Family Dynamics

In my recent coding endeavors I have realized that many students have very busy lives.  One of my group members posted a set of questions she asked her parents (thanks Amy!) and it got me thinking.  I sent my parent questionnaire home today.  I modified it after coding my data when I found that many students lead quite busy lives.  It is not at all what I thought.  I had in my mind that students were just playing outside instead of working.  Granted, I have those as well, but I also have students whose lives are filled with practices, classes and they also attend the classes of their siblings!  All of these things go on during the week.  I have always made it a practice to hand out homework on a nightly basis and it is supposed to be returned the next day with the exception of spelling.  To my surprise, students have responded with the difficulty they have in completing assignments on some nights.  I spoke on another blog entry about a mother who said she liked the way the previous years teacher had homework due.  It was sent home on Monday and Collected on Friday.  I am very interested in what my parents will have to say on the questionnaire that went home today.  That can be viewed here.  I wanted to see what else parents had to say about homework, not just the parents in my classroom.  I will share a quote from one article I found.  This mother is also a clinical child psychologist who teaches psychology.  McReynolds (2005) states "I remember what my children and I used to do before homework took over our lives.  We ate dinner together, telling stories about our days.  We read together.  Sometimes we played cards or Monopoly.  Once we made an entire gingerbread town.  The children had time to themselves too.  Time to play, time to go outside, time to do nothing." (p. 10).  I think this encompass what I have been hearing from my students through my data.  Looking back, I wish I would have sent home questionnaires at the beginning of my study to reflect a before and after of my students and their relationship with homework.  Better yet, it would have been very beneficial to send a survey home where parents could share with me what it is like for them at home.  I am curious whether or not the parents in my classroom would agree with McReynolds (2005) and what she describes as her relationship with her children "before homework took over [their] lives" (p. 10).  

McReynolds, K. (2005).  Homework. Encounter: Education for meaning and social justice,18(2), 9-13.