Well ok, me being me this might be the first rant for today anyway...LOL

Heres the deal, nephew is in7th grade and comes here one night a week while his mom attends classes at local college...anyway EVERYTIME he brings in at least 30 problems on a worksheet from math class to do. There are NO instructions/formulas provided to do the problems, here is the most recent example:

55 ft./18 sec.X _________ X______________=____________

Yeah I graduated a long time ago BUT give me a break! There is NO book to look information up in, there are no clues like uses such and such formula to solve these problems etc!!!!

It is NUTS!!!! My sister tells me it is this way EVERY NIGHT! So being the redheaded you know what that I am.... I told her to go to the school and talk to someone about this. These kids NEED a book to use for reference, to show parents that are trying to help them at home or at the very LEAST a brief description on the actual PRINT OFF so that someone has a clue.

I KNOW teaching methods have changed over the years as have the actual problems students must solve BUT.........how are ya supposed to do it without direction?????

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LuvMyHubby
PROUD Mom of an enlisted man currently in Iraq
"The Truckers Report..helping newbies avoid the shams and scams, providing support for driver families and just a GREAT place to hang out,laugh and learn!"

We get this alot here also. It seems nowadays we the parents have to teach our kids not the teachers.

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My Wagon Ain't Saggin'!!!

Reminds me of quite a few years ago, when my first born was in 1st grade (he's now almost 20) comes home from school with some little paper cups, some beans of two different colors and no instructions either. This was for math too! I dropped him off at school the next day, and went in to talk to his teacher. Flat out told her that if they were going to send things home for the kids to do, be sure to send home instructions to, as parents are not mind readers. I also told her that I learned math the old-fashioned way, not by playing with food!

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I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was going to blame you.

Dynamite comes in small packages, Nitro comes in smaller ones, take your pick!

If I had to guess it would be a conversion problem.

ft./sec. X in/ft X sec/min= in/min

But without conversion units known, or directions it's just a guess. Normally this type of problem would be used with a word problem.

I was up front with parents at the beginning of each school year. I was against excessive amounts of homework. I believe that kids need to be kids, and not be bogged down with homework. I told them what to expect, and if their little darling was coming home with hours of homework, that meant he was goofing off in class and finishing classwork at home. Blame the excessive standards that are being required now. There just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done.

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I understand you there LM. I think a big part of it is the 'testing' now for NCLB. My boy scout troop was just discussing this last week. They are working on their Citizenship in the Nation merit badge, and have to write a letter to an elected official. The boys actually brought up the testing and the fact that quite a few schools seem to be 'teaching for the test' rather than just teaching, especially in the elementary grades.

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I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was going to blame you.

Dynamite comes in small packages, Nitro comes in smaller ones, take your pick!

I appreciate the homework my kids bring home. I like to help them, I think it's good they have to show me or my wife what their doing. I don't want to be guessing what my kids are having problems with, and get a surprise at the next parent/teacher conference.

I let my kids do their work... when their done I look at it... if they need help I do what I can. I get very suspicious when my kids come home with nothing to do.

Right, homework should be an extension of what they are doing in class, not a brand-new concept or idea. The overload of homework has some kids teaching themselves at night, instead of practicing what they already learned.

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I never got past pre algebra in high school. I think I may have been to much of an airhead at the time. But I learned algebra when my niece was in high school, from having to help her! And my son, who is 14, has already gone beyond that. I don't think I will ever catch up.

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Well, since you brought it up, let me tell you all a funny story about my son's 6th grade English teacher.

I graduated high school, even took some college courses in the day but I didn't get a degree and my major certainly wasn't English. This rookie teacher started sending homework for me, NOT. My son's assignment was to write, in this case, a letter to a penpal in a foreign country who was learning English and that student would translate it and write back. My homework was to edit his letter for grammar, spelling and punctuation for him to rewrite so his teacher didn't look bad to the other teacher.
Like I said, I wasn't an English major or a college graduate. I also wasn't getting paid by my taxes to teach my child English. I called the teacher and explained that it was okay to send homework for my son but I would not be doing her job even if she disguised it as homework.
She stopped sending homework to all the parents after that little chat.