Yup. You heard me right. I'll say it again. I HATE (and we only use hate in our house for things that we truly hate) homework. I hate it as a teacher and I really hate it as a Mom.
See the super creepy little girl up above? That's what our oldest looks like at homework time. Well....this might be a slight exaggeration but I feel like it most nights.....
It is so frustrating because he loves anything school related. He loves school so much that when he was sick last week, he had to keep his daily school routine (yes, centers, daily reading response, bathroom breaks, everything while vomiting in between. ) because he was missing out on so much fun (score one for his teacher!)! But, try and get this really smart, school loving kid to do a homework sheet and he looks like this kid!
As a teacher I have wondered if it is like that for the parents that I'm sending homework to. I also, honestly, wondered who was doing the homework at home (or, "helping" them with the homework). Many times I just don't feel as if the homework made my students smarter! I worried so much that I decided to change how I do homework.
It is so frustrating because he loves anything school related. He loves school so much that when he was sick last week, he had to keep his daily school routine (yes, centers, daily reading response, bathroom breaks, everything while vomiting in between. ) because he was missing out on so much fun (score one for his teacher!)! But, try and get this really smart, school loving kid to do a homework sheet and he looks like this kid!
As a teacher I have wondered if it is like that for the parents that I'm sending homework to. I also, honestly, wondered who was doing the homework at home (or, "helping" them with the homework). Many times I just don't feel as if the homework made my students smarter! I worried so much that I decided to change how I do homework.
I began using these homework logs for reading (20 minutes) every night and practicing math facts (10 minutes) every night and I will NEVER go back to printing pages and pages of homework again!
Click HERE to get them for free from my Teacher's pay Teachers store!
To help with homework the students have homework bags (really plastic bags...love those) that they can keep their book safe (they can take a book home every night from my Take-Home Library) and their math facts safe (we use index cards to make them!).
To help with homework the students have homework bags (really plastic bags...love those) that they can keep their book safe (they can take a book home every night from my Take-Home Library) and their math facts safe (we use index cards to make them!).
I made a few different versions of the take-home reading sheet. You can grab those for FREE too by clicking HERE! The version you are downloading purposely have a blank space at the top as a place to write a student's name!
I just LOVE making their take home bags! There are so many choices for the cover! And, it's such an easy way to encourage life-long learning!