Kindergarten Homework

I have a lot of friends that have children. The children range in age for one year to fifteen, so I know a lot about what children of all ages are going through. The parents often tell me tales about school and preschool, and we often have a good laugh over the things that our kids do. One thing I heard about the other day was something that totally shocked me. One friend was just as surprised as I was when her little boy came home with kindergarten homework. I had never heard of such a thing.

When I went to school, we didn’t even go for a full day my first year, let alone come home with kindergarten homework. There is a lot more pressure on children to learn more in their first year of school, but I’m pretty sure the homework thing is way over the top. There is such a thing as inspiring children to learn and expand their horizons, but kindergarten homework is just way beyond anything a child that age should have to deal with.

My daughter starts school next year, and if she comes home with kindergarten homework I am going to be calling her teacher. There is no reason why this should be done, and I am going to have a fit if it does. I’m not one of those over the top moms, but that will just be too much for me. Too much pressure on a child so young is just not right. If they don’t have time for everything during the school day and they have to send home kindergarten homework, perhaps they need to reevaluate how they spend their day in class. Children that age need to learn, but they can easily be overwhelmed.

I may not have a fit if kindergarten homework perhaps consists of practicing her name or coloring a picture, which might not be so bad. If she comes home with papers asking her to practice letters or other things they could be doing during the day, I’m going to have to say something. I just think there is plenty of time in a person’s life to be an adult and to have responsibility, but I don’t think age five and six is when this should start. Kindergarten homework is just a silly concept to me, and I can’t imagine who may have thought this was a good idea in the first place.

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