Transitioning from Kindergarten to 1St Grade

A couple of years ago our school mandated that teachers could only assign 10 minutes of homework per night and that it should be based mostly on reading and math. I think with all of the standardized testing this is hard for teachers, but homework and busy-work was getting out of hand. My kids work hard in school... I'm grateful we aren't having to crack the whip at home. I think in a private school, parental pressure will have to change what they do.

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Sounds crazy to me. I would talk to the teacher and other parents. If this is taking more than 15 minutes a night, I would be done with it. Private schools change with parental concern - they need your $$.

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Wow! That's more than a book a night! We go to a private school, too, and that's way more than we have. We are encouraged to read 20 minutes a night (inclues us reading TO the child) with an additional 10 minutes of homework. It does sometimes go over that in first grade, but depends on the focus of the child. Hang in there!!

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our first grader goes to Catholic school too and usually has a math worksheet to do (10 min) and some spelling words work (10 -15 min) and then are encouraged to read or be read to 15 min a night. and there is NO homework on the weekends (except for reading) until 4th grade. seems like a good amount to us. the 40 books a month requirement seems high to me... really homework at this age doesn't do much for learning.... i'd be fine if there were no homework until 5th grade ;)

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40 books per month?! Now I realize these are probably early learners/Level One books but that seems a bit extreme to me.
We do AR which is based on # of points per book....so the more challenging books are worth more points and the easy ones are worth about .5 points.
I do remember the timed number set drills form 1st (2 yrs ago).
Homework everyday was our norm. Maybe one math sheet and a page from the reading packet for the story that week.
Good luck!

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That does sound extreme. I'd talk to some of the other parents and see if they feel the same way- then approach the school with your concerns.

My son just started 1st grade too (Catholic school). He only has 1 page of homework a night- and it usually takes him less than 10 minutes to do it. They are encouraged to read for 15 min./night, but the teacher hasn't required reading logs to be filled out, as of yet.

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As a former first grade public school teacher for 17 years I will tell you that public school children get just as much homework. And yes, it's awful. Most of this is to prepare the child for state testing, which in my opinion, is not an accurate measure of what a child has learned. My only recommendation is to teach your son to work on one project at a time until it's done. Make a game of it. Set a timer to see how fast he can complete an assignment accurately and neatly The go over his work and check it.

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First take a breath. The homework is not a big deal and it is for your child not you. I think the school just wants to make sure that the parents are on board with their teaching requirements and are willing to aide in the learning for each child. Most public schools would love to have this type of a partnership but it seems that your school actually makes it more mandatory. You did chose the school so this is what is expected. Don't fret and make sure that you guide your child to learn at their own pace. Might I repeat, at their own pace. I think that getting board books or easy readers are good for "reading" for this age. Just let your child do the very best to go through the books and find the words that are familiar. That is reading!! Enjoy the time that you will spend together learning not only about academics but about each other!!

It's only extreme if he can't handle it. My son attended private school for a while and the workload was intense, but entirely within his capabilities. When he was switched to public school, I was dismayed to see that the new class was working on in March what he'd learned the previous November.

Sounds completely over the top

It's only the 2nd week of school but that's definitely much more than what's expected of my 1st grader. My daughter attends a (9 star) public school that we're pleased with. She is expected to read (or have someone read to her) every night but there's no specific time frame or number of books required. She also will have a small amount of homework worksheets (2-4) that will need to be completed before the end of week. I believe we were told to expect homework to take up to 30 minutes per day M-Th. If homework gets overwhelming for your little guy, could you speak to his teacher and get some advice? Good luck to you. It is a difficult transition for them.