I find the list the the 6yo is doing for math funny. My ds does that stuff too, and he is 6. But we do school from about 9 until lunch. With me schooling both my dd 6 and ds 5 ( and messing with the baby) Then my ds does "alone" work for about 20 minutes after lunch. It would really take him about 10 minutes if he would just do it. ; ) But I worry about that being to much of his free time taken up. LOL I think 40 minutes a day of recess time would kill him, they would have him on meds for sure.
I was in the understanding that they teach the material during the class and then all the work is done at home. It's what we did in middle/high school. We went over the day before work in some classed and then move onto the new stuff. In between all that was getting ready for class, dealing with behavior issues, working on lab/fun stuff, clean up. There really was no time for the paper work to be done in class. Since we teach at home the 'home' work is done during the 'class' time. Except my daughter says she does homework all the time. She is home and does work. Therefore homework
I just wanted to add that to be honest, most of my ds's homework is in exchange for no spelling test each week. So he has to write sentences, or alphabetize, or something else his list. And then he passes that in plus one math worksheet, and a couple of book reports a month. I'd kind of rather have the spelling test, but.. ah well. I find his teacher this year MUCH better than last though. Last year his teacher (who's name has become something naughty in this house LOL) gave them the same sort of homework, PLUS they had a spelling test on Friday, PLUS they had to read every night for 20minutes (and no cheating! I let ds read one night for 60, and wrote that down instead and she wouldn't give him credit...). The teacher this year honestly likes the kids, and seems to get that they are KIDS. Last year we heard complaint after complaint about ds's handwriting, this year his teacher doesn't care as long as she can read it. She understands kids much better. She's also older, so maybe that's part of it?
Works both ways. Some older teachers are fantastic, some are just waiting to retire. Some younger teachers are just plain inexperienced and impatient, some are innovative and exciting. My little brother, a million years ago, had a first-year teacher in 2nd grade. Michael was ADD/ADHD, and this teacher had been warned about him and his best friend, David (who was just as bad). When Parent-Teacher Conferences came, Mom expressed surprise that she hadn't gotten any notes, calls, etc. from the teacher. After all, teachers were ALWAYS calling and complaining.... This first-year teacher said, "Oh, I've had no problems with Michael! I sit him on one side of my desk, David on the other, and I just keep them busy all day long. They get bored easily, and so I keep plenty on hand to give them extra as soon as they finish their regular assignment. And I give them special jobs to do for me." Mom was SO relieved to find someone who understood Michael, and knew he wasn't a "bad" kid!
This is one of the main reasons my hubby finally let me homeschool. My son came home from PS K with an hour of homework every night. After all day at school and only a 20 minute recess, it was nothing but tears and fights. After dinner and a bath-he had 2 free hours a day to be a kid at 5-6 years old, so sad.....
I had LA vs reading explained to me like this. (As I was confused how to seperate the two as by law I'm required to teach both-and my son had both in PS K) Reading is just that-reading. It includes phonics and reading and reading comprehension and nothing else. LA is writing. Handwriting, spelling, vocab, grammar, etc. The two often overlap and are often done 'together' and play off of each other (as in their spelling may be based on a book they are reading that day/week, or vice versa, etc)
My friend's son got all the way to (and halfway through!) high school before a teacher was experienced enough to take this approach! He was/is a brilliant kid (now a man), and finished his work very quickly, then was bored, so he was "entertaining himself" (and everyone else) in class. WHY did it take so long???
