I’m not a big fan of homework, and I have every intention of pushing back on Baguette’s elementary school teachers if I feel that she’s getting too much work, or homework that is only busy work.
Don’t get me wrong–I see the value in reinforcement and additional practice, particularly as students get older. And I certainly remember bringing home my own worksheets in first grade.
But I firmly believe that homework assignments should be:
- firmly tied to what the student is learning
- no longer than they need to be to provide that additional practice
- age-appropriate
Thus, my bewilderment and dismay when we were requested to provide an “ocean diorama” for Baguette’s classroom.
Dioramas are great, if you’re in, say, fourth grade. They can not only reflect the content of classroom lessons, but give the chance for students to exercise and develop skills such as project planning, space evaluation, making choices, and design and layout.
You know who can’t create a diorama? A two-year-old.
So, given my aforementioned feelings toward homework, how did Mr. Sandwich and I respond? Naturally, we produced this:
Omg. That is beautiful but wow ridiculous. I hope the teachers felt proud of their parents’ beautiful artwork.
We actually found it kind of fun, but I think we’ll hold off until she’s older for the next one.
Hahahahah. You guys are hilarious. And also homework for two-year olds is ridiculous. LIke, come ON!! (Also, I went to an alternative school as a kid and spent ALL of fourth grade making dioramas and educative posters about cats. They were super into self-directed learning, and apparently I really wanted to learn about dioramas. And cats.)
I’m not sure if I can express how much I love this. It seems to me that it would make a wonderful and meta diorama.
I’m so perplexed as to the purpose of the diorama. It’s preschool/daycare – have the kids make them in school! If you want to do an art project with your kid at home, that’s up to you.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the purpose is to decorate the room for tomorrow night’s open house.
I’m biting my tongue regarding the school… Great job on Baguette’s ridiculous homework assignment, though!
Thanks. I hope it gets an A. There probably aren’t grades in day care, though, even with homework.
Wow, that’s fancy! That’s really silly to have homework at 2–I mean, the teachers HAVE to know that the parents are going to do it.
Oh, they totally knew we would have to do it–they even described it as an art project we could all do together!
Not everyone did a diorama, and some were really elaborate, with real sand and shells. I feel like we made a respectable showing–even if any showing at all was a little ridiculous.
Our daycare has us do family turkeys every Thanksgiving- same sort of thing: it is a family art project. Luckily my husband and my kids get into it, because I think it is silly!
We haven’t done that one yet, but who knows what awaits us in November? Of course by then Baguette will be older and better able to participate.
I taught 8th grade English, and after a year, I pretty much gave up on giving homework. It really did me no good because I had no idea who had really done it, too many kids didn’t do it, and it took precious class time to check if people had done it. I needed to see my students’ process just as much as the end result.
I went to excellent public schools and was in classes with other high-achieving students. Where did this “do the kids’ homework for them” thing come from? Because it was not around when I was a kid. There were some kids who created better projects that were better than mine, but there was never a reason to think someone else had done them. I do not get this at all.