STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --"Common Core" and "curriculum standards" are two phrases that have been batted around in education circles and in the media for the better part of two years. For the average Staten Island family, however, very little has changed: Common Core still means more homework time spent around the kitchen table, and frustration for students, and parents, who...
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --"Common Core" and "curriculum standards" are two phrases that have been batted around in education circles and in the media for the better part of two years. For the average Staten Island family, however, very little has changed: Common Core still means more homework time spent around the kitchen table, and frustration for students, and parents, who find themselves at a complete loss over how to help their children.
We looked at the case of Community Education Council president Michael Reilly, who posted one of his daughter's fifth-grade math problems to his Facebook page in frustration.
Why do kids' homework assignments have to be so hard for parents?
We asked SILive readers, and you let us know, sounding off by debating the pros and cons of the Common Core curriculum standards, and in some cases, sharing homework strategies that work for you and your family.
"Is this how division is being taught now? I would have never finished school! This is insane We are definitely making things much more difficult than they have to be," wrote Von Breeze.
Sailor666 doesn't "see the sense in teaching kids to do things the hard way. The lever, the pulley, all man's inventions are to help us do things easier. Nothing wrong with doing things the hard way sometimes if you have to, but this new math is truly ridiculous."
What drives Justyna "crazy" is "the amount of homework my daughter has in the 1st grade! It's absurd for a 6-year-old to sit and do her homework for more then an hour, writing words, sentences, spelling, math, reading log, poems, reading comprehension, sight words, etc. It's insane!"
. .And Justice For All, however, thinks parents need to "suck it up. . . and motivate your kids to do this stuff."
And this advice to parents:
"If you don't think your attitude and feeling about homework is getting through to your kids, you're mistaken," wrote good_grief_2. "Your kids know what you're feeling even if you don't verbalize it. If you aren't approaching homework with enthusiasm and excitement, your kids won't either."