Homework & Hope: Beyond Tedium

Midnight.  I’m awake, not because of a mountain of work or an inspiring idea.  I am awake as a show of solidarity for my 12-year-old child, who was still working on one night’s worth of homework. As a seventh grader, he has a full load.  Algebra I, Science, Honors English, Band, Honors Social Studies, and PE. My son is the type of child who can not go to bed until all of his homework is finished.  The stress of not having it done will keep him up.  I was that same kid.  So here I am…up at midnight.  Watching my boy give up his sleep for the sake of learning.

As he is working on his math, I see a tear run down his cheek.  I come to his aid…knowing that it has been a long time, but I am ready to dust off my math skills with the help of Khan Academy or a YouTube video. I ask if he is struggling to understand the problem. He says that he totally understands the problem. He has a fantastic teacher who graciously takes the class time to review the problems until the students understand. The typical evening homework is from the book, 1-50 odds or even.  So I ask him what the problem is.  I am expecting him to say that he is too tired. Instead, he says something profound.  He explains that he understands the problems.  He understood them after doing five problems. So why should he have to prove his expertise with 25 problems? He used the phrase…”it’s just so tedious.”

Yes. It is tedious. In elementary school, the teachers assigned 20 minutes per night of IXL.  This program tested the students on their knowledge and then moved them up to the next level once they understood the concept.  Teachers ran reports on students to show their time on the program and the level that they achieved.  It’s personalized learning at its best!  Unfortunately, the IXL math program did not follow him into junior high.

My next glance at the clock showed 12:20 a.m.  I could not help but reflect on why my child was up.  He moved from Math to Honors English.  As he documented his reflection on the passage that his class read that day, I started counting his minutes during the week in “extracurricular” activities.  Activities that were officially getting in the way of his homework.

Sports.  My child started playing sports at age four at the YMCA.  Now, he is involved in soccer, basketball, lacrosse, and running XC/Track.  He is committed to one of these teams every sports season and throughout the summer.  Was it time to give up sports for the sake of his education?

Music.  Music is a big part of his life.  He plays three instruments—the piano, flute, and percussion.  Piano is a once-a-week lesson plus practice.  Flute is a daily band class, but it also comes with a practice log for an expected time of 25 minutes a day for full credit and a weekly lesson with a flutist.  Percussion is self-taught. He works daily with YouTube to learn the basics.  Was it time to give up music for the sake of his education?

Art.  It was not long before my son was inspired by his artist uncle.  Now, he is experimenting with clay, colored pencils, acrylic, charcoal, pencil, and india ink.  Others consider his work as “amazing” and “remarkable”.  He can get lost in a piece that takes 10-20 hours to complete.  Many have asked him to commission pieces for them.  Offering to pay him for his time.  He has gone on to the state level in Reflections and has been featured in a local art show.  On top of his hours every week when he is working on a piece, he has a weekly lesson.  We pay for an hour, but his instructor often stays for two.  They get so involved in shading, depth, and colors.  The time flies, but so does his time for other things…like homework.  Was it time to give up art for the sake of his education?

So now I am looking at his “time drain” activities.  The items that are getting in the way of his homework.  Which ones need to be taken off the weekly schedule?  I started thinking about why we started him in all of them.  The reason was not to fill his week but they were to fill his mind.  Grow his body, soul, and ultimately create connections in his brain.   

There are multiple studies on the brain and the impact of music, exercise, and art on cognition.  Exercise has been called “miracle gro” for the brain.  When someone exercises, they create and reinforce neural pathways of the brain.  Exercise has also been shown to generate more neurons, dendritic spines, and increase the amount of dopamine released into the brain.  Dopamine is essential for learning. [1]

Research on music and the brain shows that neurogenesis occurs in the hippocampus.  While listening to music, the brain is flooded with dopamine.  Playing music actually creates neural pathways in the hippocampus.  The hippocampus is responsible for long-term memory and retrieval. [2]

No research shows that homework increases neural connections, stimulates neurogenesis, or releases dopamine.  The best I could find was a homework standard endorsed by the National Education Association [3].  This standard for homework is called the "10-minute rule”.  The recommendation is that students should have homework that adds up to 10 minutes per grade level per night. My child is a 7th grader.  So, he should have 70 minutes of homework per night.  This suggestion is not based on research but is considered best practice.

​As a secondary teacher, I am not checking with other teachers to determine how much time “my subject” gets each night.  I just assign homework.  There are days when the homework is more.  That is what happened to my son on this particular night.  Each of his teachers assigned homework, and the load became more than he could finish in one evening. So there he was, going to basketball practice, doing homework as he ate his dinner, fitting in time for 20 minutes on his flute and 20 minutes on his piano, and now one night's worth of homework turned into the next day.  He finished his work.  Did a great job.  He didn’t have to sacrifice his extracurriculars.  The only sacrifice was in his sleep.  Now, where is that research on sleep and the teen brain?  Wait…here it is.  Sleep is the time when the brain consolidates memories. [4]  The lesson for the day is that my son’s homework is finished.  But without a proper night’s sleep, those concepts that he practiced did not properly consolidate in his brain—making this night of homework…a waste.​

References

[1]

Ratey, J. J., & Hagerman, E. (2008). Spark: The revolutionary new science of exercise and the brain. New York: Little, Brown.

[2]

Herdener, M., Esposito, F, di Salle, F., Boller, C., Hilti, C.C, Habermeyer, B., Scheffler, K., Wetzel, S., Seifritz, E. and Cattapan-Ludewig, K. Musical Training Induces Functional Plasticity in Human Hippocampus.  Journal of Neuroscience 27 January 2010, 30 (4) 1377-1384; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4513-09.2010

[3]

Research Spotlight on Homework. NEA Reviews of the Research on Best Practices in Education.

[4]

Cairney, S.A., Ashton, J.E., Roshchupkina, A.A, and Sobczak, J.M.  A Dual Role for Sleep Spindles in Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation?  Journal of Neuroscience 9 September 2015, 35 (36) 12328-12330; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2463-15.2015