The Ritual of Homework Starts in Kindergarten

At the close of my older daughter, Darling Daughter 1 (DD1)'s  first day back at kindergarten, I surveyed her backpack for any important papers or updated school information.  Tucked into her school/home folder, I found the "January Homework Calendar."   I have been surprised by my own reluctance to establish and support the importance of homework with my new kindergartener over these past few months.  My excuse has been that my daughter was struggling to adjust to the full school day and that her stamina was still developing.  I have not been enthusiastic about encouraging her to spend any more time sitting in a chair, which is what the suggested writing-focused tasks required of my daughter.  And it was not just the "seat time" aspect of the homework from which I shrunk away -- neither have I perceived that many of the suggested activities had much intrinsic interest to my daughter.  As such, I did not want to get into a pattern of tussling with her over the completion of an assignment, when I, myself, was not convinced of the authentic value of the assigned experiences.

In my local school district, the school board has established an official homework policy which they assert: "Research studies have shown that the amount of time devoted to learning is related to achievement in a subject. Homework, therefore, is important in a student's overall program." My local school district has clearly signaled that homework engenders greater student learning, and the principal and the teachers in my daughter's school are clearly in compliance with the district's homework imperative.   However, what has not been so clear to me is how sensibly this district homework credo had been translated into the daily roster of learning tasks offered to my newcomer kindergartner student.  Progressive philosopher John Dewey asserts that "all genuine education comes about through experience," and that "everything depends on the quality of the experience which is had." (Experience and Education 1938).  I have wondered whether or not the activities assigned as kindergarten homework can be characterized as genuinely educative?  I have wondered, too, about what range of supplemental activities might be most useful to my daughter's learning and development in this kindergarten year?  What is the relationship between school learning and home-based learning?  Is my primary job as a parent to extend the school learning at home or to supplement and augment what's learned in school?


As I look over the January calendar, I am encouraged to see that the renewed emphasis of the homework tasks are better connected to what my daughter is inclined towards at home.  Drawing on Mondays, reading on Tuesdays, whole child development tasks on Wednesdays, such as practice tying shoes or playing a board game, counting and calendar activities on Thursdays, and writing on Fridays -- I can genuinely generate some enthusiasm for this slate of activities.  And yet, I am still left wondering -- if left purely to our own devices, to what would my daughter and I be drawn?  What learning experiences and forms of engagement would call to us?   If I am committed to doing my part to raise a daughter who is a curious, life-long learning, what is my job as a parent in terms of balancing the demands of school with providing her with opportunities to explore the world more broadly?