TGSG Note: If you are a regular-reader of this blog or follow me on Twitter, you know I am an advocate of homework reform and a huge fan of author and blogger, Sara Bennett. Sara an I connected about a year ago, and we have swapped posts and cheered each other on ever since. I am thrilled to have her guest post today at TGSG. I hope all parents and educators will read her book and add her blog to their RSS feeds. See ya outside! – The Grass Stain Guru
Every time I walk or ride my bicycle through my neighborhood park, I can’t help but notice how few school-age children are outside. I always see plenty of adults running, biking, walking, and dog-walking, and the under-four crowd is having fun in the playgrounds. The twenty-somethings are often kicking around a ball or throwing Frisbees. But the 5-18 year olds, unless they’re participating in an organized sports such as soccer or baseball, seem to be almost nonexistent.
Maybe it’s because I have homework on my mind–after all, I run a project called Stop Homework–but I can’t help but think that homework is to blame for keeping our children inside. After all, at 3:15 every day I see kids as young as five hauling hefty backpacks down the street, and I hear their caregivers asking them about their homework. Eight and nine year olds are begging to play in the school yard while the caregivers shake their heads and sternly insist they go straight home to do homework.
It takes a lot of self discipline for me not to jump in and say, “Let the children play!” I want to stop and reason with them. “Don’t you know that research shows that homework has no value in elementary school? Don’t you know about the new study that says that play is crucial for children’s development? Didn’t you hear about the study showing that a walk in nature improves behavior in children with ADHD?”
But I restrain myself and wonder how best to spread the word. I’ve come to conclude that it’s up to all of us to spread the word. If homework is dominating our children’s time, if it’s interfering with their childhood and keeping them from growing up the way we want them to, it’s time to make changes, starting in our homes. We must make sure our young children have plenty of time to go outside and play, even if that means their homework remains undone. And we must make sure our older children, too, get enough exercise, downtime, and sleep, even if that means that some of their schoolwork isn’t finished.
Bennett's Book - A must-read for parents.
Most of all, we need to try to change the source of the problem. It’s time we all write notes to the teacher explaining why our children need fresh air and protesting when recess is taken away (which is too often punishment for undone homework). It’s also time to press the issue at a higher level–with our principals, school board members, and those who make education policy.
In the short term, our children will be happier and healthier. In the long term, they’ll also be happier and healthier, and ultimately better educated as well.
Guest Blogger Bio: Sara Bennett, the co-author of The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It, is the founder of Stop Homework, a project affiliated with The Alliance for Childhood. Read more about Sara’s work on her website StopHomework.com.
RT @balmeras NEW post @ The Grass Stain Guru. Homework Hassle by author Sara Bennett. http://bit.ly/wLbrc #playoutdoors #parent (Important!)
RT @balmeras: NEW post @ The Grass Stain Guru. Homework Hassle by author Sara Bennett. http://bit.ly/wLbrc #playoutdoors #parent
RT @balmeras: NEW post @ The Grass Stain Guru. Homework Hassle by author Sara Bennett. http://bit.ly/wLbrc #playoutdoors #parent (Import …
We’ve managed to duck around homework with the kids being so young but my oldest enters 1st grade this year. I’m monitoring his after school activities so a better balance is there. I’d much prefer under 8s be playing than doing academic exercises especially when the creative arts are so scaled back in our schools.
I completely agree! It breaks my heart to see the look on a kid’s face as they walk by us at the park lugging their 20 lb backpack full of homework that is going to doom them to the dining table until dinner.
Homework Hassle | The Grass Stain Guru: Eight and nine year olds are begging to play in the school yard while th.. http://digg.com/d1rggH
RT @balmeras NEW post @ The Grass Stain Guru. Homework Hassle by author Sara Bennett. http://bit.ly/wLbrc #playoutdoors #parent (Important!)
Did you catch author Sara Bennett’s post on homework reform and what parents can do? http://ow.ly/83vC #playoutdoors #parent
RT @balmeras: Did you catch author Sara Bennett’s post on homework reform and what parents can do? http://ow.ly/83vC #playoutdoors #parent
Excessive homework is certainly part of the problem. See my article on this:
Elementary Schools are the Enemies of Play
So are sedentary screen time (video games/computers/TV) and structured activities.
The problem with these problem frames is that they imply solutions that take something away from kids – i.e. they subtract. I’d rather solve the problem by giving kids more – i.e. adding. So, I prefer to attack the problem by making neighborhoods so fun and interesting that they actually compete with those alternatives. That’s what I’m doing…
Thanks for the comments folks. Mike, while I agree there are many reasons why kids don’t get outside today, homework is a true barrier for school-aged kids today — one that has nothing to do w/ how appealing or not a neighborhood is to its kids or families. I am a big supporter of the Playborhood concept and your work, but I am a very strong supporter of homework reform and other education reform that is so needed in this country for a variety of reasons. There is a big difference between kids wanting to go play and having a good place to do that, versus staying inside & playing video games, and kids actually having the time to do go out into the neighborhoods and playing or the option of free time. In a very real way, for school-aged children, at this point things do need to be taken away — be it homework or some of the academic enrichment programs or structured activities they are signed up for.
Cheers- Bethe
For the night shift: Today’s post @ The Grass Stain Guru. Homework Hassle by author Sara Bennett. http://bit.ly/wLbrc #playoutdoors #parent
RT @balmeras Today’s post @ The Grass Stain Guru. Homework Hassle by author Sara Bennett. http://bit.ly/wLbrc #playoutdoors #parent
Sara makes some great points! I started to pay more attention to her work after watching my 10-year-old sink into a full-blown depression over the demands being place on him in his classroom. In a new educational system he’s returned to his funny curious self. Too bad it took so much suffering on his part for me to understand that our education system is so wrong for so many of our kids.
[...] The interview with Sara Bennett is reprinted here with permission, and is a great follow-up to Sara’s post here yesterday. See ya outside! – The Grass Stain [...]
Totally agree: http://bit.ly/17INSt RT @RiaSharon: I’m agreeing. Must be #badmother RT @ayeletw homework is completely asinine. COMPLETELY.