Homework
beautiful worksheets, circled pages in a
workbook for clarity and always marked
and gave immediate feedback.
The answer is that what I was
assigning had little interest for the
children and often did not match the
exciting lessons I would give in class. In
fact, I wasn’t meeting the needs of my
students through innovation and real
life skill acquisition. The one thing I
was sure of was, that things needed to
change if I wanted my students to enjoy
learning and become active positive
members of their culture and society.
The team at Somersfield Academy,
did some research and found that
traditional homework at the primary
level just wasn’t inspiring students to
learn. Often, homework at the primary
level was “busy work” and the research
was clear that homework at this level
doesn’t give the intended outcomes
that educators wish.
When asked, most teachers will say
that homework is to help gain indepen-
dence, organization, and help aid aca-
demic achievement. Well, the research
from Alfie Kohn, an author who writes
and speaks widely on human behav-
ior, education, and parenting, states
that there is “no correlation between,
young children completing homework
and a significant measure of academic
achievement.” He goes on to explain
that the;
negative effects of homework are well
known. They include children’s frus-
tration and exhaustion, lack of time
Home Learning
n Textbooks n Real world experiences
n Assigned pages n Repetition of key skills
n Disconnect from the classroom work n Authentic activities
n Teacher initiated n Student initiated
n Marked n Discussed
n Informs teacher instruction
n
Makes no or little difference
in teacher instruction
for other activities, and possible loss of
interest in learning. The positive effects
of homework are largely mythical. For
starters, there is absolutely no evidence
of any academic benefit from assign-
ing homework in primary school. For
younger students, in fact, there isn’t even
a correlation between whether children
do homework (or how much they do) and
any meaningful measure of achievement.
So what is the difference between
homework and home learning?
As the current Head of the Primary
Department at Somersfield Academy
along with a principal who supports the
transition to home learning, I decided
that we were moving the school to a
more authentic learning experience for
our students. Understanding that devel-
opmentally children at the primary age
between 6-12 need movement, knowl-
edge of the concept of fairness and
morality, and exploration of the senses,
which is a basic need for all learning.
The primary aged child is trying
to figure out where they fit into the
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greater world and it is part of our job
to guide them along this journey. So as
we began our switch to home learning,
I engaged my teachers in research on
the topic, polled the parent body and
surprisingly, we were mostly on the
same page.
Now, our approach to home
learning is to provide a few well-placed
suggestions for a variety of follow- up
experiences to create opportunities
for learning. The children are encour-
aged to read daily, explore the outside
world with parents, start a collection,
cook at home, complete chores and to
examine how math is useful in everyday
life. Home learning should establish
a healthy work habit outside of the class-
room environment by fostering each
child’s innate desire to learn, and for
them to be an active participant within
their family and culture. It is a vital link
between the classroom and home envi-
ronments and a catalyst to growing into
a member of the world culture.
Albert Einstein said that, “it is the su-
preme art of the teacher to awaken joy
in creative expression and knowledge.”
So as you embark on another school
year, remember that children have
many talented gifts to share if given the
opportunity to learn and express them-
selves naturally.
As a parent and educator for over 19
years parenting journalist Tina Outerbridge
has used all of these methods in her day to
day life to encourage many students includ-
ing her own children’s enjoyment of school.
For more information regarding Montessori
education and the home learning philosophy
contact Tina at Somersfield Academy.