When people ask me how I homeschool 10 children, I think they are really asking is, “How in the world do you manage to basically do homework all day long with all of your children. I don’t. I don’t even believe in homework. I mean we do learn things and we do have a home…but it’s not homework. Yes they have assignments that they do on their own as they get older. Yes they do learn things on their own. I just don’t spend hours attempting to understand what the teacher meant…I am the teacher and most of the time I understand myself. I don’t assign busy work. I try to keep our table work age appropriate. I know what each child knows and doesn’t know…so the work we do makes more sense for them.

Perhaps I should explain why I don’t believe in homework. Homework hurts the children who need public schools the most, adds stress to the family, and it doesn’t even work!

Homework puts an unnecessary burden children who don’t have two parents in the home, those whose parents don’t speak English, those whose parents are so busy trying to support their families they can’t always fit in homework. Why would we want to put children at a disadvantage? Imagine you are that child and you come home every day with a packet of homework to do. Most young children cannot successfully do their homework on their own. Would you enjoy going back to school having not done it? Would you feel like you are cut out for school? How would your homework look if you muddled through on their own, while other children had a parent helping them? Would you feel like you can be successful at school? Would you feel smart? Let’s say this continues for years and years before you could actually hope to do your homework on your own. Now you are 13. How likely is it that this child is going to suddenly decide that now homework applies to them and is important? How do they feel about themselves and their potential?

Public schools should exist precisely to educate and inspire children whose parents, for whatever reasons, can’t. Homework works against that niche directly.

So what amazing benefit does homework provide to justify such a thing? It doesn’t. Every study every done about homework given before age 12 shows that it does not improve academic achievement. Perhaps you have heard the idea the 10 minutes per grade is an appropriate amount of homework. This idea comes from Harris Cooper. He did a massive study on homework, found it completely unhelpful for children under the age of 12, but for whatever reasons, he decided to state in his conclusion that 10 minutes per day per grade probably wouldn’t be harmful. Statistically, homework didn’t show up in test scores, doesn’t improve study habits and didn’t aid retention of children until after age 12 and then the benefits were only marginal. Only in high school does homework show even marginal benefits for academic achievement.

What homework does before age 12:

Increases family, student and teacher stress

Decreases love of learning

Disrupts family interactions and social learning

Decreases physical activity and play

Decreases curiosity and divergent thinking skills

In great families, many of the negative effects of homework are mitigated by the natural culture of play and love of learning in the household. Reading is still fun, time to play is a priority and relationships are prioritized. I am grateful for that.

But why have to mitigate those negative consequences when there are no benefits? WHY do we do it? Is it a lack of patience? Is it a misunderstanding of the importance of play and free time to the development of divergent thinking and creativity? Why can’t we just leave well enough alone and enjoy the amazing curiosity of a young child’s mind? Can we just not stand doing nothing? Is it just a lack of knowledge about brain development?

We would never dream of force feeding a newborn foods, no matter how healthy they are for an older child. We recognize our digestive systems need to develop and that what would be healthy for a child could be harmful for an infant.

We would never insist children do massive weight training before their skeletal system has matured. We recognize the damage it can cause, whether the child likes it or not.

The brain is not fully formed until the mid-twenties. Is it so hard to consider homework as damaging as feeding an infant the wrong foods, or strength training with your 6-year-old?

Now, when I say homework is damaging I’m not suggesting we do nothing. I’m not suggesting children learn best when they can come home after school every day and have 8 hours of uninterrupted screen time. I’m saying Legos, bikes, dirt, clay, walks, blocks, cooking with mom… What would your afternoon and evening look like if children didn’t have homework until they were developmentally ready for it? What could you do with that time?

What would happen in homes where June Cleaver is not waiting to bake cookies?

So what can we do?

I have known some parents who refuse homework. They meet with the teacher and talk about their child’s actual academic needs and make a plan to meet them without homework. They are not combative or rude. They just represent their child and defend their need to be a child.

We can educate each other. Read studies about homework and how ineffective it is before age 12. Teachers will tell you that when they assign no homework, frequently it’s the parents who complain and want their child to LOOK like they are learning.

Learning at Home
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Develop an appreciation for the critical importance of play. Carve out time to play. Make it a priority. Keep the schedule simple and let the child be.

Talk to teachers and principals. Revisit the homework standards at your school. At the very least talk about the common lie “it’s just 20 minutes”. 20 minutes for whom? When so few children finish that 20 minutes worth of homework in 20 minutes, why do we say that?

Let your child grow. Trust that they will. Let their minds develop. We can no more make a child learn than we can pull a plant to make it grow. The secret to strong adults is letting them be children when they are little. Let them play and sing and dance and get muddy. Let them be little. They will be ready for more intense learning and will meet it with their curiosity and love of learning intact.

Related posts:

How to Teach Reading in Your Homeschool How Do Homeschooling Parents Get Breaks? Homeschooling Autistic Children How and Why to Have a Good Family Read Aloud