantage of the after school FREE homework help two afternoons a week.
We do stay in close contact with his teacher thru email. My husband has already had a back to school night and met her.
He has his a great new desk in his bedroom away from his little brother and sister so we will not get distracted. He attends public school.

1 mom found this helpful

Definitely contact your son's teacher and find out how much time is allotted to finishing up work at school. Ask if he is taking full advantage of this time. If not, why not?

Are there other study periods available to him at school where he has a choice to do homework? Meaning, can he skip some other activity?

Schools and teachers and homework assignments differ so much and children's ability to focus and get things done efficiently differ greatly too.

My understanding is there there is typically 10 minutes of homework per grade level, so by the 5th grade, that would be about 50 minutes per night.

There should be enough review going on at school for tests, so I'm not familiar with having to review for tests at home.

My son was in 5th grade just last year and he had a good 20-30 minutes of h/w every night. But, he had his own desk in the FR. I made the house quiet and insisted on any other people around to be very quiet so he could focus.

We're now in a new school district and he has next to nothing...except for 20 minutes of reading. So I make him do math sheets from summer programs, before reading.

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This is VERY strange but when my daughter was in 5th grade, she never had any homework! Not once! Her teacher didn't beleive in it. He beleived that schoolwork should be meant for school only. And that your time at home was meant to be spent with your family. I really loved that teacher. Of course after that my daughter went to middle school and had homework all the time!

Unfortunately it is normal. Teachers decide what they want to give a child. If you ask me, there shouldn't be homework. We don't take work home from work, why should they have work at home. They are supposed to be preparing them for future jobs. Anyway, maybe you could talk to some of the other parents and maybe write a letter to the teacher from all of you. You don't want to complain to the teacher alone, or they will single your child out and be mean to them about it. That happens frequently.

Does your child go to private/Catholic school? My 5th grader does and the work load sounds similar.

I was told (by both the private school my kids used to attend + the public school they now attend) to expect (on average) 10 minutes per grade. Based on that, I would expect your fifth grader to have a little less than an hour each night. Two hours seems very excessive to me. Our kids NEVER brought home that much homework in elementary school. They need time to sleep + time to be kids. My 8th grader rarely brings homework home...I wish he would...his grades would be better if he actually did his homework. My 6th grader has about an hour a night...which is just about right.

Ask the teacher!

Hi, C.:
Had you thought about asking his teacher to learn about how much?
Just want to know.
D.

My kids go to Catholic school so in 5th grade they have anywhere from 1-3 hours of homework each night this does not include any special projects they may have usually 1 a quarter. I think it is too much and often help them a lot. Sometimes they can get it done quicker if I let them be after school for an hour or so then get cracking on the school work. Hope this helps Good Luck!

At one school he ahd hours every night at a differnet school he hardly had any. I think it is the teachers choice to give it or not. I don't believe in homework. If they spend 8 hours a day going to school they chould at leat get 6 hours at home off work each day to play and be a kid.

When my kids were in 5th grade (public school), they had an average of 10 minutes, plus they needed to read 20 minutes a day, and since they played instruments they needed to practice. There was usually a spelling test every Friday, so Thursday nights we needed to study the spelling words, my oldest never studied since she knew them all by the end of the week, my youngest would study for 5 to 10 minutes. In addition, they would occassionally have a project that they needed to work on. If they spaced it out, they could spend 15 minutes a night on it. No, 2 hours is not normal.

Our school had a policy of no homework on weekends. I hated it and complained constantly to the teachers. He would assign a project on Monday or Tuesday and want it done on Thursday or Friday. I finally convinced him that working parents usually had time on the weekends to assist their children with these projects, take them to the library, give them internet access, and go shopping for supplies. If he assigned it on Thursday and it was due on Tuesday, it was the same amount of time and the child/parents could have an option of when to complete it.

There was never any "studying" for test. First of all, there weren't that many tests. Second, they knew the material and would just need to take a few minutes to review it.

I think you should have a conference with the teacher. At that level, he should not have that much homework. Is there as possiblility that he is not using the allotted time give to him in the classroom? Is he having difficulty in a certain subject? Would he benefit from having some homework help?