This unnecessary busywork takes away time that could be spent on things that are much more important for young children, such as playing, reading aloud, getting outside, and spending time as a family.īut parents have options, and often a lot more say over their children’s education than they may realize.

This mountain of homework was being assigned to 5-year-olds.Ĭall me crazy, but homework in kindergarten seems excessive.

To be clear, the little girl was in kindergarten. Her daughter brought home 5 to 10 pages of homework, and getting it all done ate up their evenings as a family.Īs she described it, I realized that she spent more time doing homework with her daughter than I spent in formal lessons to homeschool my daughter for the same level in school. She said she liked the school alright, but the homework was a real drag. Recently, I saw her at the playground and asked how her daughter’s kindergarten year had gone at our local public school. One of my neighbors has a daughter the same age as mine, and our girls enjoy playing together when we run into each other. And a recent conversation about homework left me thinking that the topic might be significant to a lot of families. Playtime is very important for children's development, and there's zero benefit to homework in elementary school.Ĭonversations with neighborhood acquaintances often leave me with a lot to think about.

Homework for kindergarten