homework in 1st grade

First Grade Homework for the Entire Year

What educators are saying

Description.

This first grade homework unit allows you to customize your homework packets each week and easily send them home for distance learning! You can quickly search for the skills you need, print, staple and send them home!

This unit includes an editable newsletter to send home each week, as well as 30 weeks worth of homework for each of the following subjects. Each subject also includes a table of contents so you can quickly find the skill and page you want to print!

• Sight Words

• Comprehension

This unit is designed to be customizable for you and your students! While each page is NOT editable, there is a blank editable page for you to create whatever you may need that week. You are easily able to flip through and find the skills you need quickly for your class.

• Choose how many sheets you’d like to give each week

• Create your own weekly newsletter

• Give students of different abilities different skills to work on

• Give some students less pages

• Give some students more pages

• Each week can be completely different

Or you don’t have to send these pages home for homework at all! Instead, you have 150 pages of skilled practice printables at your fingertips to use in your classroom.

• Create morning work packets for your students

• Use the specific skill printables in small groups for reinforcement

• Create small packets for parent-teacher conferences based on student need

• Leave for a substitute

• Use as an extension to your lesson

• Use during center time

The skills for each subject included are as follows

Short a - cvc

Short e - cvc

Short i - cvc

Short u - cvc

Long a - cvce

Long i - cvce

Long o - cvce

Long u - cvce

Long a - ay/ai

Long e - ee/ea

Long i - igh/ie

Long o - oa/ow

Long u - ui/ue

Digraph - sh

Digraph - ch

Digraph - th

Digraph - wh

Two sounds of oo

Two sounds of ending y

soft g/hard g

soft c/hard c

Bossy r (ar, or)

Bossy r (er, ir, ur)

Endings (s, es)

Endings (ed, ing)

Calendar skills

Numbers to 5

Numbers to 10

Skip counting

Numbers to 100

Numbers 100-120

Ordering numbers

Comparing numbers

Addition within 20

Subtraction within 20

Missing addends

Three addends

Additions story problems

Subtraction story problems

Place Value I

Place Value II

Double digit addition (no regrouping)

Double digit addition (regrouping)

Double digit subtraction

Pennies, Nickels, Dimes, & Quarters

Mixed money

Time to the hour

Time to the half hour

Nonstandard Measurement

Fractions (1/2)

Fractions (1/4)

Collecting data

Analyzing Data

SIGHT WORDS:

Each week includes 3 different sight words to study. Sight words are randomly chosen from the Dolch sight word list. Throughout the 30 weeks all 1st grade words are included as well as some primer words and 2nd grade words.

Sentences - naming and telling parts (2 weeks)

Sentences - adding details (2 weeks)

End punctuation (2 weeks)

Picture writing prompts (5 weeks)

How to writing (3 weeks)

Informative writing (3 weeks)

Opinion writing (3 weeks)

Letter writing - friendly

Letter writing - persuasive

Personal narrative (3 weeks)

Fiction writing (3 weeks)

COMPREHENSION:

Read and retell (3 weeks)

Read and retell - Nonfiction (2 weeks)

Character (3 weeks)

Vocabulary (2 weeks)

Vocabulary - Nonfiction

Multiple Choice (3 weeks)

Multiple Choice - Nonfiction (2 weeks)

True or False (3 weeks)

True or False - Nonfiction (2 weeks)

Short answer (3 weeks)

Short answer - Nonfiction (2 weeks)

Retell comprehension page for ANY book

Character comprehension page for ANY book

Vocabulary comprehension page for ANY book

Comprehension page for ANY book

To see more about this unit, including example pages PLEASE download the comprehensive preview!

Susan Jones

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Homework for Primary Kids

I’m joining Jen from Teacher on the Beach for Monday Motivation . This week it’s all about homework. I have some serious issues with homework for primary kids. Do you?

I’m not a fan of homework for the little ones, so I do my best to keep it simple yet effective… and quick. I also give my above grade level kiddos the option of no homework – however most of their parents don’t take that option.

SIMPLISTIC, YET EFFECTIVE ROUTINE

I like to keep homework routine so ALL of my kiddos can do it completely on their own. Let’s face it, the ones that need to do it the most usually don’t, or have help with every single thing. Because of that, my routine is simple and comes with strict instructions that they do it on their own.

I build homework around phonics and writing. Each week we study specific phonic skills . I use words that contain the rule(s) we are working on in addition to sight words. Our language arts adoption is McGraw-Hill’s Wonders Reading program. My phonics and sight word routine follows the same pacing. However, I beef it up with additional words.

I use business card magnets (cut up) – {these cheap ones work just as well as the more expensive ones – Amazon affiliate link} on the back of my phonics cards and tacky putty {I think the LocTite brand works best – Amazon affiliate link} on my sight words. Both sets of words stay on my focus wall white board for the week, then the sight word cards get moved to the word wall . That’s why I use the tacky putty on those.

Each week my kids learn 9 new sight words. At the end of the week take a little Dictation Test on 10 phonics based words and 4 of those sight words.

For homework, I assign the same nightly activities each week. I send home a paper where they record their answers.

MONDAY: Explain the phonic rule we are learning this week. Write all of the “spelling words”. Highlight or circle the phonic rule in each.

TUESDAY: Write at least 5 sentences containing at least 5 of the “spelling words”.

WEDNESDAY: Write a short story containing at least 5 of the “spelling words”. Try not to repeat the words from yesterday.

THURSDAY: Take a “Spelling Test”

APPLYING PHONICS TO WRITING AND LANGUAGE STANDARDS

I like this homework because it incorporates writing. Writing is so easily differentiated, so I can make this task more of a challenge for my higher-level students (more complex sentences, multi-syllable words that contain the same phonic rules, etc.) and simplify it a bit (fewer words, fewer sentences, etc.) for my strugglers.

I put “spelling words and test” in quotation marks because we don’t do a traditional spelling test. Like I’ve mentioned, we do context work with the words. I say a sentence that includes the words and they write that sentence. Showing that they can apply the phonic rule that we are learning. This aligns with our standards where traditional write the word activities do not.

Spelling Test Alternative - Dictation Sentences

I have these sentences (plus an alternate set) for every week in my Reading Foundation with Phonics Series . They are aligned with my weekly homework.

I attach a cover sheet to the record sheet that lists our phonic-based and sight words for the week.

Our math curriculum includes workbooks for extra practice. I tear out pages from that to send home for math homework. I usually send 1 page per night of homework.

With my struggling students, I send home little phonic-based readers. I also send home books with any student who tells me they don’t have any books at home. I can usually convince parents to take their kiddo to the public library and grab some books for their nightly reading assignment.

They are also required to practice math facts and memorize those 9 sight words. The cover letter includes sight word “flash cards” that they cut out and use to practice.

HOMEWORK FOLDERS

I like these plastic folders with prongs the best.

In the past I used the heavy paper pocket folders. I glued all of the extra components to the folder then laminated them.

HOMEWORK PHILOSOPHY

I explain to my parents that homework shouldn’t take any longer than 30 minutes. Additionally, I tell them, unless the child is struggling and I contact them to say otherwise, I don’t worry about when the kiddos complete it either. I “suggest” what to do each night, however if an extra-curricular activity eats up a lot of time on Tuesday, you may just want to do Tuesday’s homework on Monday or Wednesday.

I’m not strict about homework unless a child is struggling. If they are performing at or above grade level, I do not do much if homework is late or not perfect. However, if they ARE struggling, I meet with their parents and discuss how important it is that their child get plenty of extra practice at home. I pass out homework on Monday and it is due on Friday. I do not check to make sure they are doing it each day.

This is a bone of contention in education. The truth is, I don’t believe kids this young should HAVE to do homework if they are performing on or beyond grade-level. But, if we are going to continue to insist it be sent home (either because of parent insistence or District mandate), I want it to be meaningful – thus the writing – and easy to do on their own. The homework I send home is what I would assign my struggling students no matter what for extra practice. If my above level students/parents opt in to doing it, too – that’s totally ok. It’s easily adaptable to be a challenge for those kiddos.

Many times my kids ask if they can start their homework during the last 15 minutes of the day when they often get free choice. Most keep their homework in their backpacks at all times. I am TOTALLY ok with that.

Homework Time

In my TpT store you’ll find two different versions of Homework Time. The original version is slightly slower in pacing (short vowels for a longer period of time), the 2nd edition has a quicker pacing and follows McGraw-Hill Wonder’s scope and sequence (with a little extra). The two versions also differ slightly in “look”.

They include the items shown above and so much more:

*Homework cover sheets for each week (and an editable version as well)

*Homework folder items including samples, tips and 120 chart

*Instruction sheet for parents & students (editable version included)

*Student recording sheet (2nd edition includes special sheets for “short weeks” -weeks without Monday or without Thursday)

*Sight Word lists for homework folders AND lists broken down into 3 parts of the year for easy assessment

*Traditional Spelling Test forms

*Sight Word Cards in both color and black ink only – for Word Wall. There are 270 different cards in each version in the 2nd edition and 277 in the 1st edition (color version of 2nd edition matches the Vanilla Sherbet classroom decor ) – Editable version included

*Smaller sight word cards for small group work – (270) black and white (2nd Edition Only) – Editable version included

Sight Word Cards (over 270 words in a variety of color/sizes in one file!!!!)

*Bright Color and Black & Red versions of the phonics/spelling cards. There are 490 words in each version in the 2nd Edition and 470 in the 1st edition. (color denotes the phonic rule) – (color version of 2nd edition matches the Vanilla Sherbet classroom decor ) – Editable version included

*A Scope & Sequence/Pacing Guide

*Homework Ticket (2nd Edition Only)

Ok, so I don’t really use this too often. This is more for that parent who isn’t helping out their kiddo and responsibility is not really showing up anywhere. Usually this bright red note is a good reminder. I’ve also used it a few times because someone other than the first grade student completed the homework. THAT really frustrates me.

Click to learn more about Homework Time in my TpT store .

How do you handle homework in your classroom?

VISIT THE STORE

Are Young Kids Doing Too Much Homework?

Kindergartners and first-graders are bringing home 30 minutes of assignments a night. there are a few problems with that..

Jupiterimages/Thinkstock

When I toured a public elementary school last spring, one question in particular seemed to make the principal squirm. Do the kindergartners get homework, I asked? Yes, he replied, explaining that it can help to solidify concepts—but he quickly conceded that some parents weren’t at all happy about it.

The debate over elementary school homework is not new, but the tirades against it just keep coming. This fall, the Atlantic published a story titled “When Homework Is Useless”; you might have also seen the Texas second-grade teacher’s no-homework policy that went viral on Facebook around the same time. “Research has been unable to prove that homework improves student performances,” the teacher wrote to class parents.

OK, but I had questions. If the issue really is this black-and-white, why do elementary school teachers still assign homework? How much homework are elementary kids getting, how much is too much, and how is “too much” even determined? What should parents do if they want to put an end to it?

What I discovered, after lots of digging, is a more complex issue than you’d expect. Young students are indeed getting more homework than they used to. But what’s not clear is exactly how this heavier workload is affecting their well-being. Homework has only been evaluated through the myopic lens of how it influences academic performance (spoiler: in elementary school, it doesn’t seem to). And while researchers have all sorts of ideas about how it might affect kids more generally, these possibilities haven’t been tested rigorously. The upshot, then, is that we really don’t know what homework in elementary school is doing to our kids—but there’s reason to think it can do more harm than good, particularly among disadvantaged students.

First, let’s take a close look at the science on how homework affects school performance. By far the most comprehensive analysis was published in 2006 by Duke University neuroscientist and social psychologist Harris Cooper, author of The Battle Over Homework , and his colleagues. Combing through previous studies, they compared whether homework itself, as well as the amount of homework kids did, correlates with academic achievement (grades as well as scores on standardized tests), finding that for elementary school kids, there is no significant relationship between the two. In other words, elementary kids who do homework fare no better in school than kids who do not. (Their analysis did, however, find that homework in middle school and high school correlates with higher achievement but that there is a threshold in middle school: Achievement does not continue to increase when kids do more than an hour of homework each night.)

Cooper doesn’t interpret the elementary school findings to mean that homework at this age is useless. For one thing, he says, we can’t make causal conclusions based on correlational studies, because things like homework and achievement can easily be influenced by other variables, such as student characteristics. If a kid is really struggling in school, he might spend twice as long on his homework compared with other students yet get worse grades. No one would interpret this to mean that the increased time he is spending on homework is causing him to get worse grades, because both outcomes are driven by whatever is giving him academic trouble. Likewise, a really motivated student may be more likely to finish all of his homework and get higher grades, but we wouldn’t say the homework caused him to get better grades if his motivation was the main driver. Correlations can give us hints about causal relationships (or in this case, a lack of causal relationship), but they don’t prove them.

(It’s worth mentioning that Cooper’s analysis also included a few small interventional studies that tracked outcomes between kids who had been randomly assigned to receive homework each night and those who had not; these studies did suggest that homework provides benefits, but these studies, Cooper and his colleagues noted, “were all flawed in some way that compromised their ability to draw strong causal inference.”)

There are, of course, many other ways that homework could affect a young child—in both good ways and bad. Cooper points out that regular, brief homework assignments might help young kids learn better time management and self-regulation skills, which could help them down the line. Regular homework also lets parents see what their kids are working on and how well they’re doing, which could tip them off to academic problems or disabilities. “For a 6-year-old to bring home 10 minutes of homework is almost nothing, but it does get them to sit down and think about it, talk to Mom and Dad, and so on,” Cooper says.

On the other hand, homework can also be a source of stress and family tension. For kids from low-income families, especially, homework can be tough because kids may not have a quiet place to work, high-speed internet (or computers for that matter), or parents who are available or knowledgeable enough to help. A 2015 study surveyed parents in Providence, Rhode Island, and found that the less comfortable parents were with their kids’ homework material, the more stress the homework caused at home. “I’ve talked to parents—a lot of parents, actually—who feel very burdened by the fact that kids have to do homework at night, and the parents feel responsible for getting it done, and that starts to dominate the home life,” says Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early-childhood education specialist at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the author of Taking Back Childhood .

Homework could also take kids away from other enriching activities like music, sports, free play, or family time. “It’s sort of an opportunity cost issue,” says Etta Kralovec, a teacher educator at the University of Arizona South and the co-author of The End of Homework . “I’m a fifth-grader, and I either can go play with my friend or hang out with my grandmother—or I can go home and do a worksheet for math. Those are the kinds of choices that kids have to make.” One eighth-grader told me that when he was in sixth grade, he had so much homework he couldn’t participate in the sports or music classes he wanted to. Cooper points out, however, that homework could also take the place of television or video games, which might be a good thing (but is yet another complicated topic ).

Then there’s the argument that as elementary school has become more rigorous in recent years—a result, many say, of No Child Left Behind and the Race to the Top Fund , both of which made schools much more accountable for low test scores—the last thing overworked, exhausted young students need is more work when they get home. “We’re seeing rates of school phobia and unhappiness and angst about school among young children at higher rates than ever before,” says Carol Burris, a former high school principal who is now the executive director of the nonprofit Network for Public Education. “I think that giving them a break after 3 o’clock in the afternoon is an awfully good idea.”

But the crux of the problem is that, while all of these points are potentially legitimate, no one has studied how homework affects children’s well-being in general—all we’ve got are those achievement findings, which don’t tell us much of anything for elementary school. How likely is it that regular homework will help first-graders manage their time? Will it do so to a degree that offsets the added family stress or the loss of much-loved soccer practice? Is 20 minutes of homework OK, but 30 minutes too much? This research hasn’t been done, so we don’t know.

The other big question—also tough to answer—is how much homework elementary school kids are actually getting. There are some highly publicized estimates of average homework time derived from a standardized test called the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which is given annually to most American students. It includes the following question for 9-, 13-, and 17-year-old test takers: “How much time did you spend on homework yesterday?” Compared over time, the answers suggest that 9-year-olds have more homework today than they used to, but not by a ton. Yet many researchers question the validity of these answers, because, they say, students aren’t typically given much homework the night before a standardized test anyway. And the data from this questionnaire—along with the data from a 2007 MetLife survey of third- to 12 th -graders that is also frequently quoted as evidence that homework levels remain flat—don’t tell us what’s happening with young elementary school kids.

But in the 2015 study in Providence I mentioned earlier, researchers did attempt to answer this question. They had 1,173 parents fill out a homework-related survey at pediatricians’ offices and found that the homework burden in early grades is quite high: Kindergarten and first-grade students do about three times as much homework as is recommended by the “10-minute rule.” What’s the 10-minute rule, you ask? It’s a standard, adopted by most public schools around the country (more on this later), recommending that students spend roughly 10 times their grade level in minutes on homework each night—so first-graders should be spending 10 minutes on homework and fifth-graders 50. (By this rule, kindergarteners shouldn’t be getting any homework.) Considering these numbers in combination with their findings on how homework can increase family stress, the researchers concluded, “the disproportionate homework load for K–3 found in our study calls into question whether primary school children are being exposed to a positive learning experience or to a scenario that may promote negative attitudes toward learning.”

That’s just one study, conducted in one city, so it’s hard to generalize from it; clearly, we need more data. But another national online survey suggests that homework time for the younger grades has been increasing over the past three years. Annual teacher surveys conducted by the University of Phoenix reported that in 2013, only 2 percent of elementary teachers assigned more than 10 hours of homework per week. This figure quadrupled to 8 percent in 2015. On the bright side, though, several elementary schools in recent months announced that they have stopped assigning homework entirely.

Let’s now revisit that 10-minute rule. It is a recommendation backed by the National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association that teachers have been using for a long time—but it is not based on any research. When teachers saw Cooper’s analysis of the homework data and noticed that the amounts of homework that correlated with the highest achievements in middle school and high school were similar to their rule, they used it as evidence that their rule was appropriate. But here’s the thing: While the 10-minute rule implies that 10 minutes of homework a night per grade is appropriate even starting in elementary school , Cooper’s data do not support this conclusion.

In a nutshell, then, we don’t have evidence that homework is beneficial for young kids, yet studies suggest that they are doing more homework than even the pro-homework organizations recommend, and the amounts they’re getting also seem to be increasing. So, if you’re a parent of a first-grader who’s getting 30 minutes of homework a night, what should you do?

“The first thing you should do is talk to the teacher and let the teacher know how long it’s taking the child to do homework,” Burris says. It’s best not to be confrontational—sometimes the teacher really has no idea that it’s taking so long and will make adjustments. Laura Bowman, the Virginia chapter leader at Parents Across America, a nonprofit organization for parents who want to strengthen public schools, explains: “I always feel that the initial conversation with the teacher is so important, and at that point a lot of teachers will say, ‘I did not realize how long it was taking, and if it’s going to take your child more than 10 minutes, then just do it for 10 minutes.’ ” Also, in early grades, homework should be really easy. “The assignments should be short, they should be simple, and they should lead to success,” Cooper says. “We want these kids to have a successful experience doing schoolwork on their own in another environment.”

If the teacher isn’t responsive, try the principal next, Burris suggests. Connect with other parents first to see if their kids are having similar experiences. “Go up the chain of command—if you have to go to a school board meeting, then you do, and you bring a few other parents with you, because there’s strength in numbers,” Bowman says. “The parent voice is a powerful one, and we all have to do what’s in the best interest of our own children.” Parents Across America has a handy toolkit for parents who want to organize other parents around a particular issue.

If you still can’t make headway, you can also tell the teacher that your child simply won’t be doing homework, or won’t be doing more than a certain amount. I know several parents who have done this without suffering any consequences other than a little side-eye from the teacher at school events. If this kind of confrontation makes you squeamish, get a letter from a pediatrician or psychologist that says it for you.

Bottom line is this: You’re the best judge of how homework is affecting your child. If you’ve got a second-grader who whizzes through his worksheets, then stick with the status quo, no harm done. But if your first-grader is struggling for an hour each night, or the homework is taking him away from other activities you feel are more important, take the above steps to remedy the problem. You want your kid’s earliest education experiences to be as positive as they can be; what happens in elementary school will forever shape his relationship with the classroom and his motivation to learn. We, as parents, have more power than we realize, and we should not feel ashamed to wield it for the sake of our children.

Reading & Math for K-5

Kindergarten
Learning numbers
Comparing numbers

Place Value

Roman numerals

Subtraction

Multiplication
Order of operations
Drills & practice

Measurement

Factoring & prime factors
Proportions
Shape & geometry
Data & graphing
Word problems
Children's stories
Leveled Stories
Context clues
Cause & effect
Compare & contrast
Fact vs. fiction
Fact vs. opinion
Main idea & details
Story elements
Conclusions & inferences
Sounds & phonics
Words & vocabulary
Reading comprehension
Early writing
Numbers & counting
Simple math
Social skills
Other activities
Dolch sight words
Fry sight words
Multiple meaning words
Prefixes & suffixes
Vocabulary cards
Other parts of speech
Punctuation
Capitalization
Cursive alphabet
Cursive letters
Cursive letter joins
Cursive words
Cursive sentences
Cursive passages
Grammar & Writing

Breadcrumbs

$Math Workbooks for Grade 1$

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First Grade Math Worksheets

Free grade 1 math worksheets.

These printable 1st grade math worksheets help students master basic math skills . The initial focus is on numbers and counting followed by arithmetic and concepts related to fractions, time, money, measurement and geometry. Simple word problems review all these concepts.

Choose your grade 1 topic:

Number Charts & Counting

Number Patterns

Comparing Numbers

Base 10 Blocks

Counting Money

Telling Time

Data & Graphing

Word Problems

Sample Grade 1 Math Worksheet

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When Your Child Has Too Much Homework

How Much Time Is Ideal?
Time Management
Set Up a Homework Corner
Have a Homework Routine

Are you concerned about the amount of time your child spends on homework each evening? Perhaps you feel like your child is spending a lot of time on their homework, and they are not getting anything out of it.

If your child is overwhelmed by homework, you can help them by examining their habits to find the source of homework trouble. Once you have identified the root of the problem , you can guide your child to a solution.

1) Find Out How Much Time Your Child Should Be Spending on Homework

While there are no set rules on exactly how much homework a child should have, there are some guidelines to help you decide if the amount of homework is too much or just right.

The most common guideline is the 10-minute rule, which states that a child should have about ten minutes of homework per night for each grade they are in.

With this rule, a first-grader would average 10 minutes of homework, a second grader would have 20 minutes per night, and so on.

The 10-minute rule is recommended by the National PTA and the National Educators Association. Keep in mind that it is a guideline—some high school classes and advanced work classes may have more homework than the general guideline.

Often, teachers will send home a letter explaining their homework policy in the first weeks of school. This policy will often include more personalized guidelines, including how much time homework should take each evening.

2) Check How Well Your Child Uses Their Homework Time

If you realize your child is spending more time on their homework than expected, you will need to do some troubleshooting to solve the problem. Is your child or teen sitting with their homework out, yet they are doing something else, like texting friends or watching a TV program. Check to make sure they are focused on their work during the time they are working.

You want to check this first hand.

Your child or teen may simply not be aware of how distractions can impact their homework time.

If you find your child is not focused on homework, use the following suggestions to help them stay focused during homework time.

3) Make Sure Your Child Has a Homework Corner at Home

Your child or teen will benefit from having a specific place where they can work on their homework. The area should be someplace that is comfortable to work, allows for an age-appropriate amount of parental supervision, and access to any needed supplies or resources.

Completing homework in a specific place will help reinforce habits. Your child will get used to doing their work in that specific spot.

4 ) Have a Regular Homework Routine to Prevent Procrastination

Sometimes, school-age children will put off doing larger homework assignments rather than trying to complete them a few days before they are due. Rather than spending 10 to 20 minutes for several evenings on the large assignment, they will have to spend hours to get the work done.

Having a regular homework set time in their daily schedule will give them the time to work on their assignments on most days. Tweens and teens will need to make sure they keep track of the different due dates in their different subjects.

Work Straight Through or Take Breaks?

Remember that 10-minute rule stated earlier? That rule would lead to an eighth-grade student doing 1 hour and 20 minutes of homework each night. High school students can expect even more time on homework.

If your child needs a break and tries to push through, they often find it difficult to maintain focus. They may be seated at the table, but their work will slow down or stop altogether.

Some children and teens are able to sit down and work straight through until their daily homework is completed. Others may find they need to take a short break every 40 minutes.

Some children or teens may also experience a condition that affects their ability to focus for long periods of time. Examples include ADHD, depression , and anxiety .

Children and teens who struggle with focusing for long periods of time will need to keep their abilities in mind when they plan to do their work. They may benefit from a distraction-free area, splitting homework time between before and after school or another creative arrangement that accounts for their needs.

5) Check for Reasons You Need to Follow up With the Teacher

Sometimes homework overload is not something that can be solved only at home.

Your child does not know how to do the assignment. If your child or teen does not know how to do the work, they may take a very long time trying to complete it. Sit down with your child and watch them try to do their work. Do they understand the directions for the assignment? Are they missing skills they need to complete the work?

If it is the first time your child has struggled to understand how to do the homework, encourage your child to discuss the problems with the teacher in the next class session. If your elementary or middle school child is starting to fall into a pattern of struggling with work, you will want to be included in the conversation over the struggle with the material. If your child is in high school, use your knowledge of your teen to decide if they should handle it completely on their own.

You want to let the teacher know quickly if your child cannot do the homework so that the teacher can help address any gaps in knowledge early.

Nationwide schools are adopting rigorous curricula that build from grade to grade. Missing a skill in one grade level can lead to missing building blocks for following years.

Fortunately, teachers can find ways to address gaps in learning. The earlier a teacher is aware of a gap, the faster the gap can be addressed before it becomes a larger gap in learning.

Your child takes an excessive amount of time to complete their homework. Perhaps your child does sit down every evening in a distraction-free area and focuses on their school work, only an assignment that should 10 minutes actually takes 40 minutes. Your child might be working hard and know what to do, but they are very slow, especially compared to other kids in their class.

This may be caused by a learning disability . Children with dyslexia may struggle to learn to read and then read very slowly. Children with dyscalculia, a disability in math , may take an exceptionally long time to complete work involving numbers, estimation, and math. Fortunately, there are teaching and learning methods that can help children with these issues once they have been diagnosed.

Your child has multiple assignments due at the same time. This is a situation that you may only expect in high school when you know your teen will have several different subjects and teachers, each with their own calendar of assignments. Teachers may assign a large project with a due date right before or after a break, believing it would be convenient for everyone to have it due. Sometimes school calendars have other days, like the midpoint in a quarter, that seems ideal to have work due.

It's often the convenience of certain dates in the schedule that can cause multiple assignments to be due in middle school. Children in elementary school who see different teachers throughout the day in an effort to individualize to skill level may be surprised to find themselves caught with too much work due at the same time.

Ideally, teachers will plan out large assignments far in advance of the due date so that even if multiple subjects require work to be turned in on the same day, children can plan ahead and work slowly. Sometimes, this doesn't happen.

Teachers are often somewhat isolated from one another in schools, each working in their own classrooms, so teachers may not even know that they are assigning work that will all be due at the same time.

If your child has a truly unreasonable amount of work due at once, talk with the teachers involved. Some schools have set policies limiting the number of large tests or projects that can be due on a single day. Even if your child's school does not have a specific policy, teachers may be able to change due dates or come up with a plan that will allow your child to get the work done without being overwhelmed.

A Final Word From Verywell

Learning to get homework done regularly can help your child develop a growth mindset, where they know that their hard work will lead them to learn and opportunity. Finding ways to overcome difficult periods in school will also help your child or teen learn that they can find ways to meet challenges and be successful in school.

National Education Association. Research spotlight on homework. NEA reviews of the research on best practices in education .

Xu J. Why Do Students Have Difficulties Completing Homework? The Need for Homework Management . J Educ Train Stud . 2013;1(1):98-105. doi:10.11114/jets.v1i1.78

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Other Concerns and Conditions With ADHD .

Hulme C, Snowling MJ. Reading disorders and dyslexia . Curr Opin Pediatr . 2016;28(6):731-735. doi:10.1097/MOP.0000000000000411

Kaufmann L, Mazzocco MM, Dowker A, et al. Dyscalculia from a developmental and differential perspective . Front Psychol . 2013;4:516. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00516

By Lisa Linnell-Olsen Lisa Linnell-Olsen has worked as a support staff educator, and is well-versed in issues of education policy and parenting issues.

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Homework isn’t helpful in first grade or in college

By Katelyn Patterson | Reporter

Do your homework.

Sounds simple, right? Except it isn’t.

Homework, in practice, is a chance for students to work through lessons and make sure that they comprehend what is being taught in class. However, in most situations, all it tends to do is add stress and result in resentment for learning.

Younger students — or those just starting their education — have not developed the study skills necessary for homework to be truly beneficial. They learn best in the classroom with someone to guide them. Jacqueline Worthley Fiorentino, a second grade teacher, said her students started learning about subjects that interested them in their free time when she stopped assigning homework.

“They excitedly reported their findings to their peers — who then became inspired enough to explore their own areas of interest,” Fiorentino said for Edutopia . “The minor academic benefits to assigning mandatory nightly homework simply do not outweigh the substantial drawbacks, which include potentially turning young children against school at the beginning of their academic journey.”

So, what about older students?

Education experts say the “ 10-minute rule ” is the standard. It recommends a daily maximum of 10 minutes of homework per grade level. High school seniors, for example, should complete about two hours of homework each night.

Middle school and high school-aged students have been in school for longer and have developed the skills necessary for homework to be effective. But now, they are commonly on the brink of being overwhelmed with extracurricular activities (ones that are often pushed to add to college applications). In keeping with the “10-minute rule,” which many say is the appropriate amount of homework to assign to students sixth-grade students are given an hour of homework on top of the actual school day and any after-school activities they may have.

Then, if you add in the fact that many teachers take homework assignments for grades, it adds even more pressure onto students. If they do not have time to complete the homework during the day, many will either take a zero and, thus, a bad grade or sacrifice their sleep, which affects them the next day. It becomes an endless and damaging cycle of burnout.

Cathy Vatterott, an education professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, supports the “10-minute rule” as a maximum, but she said she thinks there is not sufficient proof that homework is helpful for students.

“Correlation is not causation,” Vatterott said for TIME . “Does homework cause achievement, or do high achievers do more homework?”

Students should not have to sacrifice anything to feel as if they have succeeded in school. They should not resent learning because they were taught to treat school as a job that they just need to finish and turn in. Free time should not be a privilege. Give students the time to be kids while they still can.