Cman was given a homework packet for the week. In theory he would do one page a night. Our goal was for him to do more then that originally but we haven't succeeded in that goal this week.
I have him take his homework, do that page and then show me the finished product. If he isn't correct the we talk through why and teach to this points. This ensures that he gets good grades on his homework assignment and it ensures that he knows what he is suppose to know from that lesson. The first night it was a math page. ALL his math problems were correct. The thing he struggles with is he either 1. Doesn't read all the directions or 2. Doesn't understand them. He has been told that if he reads the directions and they do not make sense he can and should ask for help.
His teacher from last year pointed out that he doesn't like to ask for help. He REALLY doesn't like it. He doesn't even want to ask me, he wants to get it on his own. I think he was unsure of what he read the first night so he just did the problems and figured that was good enough. The second night was spelling. In my opinion this was a tough worksheet for a second grader on their first week of school, but what do I know?
He was suppose to find the spelling word that fit alphabetically between the two words given. They all shared the first letter and some shared the second and third letter. I had to show him how to alphabetize going to the next letter etc until you can know which one is next. He did not know some simple things like what a list word was. I had to explain that it was a word that came from his word list or spelling list. I don't mind going through some of this stuff with him, but it again just shows me that we the parents are left with a lot more work with the kids that the teachers use to have to do.
It use to be you were taught it in school then you took homework home and reviewed what the teacher said. Now you get the packet before things are covered and unless you are going to do the whole thing on Thursday night you have to have help from you parents. Cman was so confused by the directions he just copied the original 2 words given. He does obviously need to learn to break directions down better and I am working with him on that, but then to have to teach the ABC order too...We definitely spent more time then the allotted 20 minutes on homework. I hope this isn't a sign of what the whole year will be like. He is process oriented, I am counting on that and hoping that if I show him the break down of the process of directions that will cut down on how much work I have to do with him. (Hoping--only time will tell.)
5 comments:
I never had "specific" homework in elementary. If I didn't get my math problems finished in the allotted time, then I had to bring it home.
I can't believe how much time they expect the parents to help. You know not every parent will be able or willing to do that.
I always worked slow, so I always had work to do outside the allotted time. :)
Actually I was surprised when N's teacher told me that they appreciated me taking time to work with her on her homework. In one class I was the only parent and in another there were only 2 of us. I was surprised that more parents weren't working with the kids at home more.
The sheet I helped him on said to replace the vowel in each word to make a work from the spelling list.
After telling us he was 'almost' done for about an hour ... and that he knoew what the directions said, he finaly admited that he didn't know what a "voe-ell" was.
2 quick minutes on "a e i o u - and sometimes y" and he had it done.
I don't always like to read directions either. Tend to skim and then when I'm not getting it. I go back and read word for word. I always had homework outside of class work. Did I go to the wrong school? Was I ripped off?
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