What Does Math Homework Really Do?

As school begins to ramp up again, it’s time to tackle a familiar topic- homework.  Homework is a typical assignment for many learners to complete each night in all grade levels.  When it comes to math homework, I’m going to say something that might surprise you. 

Hear me out…homework is not a bad thing. It's just a habit forming activity.  It is how we help students to develop habits of responsibility and practice. When a student is assigned homework, he or she must:

• Remember to put the homework in a backpack with any other needed materials to complete it

• Take it out when home

• Recall how to complete the assignment

• Put it back in the backpack

• Return it to school

That’s a lot of executive functioning skills for developing learners to remember and is a great skill for students to learn through the practice of assigning homework.  But, that’s about all it does.

When it comes to assessing for mathematical understanding, once a student leaves your sight, you have no idea what happens.  While we like to think a student is sitting at home problem-solving through the homework joyfully saying, “I know how to do this!” you actually don’t know what a student is going through.

Let’s take a look at a few scenarios.  (These are real situations I’ve encountered in my teaching journey with K-8 students, but the names have been changed to protect my former students who follow me on social media.)

Ben plays baseball almost every day.

Ben plays select baseball.  He is expected to practice 2-3 hours each day.  By the time he gets home from school, he has a snack and may engage in tech for about half an hour before heading to practice to unwind.  His mom encouraged him to begin his homework, but he just wanted some downtime.  Once practice is over, he scarfs down some dinner and then grabs his homework to complete before heading to bed.  He’s not super focused and just knows he’s got to have something on the paper to get a good grade. 

Caleb takes care of his twin brothers.

Caleb lives in a single parent home.  His dad works the evening shift to help get him and his two twin brothers off to school in the morning. Caleb is expected to get both kindergarten girls fed, bathed and in bed before his dad gets home.  He aims to get his homework done, but his two brothers end up with a stomach bug throwing up everywhere.  Caleb spends all evening cleaning up and caring for them.  He quickly jots down some numbers on his math homework and shoves it in his backpack before falling asleep well after midnight.

Shonda's nanny helps her each evening.

Shonda’s nanny picks her up from school each day, feeds her a nutritious snack and even takes her to the park to unwind.  After a nice afternoon, she sits down one-on-one with her nanny to complete her homework in about an hour.  Her nanny gives her consistent breaks and googles anything she doesn’t know to ensure Shonda has all the right answers before Shonda’s parents get home.  Her nanny checks the homework and puts it back in her backpack before preparing dinner.

Rebeka gets very frustrated with her homework.

Rebeka stays at school until 6:30 in the aftercare program.  She tries to get her homework done there, but it’s really hard to concentrate with all the noise from the other kids.  She half-heartedly completes part of it and shoves it in her backpack.  Her mom picks her up and takes her home to rush and try to make a family meal.  After dinner, Rebeka remembers she hasn’t quite finished her homework and asks her parents to help her.  Both parents are exhausted and try to help but realize they don’t know the method Rebeka is learning in class.  An argument breaks out and Rebeka ends up crying at the table saying that she hates math and is stupid.  Her mom types up a rushed email to Rebeka’s teacher telling her the homework was completely inappropriate and she does not understand why they are teaching “new math”. 

And finally…one from my own kids (whose name has been changed to protect his identity).

Beau hates doing homework. He would much rather play outside and tries to get outside as quickly as he can.  He sits down to do his subtraction problems and realizes he can’t remember 17-8.  Beau remembers Alexa answers his trivia questions and decides to ask her.  She answers 9 and Beau feels that 9 sounds about right.  He wonders if she can answer the entire problem.  So he asks her what 237 – 128 is and Alexa answers it correctly.  Beau realizes that if he just asks Alexa, he can get outside a whole lot faster.  He quickly jots down the answers Alexa tells him, shows his mom who was cooking dinner and working with his sister and puts it in his backpack. 

Do any of these students remind you of your students or your own children?

These stories highlight a few key things:

• We have no idea what students are facing when they leave the classroom.  We don’t know what type of support they have and what their evening is like. 

  
  

• We don’t know who is doing the math that’s on the paper.  Sometimes I would write, “Way to go Mom!” on homework that was clearly written by a parent with no note about why the mom was helping.  We don’t know if students are using AI, nannies, or copying off someone else. 

Knowing all of this, I ask you: Why are you still assigning homework? 

It might be because you believe in instilling good habits.  You want students to develop those executive functioning skills that help them to learn to practice and stay organized.  These are great reasons to assign homework.  Instead of sending home a worksheet, we need to reframe our mindset about homework in order to get the most information about our students' progress.

Here are a few suggestions to get the most out of homework:

It should be an independent activity.  Encourage students to attempt the assignment on their own.  This means that it should be an assignment they can actually do.  If they can’t do it in class, do not send it home.  Even if you planned on an assignment, if you get to the end of your lesson and realize students are struggling, choose another option.

Communicate with families.  I always let parents know what I expected about homework.  I told them it should be done independently and that if students struggled with it, they should just jot down a note on the top of the page to let me know.  I stressed that I didn’t want them spending hours on homework during precious family time and I needed to know if their student struggled to assist them during class.

Be proactive.  If you know you are entering a tough chapter with math that might be new for families, send home resources to help them complete it.  No one wants to be blindsided by their 2^nd grader’s math homework. Send home chapter newsletters at the start of the chapter and explain to parents the strategies taught in this chapter.  Provide parents with examples, videos from the Math with Purpose Video Library and resources that will give them somewhere to look when they want to help their child. 

Use it to actually assess.  I can remember the days of grading homework in class before I realized this actually told me nothing about what students can do.  Instead, I asked students to place their homework on their desks for me to check for participation.  Then, I choose 2 problems from the homework as our warm up and invite students to solve it in their math notebooks.  If they did their homework, this will be a quick activity.  If they struggled, I’m going to see it.  It also allows us to open up the class to conversation about what was tricky without getting sidetracked. 

Be creative.  Homework doesn’t have to be a worksheet.  It can also be a game or a journal entry.  I used to love asking students to teach their family a game we learned in class and asked them to send in pictures of what they did.  I received so many wonderful pictures of families enjoying math!  Journal entries also allow students to reflect and consider math in another way.  Check out some alternative assignments you can give for homework that actually encourage students to reflect on their progress and instill good habits.

Homework doesn’t have to be a waste of time or a stressful event. It can be something meaningful that creates positive habits of practice and responsibility.  How are you assigning homework?  What do you choose to give students as a way to practice? 

Be sure to leave me a comment and then download my quick list of homework options that you can begin using right away.