My daughter started school this year and was given homework from day one. Every Monday they are given 6-7 pages of activities to be completed and handed in on the Friday. On top of that they have a home-reader that requires around 10 minutes of reading and discussion every night. After a full day of concentration in the classroom my daughter comes home, has a quick snack and then relaxes in her bedroom with her toys to play. The last thing she wants to do is sit down again to do homework. She is exhausted and needs time to just play, not listen to orders from adults. I let her do this because it is obviously what she needs at that time. I cannot bring myself to say "no you must now sit down and do more schoolwork". I believe that learning through playing is much more important, especially for this age group.
I understand that homework is useful to help cement what has been taught during school hours and when students are older of course it is of benefit. However it seems that we are keen for our children to grow up fast and take on more and more responsibility at a younger age. Why can't we just let them play? All too soon they will be grown up and leaving home and we will wonder where the time went. Lets not rob our children of their childhood and play time too quickly!
No comments:
Post a Comment