My child moved from a much less academic school to a pretty advanced middle school this year. It’s all remote and he gets exhausted after a day ”learning” on screen and then has homework. By time he’s done with work and piano, he’s exhausted and hasn’t even been outside. He loves music so I don’t want to drop that. How awful would it be to skip some homework. It’s only 6th grade....
I have a kid in a similar situation. Yesterday didn't move from his desk chair except to eat meals! Sun sets at 4:00 so no way to get outside really. However, also no way could he skip any homework. The one time he forgot to do something, emails were sent out immediately.
Can you talk to a teacher / someone at the school? You can't just randomly skip homework on your own, because part of what you're teaching kids at this age is responsibility: you were assigned this work and you need to complete it. But if that's not realistic (and it sounds like it may not be!), no problem in talking to his teachers and trying to work out a plan for something that is more reasonable.
its not that immediate for us, but my question is - so what if we ignore emails? But I agree with below poster, it’s less about the grade than about responsibility. What a world we have put our Kids in
I would think he would get more out of skipping the online lessons than the homework. He'll learn more engaging in the material on his own and his grades will be better. I would encourage him to work on his homework while class is going on.
Kids (and adults) learn and remember things much better when they exercise. It's not waste of time to get outdoors and might actually improve things - it's a crucial component to learning.
We had a similar experience years ago, obviously long before COVID or remote learning. DD was in a small, progressive, easy-going elementary and then went to a large, traditional citywide for middle school, with hours of homework every night and a long commute. She hated it and was miserable. After weeks of that, and seeing that her teachers didn't even know her name, let alone care about things like critical thinking or collaboration, we took her out and transferred her. I'm not against academic rigor -- I just don't think hours of homework, or constant tests and quizzes based on memorization out of textbooks, is the same as getting a good education.
Go for a walk in the morning. get Up 30’ earlier, walk around the neighborhood. It makes a huge difference. Thats been our routine with DC for months when he was zooming to school And me to work. We couldn’t make it out during the day but those morning walks in the park kept us both sane.
Good idea, but not ideal for this time of year. It's dark and very cold in the early AM. Who wants to go out for a walk then?
I agree but maybe try on warmer days? Obviously not when it’s 25F outside.