(View from the window this AM. Even though I have called a moratorium on all further snowfall this year, it appears that the memo did not hit the press.)

After reading a bit about homework today, and recalling that the number one question my kids get from friends who go to school is “Do you have homework!?” I have devised a handy lesson plan for teachers to eliminate homework from the lives of all school children who will now probably take up sculpture so that they can produce a life-sized monument of me to place in some notable spot.

Lesson Plan to Eradicate Homework

Appropriate for grades K-12

Overview:

Based on recent studies it has become apparent to educators that homework has taken on a role in many households that strains family relationships, causes undue stress to student and parent, creates time crunches and may not have the solid reinforcement value of content that we have previously maintained it to have. Therefore, this lesson will help students and their families to learn the necessary steps and principles required to unlearn the habits acquired in after school hours.

Purpose:

The purpose of this lesson is to give the student a set of skills which will enable them to make the most of the free time between the hours of after school and school using what were previously considered outmoded techniques that may have been temporarily misplaced by generations of children and their families.

Objectives:

Activities;

To introduce the subject of free time some likely activities follow;…

1. During class, the teacher should role play some after-school scenarios which are considered healthful. Teacher should bring in visual aides, such as fruit for a snack, a ball or bike. Ask the students what they know about these items and what they would like to know about them. If necessary, illustrate their use. When teacher is done demonstrating the processes, teacher should ask students what they learned about these items and the activities that might be attached to them. Encourage students to draw pictures or write one paragraph entry in learning journals of acceptable after school activities.

2. Provide each student with a packet of after school hours activity suggestions and require parents to log in hours and sign each entry of activities accomplished. Some activities may include but not be limited to: preparing and eating a meal, participating in a sport, playing a board game, independent reading, completing puzzles, talking on phone to friends or family, spending time with sibling, getting a haircut, going to the doctor, playing with toys, watching 1 hour of publicly funded television, pursuing independent interests such as photography or cake decorating, self-grooming, playing limited educational video games, supervised time online pursuing worthwhile topics, interacting with a parent in a meaningful way, and 8 to 10 hours of sleep.

3. After several week of logging in homework-free hours, divide class in to several groups and have them create presentations reflecting on their new homework-free lifestyles. On the blackboard create a Venn diagram and inside each circle write the words school and home. Ask students to come to the board and fill in the diagram in order to illustrate their understanding of ways in which school and life intersect and reinforce each other. Example: how does playing piano help one’s math skills? In what way did spending time with your father making breakfast on Sunday morning enhance your comprehension of current events?

4. Ask students to create a play using the pros and cons they have listed during group time to indicate which model of after school life they prefer. Choosing the most dramatically-minded of your students, produce this play during PTA night and have the student who most enjoys tech stuff put the production up on Youtube. Encourage politically-minded students to nominate you for various Teacher of the Year awards.

Resources needed:

Sporting equipment, food, time, art supplies, trust, video camera, piano, courage,blackboard, patience, internet service, journals, paradigm shift, toys, cake supplies.

Tying it all together:

Surely homework is not the source of all that is wrong with the world, but there is a general consensus among most parents, even prior to these recent studies that children are having a much harder time of enjoying their childhoods nowadays due to societal pressures to perform and excel in areas ranging from “the basics” to academic excellence and all the way up to sports achievement. While it may be true that the majority of students have something to offer the world in areas similar to these, it has indisputably remained true as well that all lives require some balance. While there are many challenges on the modern day student beyond mere academic ones (such as adapting to a rapidly changing world of technology) there still needs to be a time and place for comfort, companionship,unstructured play and introspective time for all humans, not the least of them children. Strict adherence to this lesson plan will ensure not just the continued employment of curriculum writers such as myself, but also the feeling of uncertainty among parents and students alike that they are capable of making choices about what to do with their lives without the help of extensive bureaucracy, which is a small price to pay for the governmental oversight and promise of the student’s gradual immersion in to a life of balanced activities and overall mental, physical and academic health.