Homework. The word is dreaded by students. Parents have a love/hate relationship with it. But, what’s the point? School systems are moving away from homework being a large part of one’s grade, so why do we subject the kids to it? Practice. Seriously. We don’t get better at anything without practice. In math it is especially true. Practice makes basic math facts automatic and allows us to see the patterns lurking right before us. What’s a parent to do? I have a list of favorite sites that help my own kids and my students bone up on their math minutes,
http://www.helpingwithmath.com/resources/tab_multiplication_tables.htm This site is great for multiplication drill practice.
http://www.math-drills.com/ This site is my favorite all-around site for math. It has elementary to high school practice sheets. Addition, fractions, geometry.
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/default.aspx?ID=f8529ab2e6e24a7694fba30b5b178d9d This is a site sponsored by the National Center for Educational Statistics. It is a nice graphing interface.
Practice, practice, practice.
I do agree that practice makes perfect, especially when mastering the basics of a discipline. I like your statement that it helps us to see the patterns lurking before us...the repetition of practice usually leads to the aha moment where a principle clicks. Homework for the sake of putting in the hours, though, is a soul-sucking experience. Although that which doesn't kill you is supposed to make you stronger, I think the only think thoughtless homework does is dull the joy of learning. This seems to be the place where many school systems and educators struggle: a class of kids all need different amounts of practice. I don't have an answer, but with our boy moving into first grade this year, I'm going to have the topic in my face soon enough!
ReplyDelete