Third grade teacher offers homework menu

I came across this interesting approach to homework used by a third grade teacher. It is a menu of homework options. Here is why I like it:

1. It sounds like fun, not drudgery.
2. It involves choices. The child can experience satisfaction and reward without being locked into a single task.
3. It creates time boundaries. Every choice involves the same amount of time. Those who have followed this blog know I place great value in teaching children to use time well, rather than demanding that they work, without boundaries, until the work is all done.
4. It support parental authority. In the end, the parent is the ultimate decision-maker about whether or not the work has been done. One of the major problems with homework is that it traverses the boundaries between home and school, diminishing parental authority over the home.

Thank you Ms. Brooks for your excellent ideas.

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Dr. Kenneth Goldberg, is the author of The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Teachers, and Students, published by Wyndmoor Press.

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