Continuing the work in the classroom is indeed an important aspect of learning. But in all honesty, when the homework level reaches the point when the parent is the one who is doing it, any benefit is most certainly lost.
When a child spends all day in the classroom, many teachers hope that when that little boy or girl gets home, their parent queries them on their day’s events—thus intentionally or unintentionally growing the learning that took place that day. But coming home faced with hours of homework, a child is less likely to spark an enlightening conversation with his or her mom or dad—at least until after the work is completed, which defeats the purpose.
Learning is supposed to be a lifelong endeavor. Making the child do all the work when at home is not going to encourage learning as an enjoyable pastime. Early school experiences are the formative ones. It is during these that strong foundations are built upon which then impacts the rest of one’s learning. This is most certainly not to say that no homework is the answer.
Instead, a balance must be struck. Work hard during the school day and then choose a specific aspect of the day’s lessons to be focused on for that night. This way, the student is more likely to complete the task, and complete it solely by him or herself. Parent homework simply gets it done. If the intention is to get it done, then this is fine. But if the intention is for the student to gain a better understanding of the material and be able to return to school the next day with possibly an enlightened thought to two, then real learning should be the focus.
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