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Homework

Students in Lower School and Middle School receive homework at appropriate developmental levels on a regular basis. Homework is a valuable activity to practice and reinforce newly acquired skills and knowledge, to prepare for upcoming lessons and activities, and to extend learning in ways that require students to apply what they have learned in class. In addition, homework provides the opportunity to develop good study habits, provides for individual differences and abilities, and encourages self-initiative on the part of the student. It is the individual student’s responsibility to complete homework conscientiously by the day it is due in order to realize the benefits of the activity and to make consistent progress. 

Middle School teachers post daily homework assignments on Google Classroom, our learning management system. However, students are still expected to maintain homework assignment planners on a daily basis. Parents of absent students should call the School Office to arrange pick-up of necessary materials, which will be available at the front desk between 3:00 and 4:00 pm. 

Parent Involvement in student homework is essential to making homework a productive and beneficial exercise. Parents can assist their children by: 

  • providing a time and a quiet place for the child to work,
  • establishing a routine for when homework is to be done,
  • talking with the child about homework assignments to foster familiarity and, if necessary, to clarify instructions, and 
  • Encouraging the development of good study habits. 

While parents may need to guide younger students in completing homework, parents should never do their child’s homework. To do so deprives the child of any of the work’s benefits and deprives the teachers of important information on the child’s progress. On occasion, parents are invited to assume a participatory role in their child’s homework. 

Homework Quantity will be limited to 15 minutes per day at the youngest grade levels and will gradually increase to up to two hours in Grades 7 and 8. Because students’ strengths, abilities, and learning styles vary greatly, the time necessary to complete homework assignments for different students will also vary. If your child is experiencing difficulty or frustration with homework, please contact your child’s teacher in order to review current homework routines and to establish, in partnership, strategies to assist the student. 

Reading at home is encouraged and expected on a nightly basis for all students. Children at all grade levels may read independently, be read to, or a combination of both. While it may be difficult for students to do daily reading in addition to assigned homework at the higher grade levels, we do hope that a lifelong habit of independent reading will take root and flourish at both home and school.