Stahlke Adoption

Homework, Homework, and More Homework

Last year, the children's English ability was limited, and most of them did not have a lot of homework. The exception was Misha, who entered kindergarten and therefore learned the alphabet at the same time as his classmates. (He had his own challenges, however, since he was simultaneously learning the Cyrillic alphabet at Ukrainian school. Some of the Ukrainian letters are identical to English but have completely different sounds.)

This school year, the children's English abilities are much, much better, and so they are bringing home the same homework as the other students in their classes. But with English acquisition, verbal and aural skills come much faster than reading and writing skills. So this school year is probably the hardest one for homework, since they are assigned everything but need a lot of help.

When both Jonathan and I are home, we tag team the work needed for dishes, baths, choosing clothes, and homework. But Tuesday and Thursday nights are rehearsal nights for us, so only one parent is available. I've been recruiting friends to help on Tuesdays, and it's made a big difference. The three older children often have lengthy literature assignments, which an adult must read to them. (We are finding tapes now for a few of these readings, which helps.) All of the children have spelling tests each week, and we practice flashcards every night. Math is their best subject, but even there the word problems require help with English.

And even when the children CAN do something independently, they don't want to because they like the attention from us. But I've heard that's true of all children!

posted by Stahlkes @ 8:48 PM