Mom ‘Heartbroken’ By The Amount Of Homework Her First-Grader Had On The Second Day Of School — ‘It’s Breaking Their Spirit’
He didn't want to do another hour of work after spending the entire day learning.
New Africa | Shutterstock When school is in session, students will spend the bulk of their downtime squeezing in their homework, and all of their extracurriculars. It's been reported that high school students get an average of 6.8 hours and elementary students get an average of 4.7 hours of homework each week.
While it might not seem like a lot, for the little kids, it's a real struggle.
A mom named Cassi Nelson is fed up with the amount of work her first-grader is being asked to complete outside of the classroom, so she took to social media to vent about it. Turns out, she's not the only parent with similar concerns.
A mom was 'heartbroken' by the amount of homework her first-grader had to complete.
"My heart... second day of 1st grade and he came home with 4 pages of homework," Nelson revealed in her Facebook post. She explained that her son doesn't have a lot of time to relax and play after coming home from school since he doesn't get home until 4 p.m. Instead of being allowed to go outside or just not think about schoolwork, she pointed out that he has to sit still for another hour while he completes his homework.
Just to make sure her son wasn't getting distracted, Nelson had to clean out the kitchen to give him space to work. "His little legs kept bouncing up and down, he was bursting with so much energy just wanting to go play," she continued.
The first-grader became overwhelmed and emotional while trying his best to get his homework done.
It all became too much for her to bear when her son looked at her with teary eyes and asked, "Mommy, when you were little did you get distracted too?"
Nelson said she doesn't understand how teachers expect little children to sit still for hours each day in the classroom and then come home and sit still for another hour while they complete their homework.
It's just an unreasonable expectation.
In a photo posted alongside Nelson's caption, she showed her son visibly upset and crying as he attempted to finish his homework, proving that just like adults, children get overwhelmed and stressed by the additional work they have to do.
"If we do anything in this cancel culture, can we please cancel so much unnecessary homework? Especially for the younger kids. It’s breaking their spirit and it robs them of what little fun and family time they have when they come home after a long day of school."
Experts recommend that students should not be spending hours on homework after school.
The National Education Association and the National Parent Teacher Association (PTA) recommend that elementary school students spend 10 minutes per grade level on homework each night. For example, first graders should do 10 minutes of homework; second graders should do 20 minutes, and so on.
It's hard enough for young children to sit still and pay attention for long periods of time, so large amounts of homework can end up having a detrimental effect on how they view school as a whole. On top of that, a lot of long-term assignments or large projects end up being completed by parents instead of children.
A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Family Therapy found that primary school children actually received three times the recommended amount of homework, and family stress increased along with the homework load.
Elementary school homework, in particular, was found to be harmful to young kids.
Research conducted by The Washington Post found that homework is not considered helpful in elementary school, and can actually be harmful. Back in 1989, Duke University psychologist Harris Cooper, noted, “for elementary school students, the effect of homework on achievement is trivial, if it exists at all," per the publication.
Homework for elementary school-aged children should be simple worksheets, puzzles, word problems, and other short activities that they can complete in 10 to 20 minutes at most. It shouldn't take a first-grader an entire hour to complete a homework assignment, especially when research suggests it has no benefit.
That's not to say that homework isn't beneficial; it definitely is. But for children in the first grade, there should be a bit more leniency, and they shouldn't start off with an excessive amount of work when that's not truly required for them yet.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.