is holiday homework necessary

Why We Should Give Students a Homework Break Over the Holidays

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I have so many fond memories from holiday seasons growing up: the smell of delicious food being made by my Mexican and Filipino families, warm light on the faces of my relatives, and lots of laughter. As I got older, though, things changed—mostly because I had so much homework to do.

Instead of joking with our relatives at the holidays, my brother and I would often sequester ourselves at the edge of the room, thick textbooks open and pens in our hands. Sometimes, we’d miss events altogether. When we did attend, the ramifications could be intense. During one spring break, I chose to go to an Easter party with my family. But by midnight, I was stress-weeping because I had so much work to do by the next day.

As a teacher, I now understand the temptation to give work over school breaks. There never seems to be enough time to do the projects or read the texts I’d like to with my kids, and asking students to work or read during breaks eases that crunch. I also worry that my students will lose some of their learning in the weeks they are gone.

Recently, though, my school created a new homework policy that, among other things, encourages us to avoid giving students work over extended school breaks. Our administration cited studies that raise questions about the benefits of hefty doses of homework.

I worried about how this new plan would affect my curriculum pacing, and about what my students might “lose.” But I realized that my concerns were really about my desires, not what was best for my students.

The new policy led me to re-evaluate my assignments and timing, and I ended up being able to make adjustments so my kids could complete necessary projects without working when they should be recharging. I’d worried about my students’ learning, but recent research challenges our long-held belief that students’ learning “slides” significantly over long breaks.

Taking the stress of homework out of my students’ holiday breaks is important. They deserve an opportunity to relax and rejuvenate as much as I do—particularly if they are overscheduled to begin with. Young or old, we all need rejuvenation time. In addition, more studies are demonstrating the benefits of down time for students. Having unstructured time recharges them, but also allows their brains to build connections that strengthen and improve their executive functioning.

We need to be mindful of other factors that complicate homework assignments over holiday breaks. We don’t always know what our students’ lives are like outside our classrooms. Do they struggle with access to the resources necessary to complete assignments? Do they have stressful home situations?

Here are a few ways we can send our students off on a positive note when they leave us for holiday breaks. I’m trying them myself this winter!

Provide activities that support students reconnecting with themselves, their loved ones, or their community.

While we want to avoid giving mandatory work to students, we can offer opportunities and ideas for learning-friendly activities they can do during their break. Maybe that’s an optional/extra credit project that asks students to interview a family or community member (though we should also provide time after break for those who couldn’t work over break). Or maybe we can offer students some ideas about how they could use their time to take care of themselves or their communities. We could provide reflection questions once they’re back from break, to help them find meaning in the experience. Encouraging students to use their time to volunteer or take care of themselves allows us to help our kids grow not just as students, but as people.

Offer opportunities to find a new passion, set goals, or reflect.

While some students may travel or connect with family, some of our kids may have a lot of free time over their break. We can encourage them to use the time to set goals for the year, dream big and draw or write their five-year plan (remind them this is for fun and plans will change!), or reflect on their year or life so far. We can also encourage students to discover something they’re passionate about, or use the time to pursue something they love.

Deepen your relationships with students and allow them to open up to you.

Sometimes, our kids are simply not given the space to dive deeply into something that lets them tell us who they are. Give students a project that allows them to explore their identity or have them write a story about their lives. This will not only provide some critical thinking, reading, or writing enrichment, but more importantly will provide valuable insight into our students’ lives and help us build deeper connections with our students. We can return the favor by completing the project ourselves or writing a story and sharing it with them.

After the break, see what stuck with students.

Instead of returning from break with the mindset of what was “lost,” give students a chance to share everything they remember from the last unit. Instead of assuming they all had a great time they want to share, welcome kids back with an opportunity to celebrate the experiences that stuck with them from their breaks. Help students generate a class-created study guide so they can review what they learned before the break. This gives them space to support one another and remind each other what they learned, as well as gives us an opportunity to praise students for what they’ve retained. It also provides important feedback for us on what stuck over the break and what we need to reteach.

Ultimately, our students look to us not just for academic growth, but to support their growth as human beings as well. Taking away homework stress over break may cause us to change our short-term plans, but providing them with opportunities and resources instead can have some long-term benefits that can change their self-perception and their lives more than a packet of homework ever could.

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Pros and cons of holiday homework

Homework is that word that sends a shudder down the spine of most of the students. While some people think that homework is an effective way of revising what you learn at school but many think that homework plays no vital role in the lives of students. Is homework necessary or does it add more stress and pressure on students? Is homework important? Here are some pros and cons of holiday homework so you can decide better.

Pros of holiday homework:

1. allows for a comfortable place to study.

There is no doubt about the fact that with time, the classrooms have evolved to be more welcoming toward students but there is nothing more comfortable and safer than home. Students will be more comfortable studying more effectively at home, and the best way to do that is by revising everything that you have learned at school by doing it in the form of homework. Students may feel more focused and attentive at home rather than in class, in this way they can learn and study better.

2. Time management skills

Time management is an important skill that helps one for a lifetime. Homework will help students in developing time management skills and how to stay on track. Students will learn to plan a schedule and ensure that all tasks can be completed during the day. This will encourage research skills as well as develop problem-solving skills and independent thinking which will be beneficial in the real world.

3. Parents more involved in a child’s life

By bringing homework, students can engage their learning process with their parents. Parents can be involved in the studies of their kids and know what the kids are doing or how well they are performing in their studies. Parents would also know where their child lacks or what improvement is needed. Many parents also want their kids to bring homework, so they know what they are being taught at school. Moreover, parents get to spend more time with their children, especially in their study time, so they also know where the child stands in terms of studying.

4. Encourages the discipline of practice

Repeating the same lessons might be boring and frustrating for students but this will only encourage the discipline of practice among them and make them better. To get better at one subject or even skills, repetition is the key. It is necessary. If the students are having trouble solving a math problem in class but bring homework and do it again, chances are high that they will get better at it. The concepts become much easier to understand.

Cons of holiday homework:

1. causes unnecessary stress.

Students are often given lots of assignments and homework so it gets hard to cope with the pressure. The word homework or assignments can instill a sense of dread in students. When the workload and deadlines are at large, homework can cause students to feel stressed and anxious all the time. This can also lead to them not being motivated enough and can take a toll on their studies and grades.

2. Not always effective

Many surveys and studies have shown that homework has zero effects. Homework can only create a negative attitude towards schooling and discourages students from even making efforts and making them anxious all the time. Homework doesn’t help in achieving good results. It might be helpful to certain students struggling with a few subjects but overall, there is no evidence that shows any improvements in students’ academic results with the help of homework.

3. Not every home has a beneficial environment

While there are many homes and parents that want to play an active role in the studies of their kids but on the other hand, some students might not have the same experience. Some students might face difficulties at home as there may be no welcoming, beneficial environment for the kids so it may get a bit hard for these students to go home and do homework. Some parents may just push the responsibility of teaching off on the teacher and provide no support to their kids.

Other than pros and cons of holiday homework, you can also read Smart strategies to complete your holiday homework

These might interest you.

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The Case For And Against Holiday Homework

The holidays: A time for eating, travel, fun with family, relaxation and, potentially, homework.

It’s a debate that’s been going on for years: Does study time have any place during school vacations?

The Case For Homework Over The Holidays

The pro-homework contingent has done their research (unsurprisingly). Two meta-analyses by Cooper et al (Cooper, 1989a; Cooper, Robinson, & Patall, 2006) examined the causal relationship between homework and student achievement.

They concluded that the amount of homework a student completes coincides directly with their success rates. Their research further found that students that were assigned homework scored 23 percentile points higher on tests than learners in a class where homework wasn’t assigned.

It turns out learning is a lot like exercise – it’s good to rest, but not to live on the couch for a month. The less you use the skills you have and the learning you’ve gained, the worse shape it’s going to be in when students come back to class.

The Case Against Homework Over The Holidays

So what’s the other side saying?

Let’s start with family time. It’d be crazy to argue that family time isn’t important, and the holidays provide a special opportunity for everyone to get together without the usual distractions. In an odd twist, studies show that uninterrupted family time can also have learning benefits.

Family studies at the University of Michigan found that family time correlates closely to achievement and behaviour. Studies on family meals suggest that students who have dinner with their family have better academic scores and behavioural outcomes.

There’s another thing to consider: learning can happen without homework. With access to learning software and educational programs and websites, our schools and classes no longer have to be the beginning and end of learning for students.

The Verdict

Find a good balance.

Create small, relevant and purposeful assignments as homework over the holidays. Ultimately, you want to keep your students’ minds fit while they’re on break – but remember this is your break too!

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7 Smart Strategies to Actually Get Homework Done During the Holidays

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While most people consider the holidays “the most wonderful time of the year,” for some students, not so much. With families to care for, holiday parties to prepare for and gift shopping to finish in between, finding time to complete schoolwork may seem down right impossible. For students, the mounting stress of the holidays can result in late assignments, or, even worse, assignments never submitted at all.

But it’s important to remember that late assignments and missed assignments will have a negative effect on your grade.  A failing or incomplete grade  can affect your graduation plans. And that’s not very merry at all. So instead of waiting until the last minute and panicking the night before a deadline, here are seven strategies you can use to ensure your homework gets done on time and gift yourself a much needed break.

1. Plan Ahead

It’s easy to lose track of deadlines when the days are filled with holiday fun, and that doesn’t leave much time, or thought, for course work. Even with so many (welcome) distractions, it’s important to complete schoolwork on time. To better pace yourself, create a schedule for what assignments are due and when, and break up that work into smaller chunks. Keep this schedule in an easy-to-see place so you can avoid any last minute surprises.  

2. Save the Easy Assignments for Later

When you first sit down for a school session, you may feel inclined to get the easy material out of the way. However, your energy and focus are at their peak when you first start. Use this brainpower advantage to get through the most challenging subjects early on. Then, should you really experience holiday and homework crunch time, you’ll be able to complete the smaller assignments with less stress and in less time.

3. Enlist the Elves

You have your your own helpers who are ready and willing to lend a hand: your spouse, kids, siblings, parents, in-laws, grandparents, the list goes on. Instead of feeling obligated to handle all the holiday hoopla alone, get your helpers involved. Let a family member supervise the cooking or make a gift pit stop for you so you can get away for half an hour or so. Or, spend your bonding time with family wisely; instead of finding gifts for your kids to give grandma and grandpa, save yourself an extra shopping trip and sit down together to handcraft something special. Not only will you save time and money, you’ll also have a wonderful family memory. And isn’t that what the holidays are supposed to be about?

4. Be Realistic

The holiday season is also a hectic one; unrealistically high expectations for yourself may cause your schoolwork to suffer. Trying to do too much will leave you drained and burnt out. Combat this by asking your family which holiday traditions they treasure the most, and cut out the rest. If your teenagers don’t enjoy holiday light shows anymore, then save yourself the trip and use it to get your schoolwork done instead. And when you’ve finished, you can spend your time doing the things your kids actually do like. Be reasonable with your time, and you can balance work and holiday fun.

5. Shop Smart

Obviously, you can save yourself a lot of time, money and hassle by shopping online. But being savvy about it can make all the difference. Give yourself a time limit to scour sites for the best deals and comparison shop. If you don’t find a better offer online after 10 minutes, stop, and move on. Most importantly, avoid or turn off any sale alerts. If you keep leaving your schoolwork behind to check your email inbox for the latest deals, you’ll never get it done. Save the emails for later; in a few hours, the sales will still be there.

6. Reward Yourself

Take breaks in between studying by giving yourself an extra holiday treat or two, or spend it with friends and family. To feel reenergized and refreshed, take a break that lasts 20-30 minutes, coincidentally, the same amount of time it takes to bake a batch of cookies or wrap up a few gifts! Whatever you do, take a break that is mentally or physically active, and you’ll be at your most productive when you return.  

7. If all else fails… Request a Course Extension

If you’re looking for the gift of time, Thomas Edison State University students may  apply for an eight-week course extension  as long as you continue to make satisfactory progress in your course. Your mentor must be able to certify that at least 50 percent of your course work has been completed. After submitting the course extension request , along with the fee, you’ll receive an extension approval via email from the University. 

Written by Thomas Edison State University

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School Life Balance , Tips for Online Students

The Pros and Cons of Homework

Updated: December 7, 2023

Published: January 23, 2020

Homework is a word that most students dread hearing. After hours upon hours of sitting in class , the last thing we want is more schoolwork over our precious weekends. While it’s known to be a staple of traditional schooling, homework has also become a rather divise topic. Some feel as though homework is a necessary part of school, while others believe that the time could be better invested. Should students have homework? Have a closer look into the arguments on both sides to decide for yourself.

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Why should students have homework, 1. homework encourages practice.

Many people believe that one of the positive effects of homework is that it encourages the discipline of practice. While it may be time consuming and boring compared to other activities, repetition is needed to get better at skills. Homework helps make concepts more clear, and gives students more opportunities when starting their career .

2. Homework Gets Parents Involved

Homework can be something that gets parents involved in their children’s lives if the environment is a healthy one. A parent helping their child with homework makes them take part in their academic success, and allows for the parent to keep up with what the child is doing in school. It can also be a chance to connect together.

3. Homework Teaches Time Management

Homework is much more than just completing the assigned tasks. Homework can develop time management skills , forcing students to plan their time and make sure that all of their homework assignments are done on time. By learning to manage their time, students also practice their problem-solving skills and independent thinking. One of the positive effects of homework is that it forces decision making and compromises to be made.

4. Homework Opens A Bridge Of Communication

Homework creates a connection between the student, the teacher, the school, and the parents. It allows everyone to get to know each other better, and parents can see where their children are struggling. In the same sense, parents can also see where their children are excelling. Homework in turn can allow for a better, more targeted educational plan for the student.

5. Homework Allows For More Learning Time

Homework allows for more time to complete the learning process. School hours are not always enough time for students to really understand core concepts, and homework can counter the effects of time shortages, benefiting students in the long run, even if they can’t see it in the moment.

6. Homework Reduces Screen Time

Many students in North America spend far too many hours watching TV. If they weren’t in school, these numbers would likely increase even more. Although homework is usually undesired, it encourages better study habits and discourages spending time in front of the TV. Homework can be seen as another extracurricular activity, and many families already invest a lot of time and money in different clubs and lessons to fill up their children’s extra time. Just like extracurricular activities, homework can be fit into one’s schedule.

The Other Side: Why Homework Is Bad

1. homework encourages a sedentary lifestyle.

Should students have homework? Well, that depends on where you stand. There are arguments both for the advantages and the disadvantages of homework.

While classroom time is important, playground time is just as important. If children are given too much homework, they won’t have enough playtime, which can impact their social development and learning. Studies have found that those who get more play get better grades in school , as it can help them pay closer attention in the classroom.

Children are already sitting long hours in the classroom, and homework assignments only add to these hours. Sedentary lifestyles can be dangerous and can cause health problems such as obesity. Homework takes away from time that could be spent investing in physical activity.

2. Homework Isn’t Healthy In Every Home

While many people that think homes are a beneficial environment for children to learn, not all homes provide a healthy environment, and there may be very little investment from parents. Some parents do not provide any kind of support or homework help, and even if they would like to, due to personal barriers, they sometimes cannot. Homework can create friction between children and their parents, which is one of the reasons why homework is bad .

3. Homework Adds To An Already Full-Time Job

School is already a full-time job for students, as they generally spend over 6 hours each day in class. Students also often have extracurricular activities such as sports, music, or art that are just as important as their traditional courses. Adding on extra hours to all of these demands is a lot for children to manage, and prevents students from having extra time to themselves for a variety of creative endeavors. Homework prevents self discovery and having the time to learn new skills outside of the school system. This is one of the main disadvantages of homework.

4. Homework Has Not Been Proven To Provide Results

Endless surveys have found that homework creates a negative attitude towards school, and homework has not been found to be linked to a higher level of academic success.

The positive effects of homework have not been backed up enough. While homework may help some students improve in specific subjects, if they have outside help there is no real proof that homework makes for improvements.

It can be a challenge to really enforce the completion of homework, and students can still get decent grades without doing their homework. Extra school time does not necessarily mean better grades — quality must always come before quantity.

Accurate practice when it comes to homework simply isn’t reliable. Homework could even cause opposite effects if misunderstood, especially since the reliance is placed on the student and their parents — one of the major reasons as to why homework is bad. Many students would rather cheat in class to avoid doing their homework at home, and children often just copy off of each other or from what they read on the internet.

5. Homework Assignments Are Overdone

The general agreement is that students should not be given more than 10 minutes a day per grade level. What this means is that a first grader should be given a maximum of 10 minutes of homework, while a second grader receives 20 minutes, etc. Many students are given a lot more homework than the recommended amount, however.

On average, college students spend as much as 3 hours per night on homework . By giving too much homework, it can increase stress levels and lead to burn out. This in turn provides an opposite effect when it comes to academic success.

The pros and cons of homework are both valid, and it seems as though the question of ‘‘should students have homework?’ is not a simple, straightforward one. Parents and teachers often are found to be clashing heads, while the student is left in the middle without much say.

It’s important to understand all the advantages and disadvantages of homework, taking both perspectives into conversation to find a common ground. At the end of the day, everyone’s goal is the success of the student.

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Learning with Fun: how to enjoy Holiday homeworks

Summer holidays mean relax : students can finally take a break and spend some time with their friends and families. Assigning them books to read, exercises to complete and problems to solve is an outdated homework model. Thanks to education technology , it is now easier than ever to stimulate students during holidays , motivating them to keep on training their mind. Here are some ideas.

But first, catch their attention and enthusiasm

Before using smart tech tools to engage students and help them to enjoy the summer learning activities, it is important to understand their needs and catch their attention , improving their motivation and enthusiasm. This has nothing to do with technology. It is a previous process that teachers should conduct face to face in the classroom.

Rule #1: appeal to students’ interests

Students enjoy their homework when it sounds funny, interesting, relevant to them: that’s why teachers should incorporate what their learners know and love in the summer assigments. How? First of all, taking a poll to find out what the majority of the class is into – sports, arts, nature? – and then creating a way to integrate the favourite subjects into the summer homework. Appealing to students’ interests is a great motivation driver!

Rule #2: keep it short

Holiday homework has the purpose to practice – or extend – those concepts learned at school during the school year. The duration of homework per day depends on the purpose . The National PTA (Parents Teacher Association, U.S.A.) recommends 10-20 minutes of homework in the 1st grade, arriving to 120 minutes of homework for a student in high school. But it is very tough to find a student who enjoys 2 hours of homework per day! In fact, consistent studies suggest that shorter – and more frequent – homework assignments are more effective , because learners are more likely to complete them.

Rule #3: stimulate sharing

During summertime, students prefer to stay outdoor, enjoying leisure with friends . Holiday homeworks can be a great opportunity to leverage on students’ cooperation, stimulating them with assignments including teamworks and activities to complete together with their classmates.

Rule #4: make it fun

Instead of force students to do traditional summaries regarding books they have read during summer, try to assign different kinds of homeworks, maybe including more subjects at the same time . An example: a written recap of summer holidays where students have to talk about the places they visited, merging this story with the music they listenend to, the histories they learnt and including even the photos they took during holidays. This could be a great way to test the students’ capability to deal with multitasks and activities of different nature. Regarding the many ways students can learn with fun, technology gives a lot of solutions suitable for students to do their holiday homework and keep on learning during summer in a more engaging and funny way. In Google Play Store , you can find a lot of apps that allow innovative and effective ways to learn at home during holidays :

• To students , the apps enable them to learn and to do homeworks in a more innovative and – above all – fun way;
• For teachers , it will be possible for them to assign homeworks and other activities with the possibility to better organize students’ tasks and to collect homework in an easier way when students will be back to school.

Organising Students

How to get started and on top of your holiday homework

We know school has finished, or is just about over for the year for most students, and the last thing you probably want to think about right now is completing your holiday homework.  Let us tell you it is important to do, particularly for those in senior years at school, and that you want to get on top of your holiday homework early!

Unfortunately most students will push holiday homework aside and not even start to look at it until maybe sometime the week before school goes back.  Don’t let this be you as it will just create unnecessary stress and pressure.  Whilst you are not expected to study for 8 hours a day over the holidays, it is important you do set aside time to prepare and complete what you have been assigned to do as a minimum.

When working with our current students we have highlighted they would be better to start now and spread out what they need to do by chipping away at it.  For may we have set them the a goal of trying to get most of it done prior to Christmas and then reviewing again just before they go back.  Do you think you could give that a go too?

So how do you get started and on top of your holiday homework? Steps to take:

• The second step is to work out what order you are planning to do it in and then allocate time to each task – naturally it is holidays so if you were planning to do a task tomorrow and something comes up just reschedule it until the next day or another time – you can be flexible!

• If you have had a step up to the next year level it is also important to re read any notes you have taken to assist consolidating that knowledge now rather than not doing anything with them until you go back to school.

A few other things that you can do include:

• going through your school notes from this past year and work out what materials you might like to reference again next year ie those subjects that you are continuing with and put them somewhere easily accessible.
• working out where your dedicated study space, or spaces, will be and set them up ready to work at.  Purchase any necessary stationery, books or supplies you need.

All we can do is to urge you to take notice of this advice and ensure you won’t be one of those students rushing to get your work done at the last minute.  For those of you in Year 12 it will be much better to start the year ahead wouldn’t you agree?

Now go and get started but also remember to enjoy the summer too!

For further information on how we might be able to assist you or your child please do get in touch for a chat.

If you have a child in Year 10-12 in 2023 you might also like to consider the Success as a Senior Student Workshop we are running online on 29 February 2024  – click here .

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How to Do Your Homework During the Holidays

Last Updated: January 5, 2022 References

This article was co-authored by Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed. . Alexander Ruiz is an Educational Consultant and the Educational Director of Link Educational Institute, a tutoring business based in Claremont, California that provides customizable educational plans, subject and test prep tutoring, and college application consulting. With over a decade and a half of experience in the education industry, Alexander coaches students to increase their self-awareness and emotional intelligence while achieving skills and the goal of achieving skills and higher education. He holds a BA in Psychology from Florida International University and an MA in Education from Georgia Southern University. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been viewed 50,144 times.

Sometimes, even if you are done with exams for the academic term, you end up with homework during your school holiday. Whether you are making up work, preparing for a new class, or simply already have to start working on next term, it is possible to get your homework done during your holiday and still enjoy your free time. All you need to do is set a schedule, designate a space to study, and stick to your plan—we'll show you how!

Organizing Your Time

• Try setting aside consistent times for certain subjects every day. For example, if you know you will have time in the afternoon, set aside a block from 2pm to 4pm to work on your homework.
• If you need to work on multiple subjects over the holidays, alternate your study time from day to day. You may want to work on your history homework on Mondays and Wednesdays, and your maths work on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
• Use a personal planner or calendar to mark down your study times, and write what assignments you want to work on for each day.

• Studying distracted can actually make it more difficult to learn and retain information. When you designate no-study time, it’s important to stick to it so that you don’t miss vital steps or information in your school work.

Setting Up Your Space

• If you are traveling and you forget something, it may be difficult or expensive to get a replacement on the go.
• To avoid missing anything, look at each assignment before you leave and make a checklist of what materials you need to complete that assignment. Go through the checklist and make sure you have packed everything you need to take with you before you leave school.

• If you carry a phone or tablet with you regularly, set reminders on your digital calendar so that you get instant notifications.
• If you use a planner, write reminders down there as well, so that you know what you expect to do and when you expect to do it.

• Clear your study space of all distractions. If you work at a desk, for example, make sure that only your computer, your notebook, your school books, and materials relevant to your studies are set up.
• Make the space more comfortable by providing yourself with comfortable seating, good lighting, and accoutrements such a blanket that may help you feel more relaxed in your space.

Working On Your Homework

• Apps like Freedom and LeechBlock allow users to temporarily block certain sites or set whole blocks of time where the internet is inaccessible.
• Tools such as FocusWriter and Focus Booster are designed to help you track your time to accomplish specific tasks.

• Taking occasional breaks has been found to improve attention and potentially make your overall studying more effective. [7] X Research source Even if you are focused on an assignment, try to include breaks to keep from overworking yourself.

• Do try to avoid packing schoolwork into times that won’t properly allow you to focus, such as on a tour or during a family get-together. Save the school work for designated study time or your leisure time.
• Make sure your environment is compatible for the work you need to do. For example, avoid bringing your computer or scientific calculator to a beach setting, which could damage such equipment.

• If possible, save any editing for a time when you are not on a trip or dealing with family visits. Find a low-stress point in your holiday where you can go over the work you’ve done thus far.
• See if any of your peers would be interested in exchanging assignments and peer editing. Arrange it with a friend before you leave school, and set exchange deadlines for the two of you.

Expert Q&A

• Do not save all of your homework for the last day of your holiday. This makes it more likely that you will not get all of your work done on time and at a satisfactory level. Thanks Helpful 10 Not Helpful 0
• Let your friends and family know your planned study schedule so that they can plan not to disturb you during those times. Thanks Helpful 9 Not Helpful 1
• Make sure you have a way to contact your teacher, such as their email address, in case you have any questions that arise while you are away from school. Thanks Helpful 8 Not Helpful 0

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• ↑ Alexander Ruiz, M.Ed.. Academic Tutor. Expert Interview. 18 June 2020.
• ↑ http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/68908.html
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• ↑ http://www.hercampus.com/life/campus-living/how-not-over-or-under-pack-winter-break
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• ↑ http://www.medicaldaily.com/health-benefits-beach-3-reasons-hit-beach-summer-246789
• ↑ https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/561/01/

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Holiday Homework — It’s Essential!

Amongst many teachers and parents, homework is a pretty hot conversational topic. While some believe that homework is an essential part of the school experience, others think it's a waste of our children’s time.

It’s not always easy to know what’s best for your child when it comes to schooling, but at William Clarence Education, we’re big supporters of homework – particularly when it comes to the holiday season. Here’s why.

The Summer Break Lasts A Long Time…

The long summer break is a great opportunity to spend quality time together as a family, but it can also lead to your child being intellectually understimulated. In an age of social media and Netflix, it’s easier than ever for our youngsters to spend their downtime frying their brains in front of screens. While every child should be allowed their own time to relax and recover from the stresses of school, it’s important not to let that behaviour dictate their entire summer break. Holiday homework provides the perfect opportunity to keep their "school brain" ticking over, and keeps them challenged and stimulated.

Preparing For University Life

As our children grow up, homework becomes a more important part of their schooling, allowing them to develop vital skills such as independent research. It also helps them to prepare for the demands of a university career. Many undergraduate degrees will involve a lot of directed learning, but others will rely upon the students going away and spending their own time reading, researching and writing. One way to begin learning these skills is through holiday homework assignments while your child is still in school.

Learning Outside the School Environment

When a child struggles at school, it often has less to do with their academic potential than with social distractions – and the manner in which they are taught. Put plainly, the school environment is not always conducive to learning. For this reason, homework over the holidays can be the perfect opportunity for your child to catch up on work they have missed or found too challenging. If your child is really struggling, you might even consider private tuition – educational consultancy services around the London and the UK, such as William Clarence Education, can supply excellent private tutors who will specialise in home schooling and exam preparation.

The key thing to remember when it comes to holiday homework is balance. Your child deserves a break during which they can enjoy themselves and have some freedom, so opt for a fair working schedule that is flexible around their needs.

_________________________________________________________________

William Clarence Education is the leading education advisory and consultancy service in the UK. With an unrivalled reach into the UK Schooling and University network, we help and advise families from around the world to reach their maximum potential and gain access to the very best of British education.  

William Clarence put the student’s needs and welfare at the centre of every programme of study we deliver with a focus on integrity and discretion.  Services include UK School and University Placement, Residential Tutoring, Oxbridge Application, US College Admission and Homeschooling. 

For more information   please contact :

+44(0)2074128988 [email protected] williamclarence.com

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Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

A conversation with a Wheelock researcher, a BU student, and a fourth-grade teacher

“Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives,” says Wheelock’s Janine Bempechat. “It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.” Photo by iStock/Glenn Cook Photography

Do your homework.

If only it were that simple.

Educators have debated the merits of homework since the late 19th century. In recent years, amid concerns of some parents and teachers that children are being stressed out by too much homework, things have only gotten more fraught.

“Homework is complicated,” says developmental psychologist Janine Bempechat, a Wheelock College of Education & Human Development clinical professor. The author of the essay “ The Case for (Quality) Homework—Why It Improves Learning and How Parents Can Help ” in the winter 2019 issue of Education Next , Bempechat has studied how the debate about homework is influencing teacher preparation, parent and student beliefs about learning, and school policies.

She worries especially about socioeconomically disadvantaged students from low-performing schools who, according to research by Bempechat and others, get little or no homework.

BU Today  sat down with Bempechat and Erin Bruce (Wheelock’17,’18), a new fourth-grade teacher at a suburban Boston school, and future teacher freshman Emma Ardizzone (Wheelock) to talk about what quality homework looks like, how it can help children learn, and how schools can equip teachers to design it, evaluate it, and facilitate parents’ role in it.

BU Today: Parents and educators who are against homework in elementary school say there is no research definitively linking it to academic performance for kids in the early grades. You’ve said that they’re missing the point.

Bempechat : I think teachers assign homework in elementary school as a way to help kids develop skills they’ll need when they’re older—to begin to instill a sense of responsibility and to learn planning and organizational skills. That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success. If we greatly reduce or eliminate homework in elementary school, we deprive kids and parents of opportunities to instill these important learning habits and skills.

We do know that beginning in late middle school, and continuing through high school, there is a strong and positive correlation between homework completion and academic success.

That’s what I think is the greatest value of homework—in cultivating beliefs about learning and skills associated with academic success.

You talk about the importance of quality homework. What is that?

Quality homework is engaging and relevant to kids’ lives. It gives them autonomy and engages them in the community and with their families. In some subjects, like math, worksheets can be very helpful. It has to do with the value of practicing over and over.

What are your concerns about homework and low-income children?

The argument that some people make—that homework “punishes the poor” because lower-income parents may not be as well-equipped as affluent parents to help their children with homework—is very troubling to me. There are no parents who don’t care about their children’s learning. Parents don’t actually have to help with homework completion in order for kids to do well. They can help in other ways—by helping children organize a study space, providing snacks, being there as a support, helping children work in groups with siblings or friends.

Isn’t the discussion about getting rid of homework happening mostly in affluent communities?

Yes, and the stories we hear of kids being stressed out from too much homework—four or five hours of homework a night—are real. That’s problematic for physical and mental health and overall well-being. But the research shows that higher-income students get a lot more homework than lower-income kids.

Teachers may not have as high expectations for lower-income children. Schools should bear responsibility for providing supports for kids to be able to get their homework done—after-school clubs, community support, peer group support. It does kids a disservice when our expectations are lower for them.

The conversation around homework is to some extent a social class and social justice issue. If we eliminate homework for all children because affluent children have too much, we’re really doing a disservice to low-income children. They need the challenge, and every student can rise to the challenge with enough supports in place.

What did you learn by studying how education schools are preparing future teachers to handle homework?

My colleague, Margarita Jimenez-Silva, at the University of California, Davis, School of Education, and I interviewed faculty members at education schools, as well as supervising teachers, to find out how students are being prepared. And it seemed that they weren’t. There didn’t seem to be any readings on the research, or conversations on what high-quality homework is and how to design it.

Erin, what kind of training did you get in handling homework?

Bruce : I had phenomenal professors at Wheelock, but homework just didn’t come up. I did lots of student teaching. I’ve been in classrooms where the teachers didn’t assign any homework, and I’ve been in rooms where they assigned hours of homework a night. But I never even considered homework as something that was my decision. I just thought it was something I’d pull out of a book and it’d be done.

I started giving homework on the first night of school this year. My first assignment was to go home and draw a picture of the room where you do your homework. I want to know if it’s at a table and if there are chairs around it and if mom’s cooking dinner while you’re doing homework.

The second night I asked them to talk to a grown-up about how are you going to be able to get your homework done during the week. The kids really enjoyed it. There’s a running joke that I’m teaching life skills.

Friday nights, I read all my kids’ responses to me on their homework from the week and it’s wonderful. They pour their hearts out. It’s like we’re having a conversation on my couch Friday night.

It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Bempechat : I can’t imagine that most new teachers would have the intuition Erin had in designing homework the way she did.

Ardizzone : Conversations with kids about homework, feeling you’re being listened to—that’s such a big part of wanting to do homework….I grew up in Westchester County. It was a pretty demanding school district. My junior year English teacher—I loved her—she would give us feedback, have meetings with all of us. She’d say, “If you have any questions, if you have anything you want to talk about, you can talk to me, here are my office hours.” It felt like she actually cared.

Bempechat : It matters to know that the teacher cares about you and that what you think matters to the teacher. Homework is a vehicle to connect home and school…for parents to know teachers are welcoming to them and their families.

Ardizzone : But can’t it lead to parents being overbearing and too involved in their children’s lives as students?

Bempechat : There’s good help and there’s bad help. The bad help is what you’re describing—when parents hover inappropriately, when they micromanage, when they see their children confused and struggling and tell them what to do.

Good help is when parents recognize there’s a struggle going on and instead ask informative questions: “Where do you think you went wrong?” They give hints, or pointers, rather than saying, “You missed this,” or “You didn’t read that.”

Bruce : I hope something comes of this. I hope BU or Wheelock can think of some way to make this a more pressing issue. As a first-year teacher, it was not something I even thought about on the first day of school—until a kid raised his hand and said, “Do we have homework?” It would have been wonderful if I’d had a plan from day one.

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Senior Contributing Editor

Sara Rimer A journalist for more than three decades, Sara Rimer worked at the Miami Herald , Washington Post and, for 26 years, the New York Times , where she was the New England bureau chief, and a national reporter covering education, aging, immigration, and other social justice issues. Her stories on the death penalty’s inequities were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision outlawing the execution of people with intellectual disabilities. Her journalism honors include Columbia University’s Meyer Berger award for in-depth human interest reporting. She holds a BA degree in American Studies from the University of Michigan. Profile

She can be reached at [email protected] .

Comments & Discussion

Boston University moderates comments to facilitate an informed, substantive, civil conversation. Abusive, profane, self-promotional, misleading, incoherent or off-topic comments will be rejected. Moderators are staffed during regular business hours (EST) and can only accept comments written in English. Statistics or facts must include a citation or a link to the citation.

There are 81 comments on Does Homework Really Help Students Learn?

Insightful! The values about homework in elementary schools are well aligned with my intuition as a parent.

when i finish my work i do my homework and i sometimes forget what to do because i did not get enough sleep

same omg it does not help me it is stressful and if I have it in more than one class I hate it.

Same I think my parent wants to help me but, she doesn’t care if I get bad grades so I just try my best and my grades are great.

I think that last question about Good help from parents is not know to all parents, we do as our parents did or how we best think it can be done, so maybe coaching parents or giving them resources on how to help with homework would be very beneficial for the parent on how to help and for the teacher to have consistency and improve homework results, and of course for the child. I do see how homework helps reaffirm the knowledge obtained in the classroom, I also have the ability to see progress and it is a time I share with my kids

The answer to the headline question is a no-brainer – a more pressing problem is why there is a difference in how students from different cultures succeed. Perfect example is the student population at BU – why is there a majority population of Asian students and only about 3% black students at BU? In fact at some universities there are law suits by Asians to stop discrimination and quotas against admitting Asian students because the real truth is that as a group they are demonstrating better qualifications for admittance, while at the same time there are quotas and reduced requirements for black students to boost their portion of the student population because as a group they do more poorly in meeting admissions standards – and it is not about the Benjamins. The real problem is that in our PC society no one has the gazuntas to explore this issue as it may reveal that all people are not created equal after all. Or is it just environmental cultural differences??????

I get you have a concern about the issue but that is not even what the point of this article is about. If you have an issue please take this to the site we have and only post your opinion about the actual topic

This is not at all what the article is talking about.

This literally has nothing to do with the article brought up. You should really take your opinions somewhere else before you speak about something that doesn’t make sense.

we have the same name

so they have the same name what of it?

lol you tell her

totally agree

What does that have to do with homework, that is not what the article talks about AT ALL.

Yes, I think homework plays an important role in the development of student life. Through homework, students have to face challenges on a daily basis and they try to solve them quickly.I am an intense online tutor at 24x7homeworkhelp and I give homework to my students at that level in which they handle it easily.

More than two-thirds of students said they used alcohol and drugs, primarily marijuana, to cope with stress.

You know what’s funny? I got this assignment to write an argument for homework about homework and this article was really helpful and understandable, and I also agree with this article’s point of view.

I also got the same task as you! I was looking for some good resources and I found this! I really found this article useful and easy to understand, just like you! ^^

i think that homework is the best thing that a child can have on the school because it help them with their thinking and memory.

I am a child myself and i think homework is a terrific pass time because i can’t play video games during the week. It also helps me set goals.

Homework is not harmful ,but it will if there is too much

I feel like, from a minors point of view that we shouldn’t get homework. Not only is the homework stressful, but it takes us away from relaxing and being social. For example, me and my friends was supposed to hang at the mall last week but we had to postpone it since we all had some sort of work to do. Our minds shouldn’t be focused on finishing an assignment that in realty, doesn’t matter. I completely understand that we should have homework. I have to write a paper on the unimportance of homework so thanks.

homework isn’t that bad

Are you a student? if not then i don’t really think you know how much and how severe todays homework really is

i am a student and i do not enjoy homework because i practice my sport 4 out of the five days we have school for 4 hours and that’s not even counting the commute time or the fact i still have to shower and eat dinner when i get home. its draining!

i totally agree with you. these people are such boomers

why just why

they do make a really good point, i think that there should be a limit though. hours and hours of homework can be really stressful, and the extra work isn’t making a difference to our learning, but i do believe homework should be optional and extra credit. that would make it for students to not have the leaning stress of a assignment and if you have a low grade you you can catch up.

Studies show that homework improves student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college. Research published in the High School Journal indicates that students who spent between 31 and 90 minutes each day on homework “scored about 40 points higher on the SAT-Mathematics subtest than their peers, who reported spending no time on homework each day, on average.” On both standardized tests and grades, students in classes that were assigned homework outperformed 69% of students who didn’t have homework. A majority of studies on homework’s impact – 64% in one meta-study and 72% in another – showed that take home assignments were effective at improving academic achievement. Research by the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) concluded that increased homework led to better GPAs and higher probability of college attendance for high school boys. In fact, boys who attended college did more than three hours of additional homework per week in high school.

So how are your measuring student achievement? That’s the real question. The argument that doing homework is simply a tool for teaching responsibility isn’t enough for me. We can teach responsibility in a number of ways. Also the poor argument that parents don’t need to help with homework, and that students can do it on their own, is wishful thinking at best. It completely ignores neurodiverse students. Students in poverty aren’t magically going to find a space to do homework, a friend’s or siblings to help them do it, and snacks to eat. I feel like the author of this piece has never set foot in a classroom of students.

THIS. This article is pathetic coming from a university. So intellectually dishonest, refusing to address the havoc of capitalism and poverty plays on academic success in life. How can they in one sentence use poor kids in an argument and never once address that poor children have access to damn near 0 of the resources affluent kids have? Draw me a picture and let’s talk about feelings lmao what a joke is that gonna put food in their belly so they can have the calories to burn in order to use their brain to study? What about quiet their 7 other siblings that they share a single bedroom with for hours? Is it gonna force the single mom to magically be at home and at work at the same time to cook food while you study and be there to throw an encouraging word?

Also the “parents don’t need to be a parent and be able to guide their kid at all academically they just need to exist in the next room” is wild. Its one thing if a parent straight up is not equipped but to say kids can just figured it out is…. wow coming from an educator What’s next the teacher doesn’t need to teach cause the kid can just follow the packet and figure it out?

Well then get a tutor right? Oh wait you are poor only affluent kids can afford a tutor for their hours of homework a day were they on average have none of the worries a poor child does. Does this address that poor children are more likely to also suffer abuse and mental illness? Like mentioned what about kids that can’t learn or comprehend the forced standardized way? Just let em fail? These children regularly are not in “special education”(some of those are a joke in their own and full of neglect and abuse) programs cause most aren’t even acknowledged as having disabilities or disorders.

But yes all and all those pesky poor kids just aren’t being worked hard enough lol pretty sure poor children’s existence just in childhood is more work, stress, and responsibility alone than an affluent child’s entire life cycle. Love they never once talked about the quality of education in the classroom being so bad between the poor and affluent it can qualify as segregation, just basically blamed poor people for being lazy, good job capitalism for failing us once again!

why the hell?

you should feel bad for saying this, this article can be helpful for people who has to write a essay about it

This is more of a political rant than it is about homework

I know a teacher who has told his students their homework is to find something they are interested in, pursue it and then come share what they learn. The student responses are quite compelling. One girl taught herself German so she could talk to her grandfather. One boy did a research project on Nelson Mandela because the teacher had mentioned him in class. Another boy, a both on the autism spectrum, fixed his family’s computer. The list goes on. This is fourth grade. I think students are highly motivated to learn, when we step aside and encourage them.

The whole point of homework is to give the students a chance to use the material that they have been presented with in class. If they never have the opportunity to use that information, and discover that it is actually useful, it will be in one ear and out the other. As a science teacher, it is critical that the students are challenged to use the material they have been presented with, which gives them the opportunity to actually think about it rather than regurgitate “facts”. Well designed homework forces the student to think conceptually, as opposed to regurgitation, which is never a pretty sight

Wonderful discussion. and yes, homework helps in learning and building skills in students.

not true it just causes kids to stress

Homework can be both beneficial and unuseful, if you will. There are students who are gifted in all subjects in school and ones with disabilities. Why should the students who are gifted get the lucky break, whereas the people who have disabilities suffer? The people who were born with this “gift” go through school with ease whereas people with disabilities struggle with the work given to them. I speak from experience because I am one of those students: the ones with disabilities. Homework doesn’t benefit “us”, it only tears us down and put us in an abyss of confusion and stress and hopelessness because we can’t learn as fast as others. Or we can’t handle the amount of work given whereas the gifted students go through it with ease. It just brings us down and makes us feel lost; because no mater what, it feels like we are destined to fail. It feels like we weren’t “cut out” for success.

homework does help

here is the thing though, if a child is shoved in the face with a whole ton of homework that isn’t really even considered homework it is assignments, it’s not helpful. the teacher should make homework more of a fun learning experience rather than something that is dreaded

This article was wonderful, I am going to ask my teachers about extra, or at all giving homework.

I agree. Especially when you have homework before an exam. Which is distasteful as you’ll need that time to study. It doesn’t make any sense, nor does us doing homework really matters as It’s just facts thrown at us.

Homework is too severe and is just too much for students, schools need to decrease the amount of homework. When teachers assign homework they forget that the students have other classes that give them the same amount of homework each day. Students need to work on social skills and life skills.

I disagree.

Beyond achievement, proponents of homework argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. They claim it can help students develop good study habits so they are ready to grow as their cognitive capacities mature. It can help students recognize that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework can foster independent learning and responsible character traits. And it can give parents an opportunity to see what’s going on at school and let them express positive attitudes toward achievement.

Homework is helpful because homework helps us by teaching us how to learn a specific topic.

As a student myself, I can say that I have almost never gotten the full 9 hours of recommended sleep time, because of homework. (Now I’m writing an essay on it in the middle of the night D=)

I am a 10 year old kid doing a report about “Is homework good or bad” for homework before i was going to do homework is bad but the sources from this site changed my mind!

Homeowkr is god for stusenrs

I agree with hunter because homework can be so stressful especially with this whole covid thing no one has time for homework and every one just wants to get back to there normal lives it is especially stressful when you go on a 2 week vaca 3 weeks into the new school year and and then less then a week after you come back from the vaca you are out for over a month because of covid and you have no way to get the assignment done and turned in

As great as homework is said to be in the is article, I feel like the viewpoint of the students was left out. Every where I go on the internet researching about this topic it almost always has interviews from teachers, professors, and the like. However isn’t that a little biased? Of course teachers are going to be for homework, they’re not the ones that have to stay up past midnight completing the homework from not just one class, but all of them. I just feel like this site is one-sided and you should include what the students of today think of spending four hours every night completing 6-8 classes worth of work.

Are we talking about homework or practice? Those are two very different things and can result in different outcomes.

Homework is a graded assignment. I do not know of research showing the benefits of graded assignments going home.

Practice; however, can be extremely beneficial, especially if there is some sort of feedback (not a grade but feedback). That feedback can come from the teacher, another student or even an automated grading program.

As a former band director, I assigned daily practice. I never once thought it would be appropriate for me to require the students to turn in a recording of their practice for me to grade. Instead, I had in-class assignments/assessments that were graded and directly related to the practice assigned.

I would really like to read articles on “homework” that truly distinguish between the two.

oof i feel bad good luck!

thank you guys for the artical because I have to finish an assingment. yes i did cite it but just thanks

thx for the article guys.

Homework is good

I think homework is helpful AND harmful. Sometimes u can’t get sleep bc of homework but it helps u practice for school too so idk.

I agree with this Article. And does anyone know when this was published. I would like to know.

It was published FEb 19, 2019.

Studies have shown that homework improved student achievement in terms of improved grades, test results, and the likelihood to attend college.

i think homework can help kids but at the same time not help kids

This article is so out of touch with majority of homes it would be laughable if it wasn’t so incredibly sad.

There is no value to homework all it does is add stress to already stressed homes. Parents or adults magically having the time or energy to shepherd kids through homework is dome sort of 1950’s fantasy.

What lala land do these teachers live in?

Homework gives noting to the kid

Homework is Bad

homework is bad.

why do kids even have homework?

Comments are closed.

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What are the benefits of giving holiday homework?

Holidays! When we hear about the holidays, we are refreshed and excited. There is happiness everywhere, and we feel a little more energetic. For children, excitement is heightened when the holidays are round the corner. They have no plans to go anywhere or do anything, but the distance they would have from school and studies is enough to make them happy.But alas, with the holidays, they are gifted with a swarm of homework. How much benefit do our children get through this overloaded homework?

Homework benefits

Revisit the concept.

It is said that homework helps our kids understand concepts better. During the class explanation, a child is introduced to a concept and to get a deep understanding of the same, homework is given. Nowadays homework is given so that the child can explore more information about the given concept and come out with their creative ideas. But in earlier days, homework was given by teachers to lessen their burden. Whether a child understood a concept or not was out of the question.

Fine motor development

Homework mostly consists of writing assignments or projects. Writing or completing a project helps in the development of a child’s motor skills. Holding a pencil, holding a pair of scissors, cutting papers, pasting them, colouring, drawing, moulding something are all part of homework, and as a child gets busy doing such activities, there is a development in their fine motor skills.

Keep the ideas in mind.

Holidays are generally for ten days or more. During such a long duration, it is very easy for kids to forget what has been taught. Homework assists them in returning to their studies, remembering what was taught in school, and preparing for exams or tests that may occur after school reopens.

Remaining in practise

When homework is given, it is expected of the child to complete it. Children keep practising what has been learned through homework. Practise makes us perfect and it helps our children have clarity on the lessons.

Is there any disadvantage to giving homework?

Creating stress.

Kids are happy when they come to know they are going on long holidays, but the moment they come across homework, their joy is in a dwindling position. Also, holidays are given to relax. In the current generation, when both parents are working, they wait for the school holidays to go on some trip. Homework acts as a hindrance in these joyous moments.

No creativity

Sometimes kids get bored of reading and writing. If there is no creativity in homework, kids too don’t want to do homework. Creative homework, such as making something related to the lesson or discovering new information through exploration, are examples of activities that can pique children’s interest in doing their homework.

A teacher’s burden

Most of the time, in some schools, the work which should have been completed in the class with the teacher’s explanation is given to be done at home. Children whose parents are uneducated or whose both parents work find it extremely difficult to complete.

Homework should be given to children to come up with their own creative ideas and not to overburden them with work. It should be customised in such a way that the child can do it even during his/her trip. For example, EVS homework: collect different types of plants and write some information about them. Writing a story about your trip can be given as homework for English. Giving homework is bad enough, so there must be some measures to curb this practise as well. GradX helps children grow their intellegence with their homework giving module. It helps them to create 3D models as a homework assignment where they get a chance to come up with their creative ideas. Multiple choice questions are another criterion being used to help children develop both their thinking and reading skills.

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Mr. Kunal Dalal, Our Managing Director, is an alumnus of Carnegie Mellon University (USA). He is passionate about education and believes in nurturing young minds with Educreative experiences. His experience as a student of the IBDP programme has enabled him to drive a learner-centric progressive education approach through the JBCN International Schools. His vision is to empower learners to explore and develop critical 21st-century skills, he believes it is important to arm the learners with skills in addition to information.

Kunal Dalal

Managing Director

Hemali graduated from Georgetown University and worked in Manhattan for two years before returning to India. An avid reader and a passionate learner, she brings with her a desire for innovation and an understanding of the importance of reading, playing and exploring in the early years of a child. Being a mother to two young children, her passion is the Preprimary and Primary years, as her experience has taught her that every child has the capacity to imagine, create, learn and excel if given the stimulus.

Hemail Dalal

Ms. Priya Nair is a Senior Educator with experience spanning over thirty-six years. Throughout her career, she has worked with diverse socio-economic groups and has taught across various Boards/Curricula in the K-12 education sector. Ms. Priya has also lent her expertise to several corporate houses in the industry. In addition, she has experience in the Social Development Sector, heading the Education vertical under the Swades Foundation, an organisation working in rural areas of India.

Ms. Priya Nair

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Mr. Sharan Kuruwa, a Chartered Accountant by profession, has successfully undertaken various roles at JBCN. He seamlessly manages various functions at JBCN and is responsible for heading the finance, administration, and technology departments. With over fifteen years of experience in the education sector, Mr. Kuruwa brings a wealth of knowledge to his role.

Mr. Sharan Kurwa

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Dear Parents,

At JBCN, we are driven by excellence, innovation, and creativity. Our programme and infrastructure have been thoughtfully designed to enable learners to grow holistically and, more importantly, to enjoy learning.

For Academic year 2024-25 Admissions

Holiday Homework Solutions

Holiday Homework Solutions for class 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12 (During Summer Vacations) facility for the academic session 2022–2023 is being maintained to help the students and parents to do the holiday homework comfortably in Summer 2024-25. You are requested to upload your holiday homework in PDF format based on Latest CBSE Curriculum 2024-25 and get the solutions with in a week. You can also ask your Maths or science problems through Discussion Forum. If the problems are related to NCERT or NCERT Exemplar Problems please refer to NCERT Solutions page to get this. The solutions of holiday homework should be uploaded along with the school name at the end of this page. Notification of completion of homework will not be given by the website, you have to check yourself after a week for the solutions.

Download NCERT Solutions for all classes. Students of the upper primary level (Class 6, 7 and 8) are already well informed and are keen to find and learn more. According to CBSE, while assigning and preparing homework for the students, it is important to note they are able to develop the skills like relating, thinking, concluding, inferring. Homework should be such that the student neither feel it burdensome nor they lose interest in the subject matter. Moreover it is useful in providing them a happy experience. Homework therefore needs to be thought about and worked upon differently. Emphasis should be given on Vedic mathematics, designing quality homework rather than its quantity. Download NCERT Books and apps based on latest CBSE Syllabus.

Encompassing the aforesaid ideas, the CBSE has brought forth a Manual, “Alternatives to Holiday Homework” for classes VI to VIII. It is collection of ideas transformed into suggestive activities that are creative, interesting, meaningful and interactive, enhancing various skills, directly or indirectly related to subject matter providing students to enhance their learning and gaining knowledge based on NCERT Books following the latest CBSE Syllabus.

Suggestive Holiday Homework for Class 6

• Holiday Homework for Class 6 Hindi
• Holiday Homework for Class 6 English
• Holiday Homework for Class 6 Mathemaitcs
• Holiday Homework for Class 6 Science
• Holiday Homework for Class 6 Social Science

Suggestive Holiday Homework for Class 7

• Holiday Homework for Class 7 Hindi
• Holiday Homework for Class 7 English
• Holiday Homework for Class 7 Mathematics
• Holiday Homework for Class 7 Science
• Holiday Homework for Class 7 Social Science

Suggestive Holiday Homework for Class 8

• Holiday Homework for Class 8 Hindi
• Holiday Homework for Class 8 English
• Holiday Homework for Class 8 Mathematics
• Holiday Homework for Class 8 Science
• Holiday Homework for Class 8 Social Science

A well rounded development of individual knowledge happens not only from textbooks and formal education but more from the learner’s personal experiences, individual inquisitive nature and social surroundings. Homework is an area of importance and to make it more relevant for the NCERT Books classes 6th, 7th and 8th, appropriate strategies and meaningful activities may be suggested to the schools that give more time to child to explore the environment to develop creative thinking.

These activities (like OTBA for class 9 & 11 ) would be so framed that they keep the child interested in subjects and therefore would also help in enhancing the learning power. Homework is one of the areas that need urgent attention. As the students of class VI, VII and VIII develop a certain learning style and want to know and find more and more. Efforts should be made to make homework more creative and interesting so that the students do not feel burdensome while doing the same and the ultimate purpose of providing homework is served.

A survey was conducted through questionnaire prepared by CBSE to collect feedback from parents, teachers, students and other educationists on “Alternatives to Homework at Upper Primary Level” for Class Sixth, Seventh and Eighth so that appropriate strategies and meaningful activities can be designed and suggested to schools. The questions were directed to know the ideal quantity and purpose of the homework, whether homework should be assigned in all the subjects, internet usage should be a part of the homework or not, how homework helps in teaching.

Keeping in view emerging issues, there is a need to think about giving quality homework emphasizing on acquiring applied learning skills. Few points can be kept in mind while designing a quality homework by teachers: 1, Provide students capacity building activities which are followed up and acknowledged like drawing, creative writing, making puzzles, stories, plays, online games, reading online books and craft.

2. Provide them assignment sheets which improve their reading & writing abilities. Homework must enable the student to practice a skill independently. 3. A possible discussion can be held with different children on what they would like to do at home to improve in which ever area they deem necessary. Homework must be designed in a way that maximizes the chances of its completion by the students.

4. Parents should be able to understand the child’s needs and schools suggestions on how to learn mathematics, logical reasoning, etc. by doing puzzles, writing letters, reading to elders from the newspapers, making household lists, recipe making and cooking. 5. Learners who have dyslexia or number difficulty should have practice assignments overcoming their problems.

The child in middle school have a keenness to discover more and prepare for the examination. Learning is about developing new faculties, which become useful as an adult. The years 12 to 15 are years when rules become important, and doing well, excelling are given importance both at home and in the class. As the child grows chronically his/her emotional maturity also grows and there are interests which are beyond just what lessons can give.

The homework assigned should: 1. enhance study habits and practice skills (which learners are able to perform independently) 2. reinforce necessary skills both scholastic and co-scholastic among the learners. 3. enable learners to become independent learners and thinkers and develop among them 21st century skills so that they can participate in Make in India in future. 4. lead to the improvement in the academic achievement of the learner.

5. expand on the existing knowledge of the learners and be a part of the already acquired competencies in the classroom. 6. not put unneeded pressure or stress by including new learning material or difficult material to be worked upon by learners themselves. 7. be CBSE Syllabus based and as per developmental needs of the learners. 8. not require specific resources or technology which is not accessible to all learners. 9. have clearly defined, purposeful, creative and engaging activities.

It is also advised that teachers can refer to Life Skills Manuals, Health Manuals and Environmental Education Manuals which contain age appropriate and interesting activities which can be taken up by the learners individually. These activities can be assigned to learners so as to enhance their life skills, values and make them health conscious.

Homework is needed, and necessary for a teacher to be able to follow up with each child. The correction and feedback on homework is an important input that helps both parents and children to follow up and improve in areas which are needed. The recourse extra classes, can be reduced if the homework is used for learning improvement and acquisition of diverse skills. We are providing a handful help to solve or helping in solving the holiday homework.

What are concepts of the Holiday Homework for Class 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5?

The Holiday Homework 2024-25 for class 1 and Class 2 should be totally creative work only. We should prepare the homework in such a way that student enjoy the work like play. The holiday assignment for class 3, 4 and Class 5 should be totally creative work.

What are the Holiday Homework suggestions for Class 6, 7 and 8?

The ideas for Holiday Homework 2024-25 for class 6, 7 and 8 Maths, Science, English, Hindi and Social Science are given on Tiwari Academy. We should also include the interesting facts related to daily life with the topic of NCERT Books.

How to prepare the Holiday Homework 2024-25 for class 9 and 10?

The collection of Important Questions from NCERT Textbook, From board Papers, CBSE Sample papers and NCERT Exemplar Books may be the good holiday homework practice material for High School students.

What would be good the Holiday Homework for class 11 and 12?

The Holiday Homework for class 11 and 12 are generally selected as the NCERT Textbook topics. The NCERT Books back exercises and related questions which are asked in CBSE Board Examination may be a good assignment for intermediate students.

Copyright 2024 by Tiwari Academy | A step towards Free Education

Eid al-Fitr could fall on April 10. What to know about the holiday that follows Ramadan.

[Note: This story has been updated to reflect the number of Muslims as a percentage of the population.]

With the expected sighting of the crescent moon on the night of April 9, nearly 2 billion Muslims worldwide and the roughly 1% of Ohioans who are Muslim will commemorate the end of Ramadan with a celebration called Eid al-Fitr, expected to fall on April 10. 

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan — the holiest month in the Islamic calendar when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, abstaining from food and drink. Every day during this month, Muslims focus on God-consciousness, self-reflection and self-improvement.

Shawwal, the Islamic month that succeeds Ramadan, begins right at the sighting of the crescent moon, or "Shawwal moon." The first day of Shawwal brings Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan. A crescent moon is predicted to be beaming into the sky tonight. 

More: What is Ramadan? When does it happen? What to know about Muslims' favorite time of the year

What is Eid al-Fitr?

Eid al-Fitr is the first of two celebratory days in the Islamic calendar, both observed every year. Though the holiday is marked on one day, some countries will celebrate this festival for as long as three days. 

Eid al-Fitr is celebrated on the first day of Shawwal, the 10th month in the Islamic calendar. The two holidays follow the Islamic Hijri calendar, a lunar cycle. Each year, Ramadan and both Eid holidays fall about 11 days earlier than the year before because of the lunar cycle. The sighting of the crescent moon determines the start of these holidays.

Eid in Arabic means "festival" or "feast," and Fitr means "breaking the fast." In other words, Eid al-Fitr literally means “festival of breaking the fast.”

How is Eid al-Fitr celebrated?

Muslims will wake up early in the morning, preparing food and getting ready to attend mandatory Eid prayers at local masjids. It may feel strange for Muslims to eat during daylight hours after a month of fasting during the day—it is actually forbidden for Muslims to fast on Eid al-Fitr. 

On Eid, Muslims will follow the way of Prophet Muhammad, also known as “Sunnah” in Islam. Sunnah is not followed just on Eid, but every day.

Sunnahs on Eid include taking a bath or shower, wearing one’s best clothes and perfume, taking a different path home from attending Eid prayer, or saying “Takbeer” or praising God on the way to Eid prayers. Muslims will hug their friends and family and greet them with “Eid Mubarak,” meaning “blessed festival” in Arabic. 

Between sunset on the last day of fasting to Eid prayer, Muslims with an income able to support it are obligated to give a charitable donation, Zakat al-Fitr. This donation is meant to cover the cost of one’s meal. Charity to those who are poor is an important value in Islam—this donation will be given to the needy so they can celebrate Eid as well. Muslims can donate this form of charity to non-profits, or mosques holding Eid prayer will collect these donations, directly giving it to those in need. 

Eid traditions vary from country to country. But commonly after Eid prayers in the morning, friends and families will gather and spend time together at each other’s homes, enjoying sweets and delicious food. Children will receive gifts and money, also known as “Eidi.”

When is Eid al-Adha, the second Eid in the Islamic calendar?

The second Eid, Eid al-Adha, will fall on the 10th day in the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah, which is predicted to fall on the evening of June 16, and end on the night of June 17.

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What is Eid al-Fitr and how do Muslims celebrate the Islamic holiday?

FILE - Youths light firecrackers and flares as they celebrate the end of the fasting month of Ramadan on a street in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, June 4, 2019. Islam follows a lunar calendar and so Ramadan and Eid cycle through the seasons. In 2024, the first day of Eid al-Fitr is expected to be on or around April 10; the exact date may vary among countries and Muslim communities. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)

FILE - Muslims try to catch balloons distributed after Eid al-Fitr prayers, marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan outside al-Seddik mosque in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, April 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

FILE - Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan outside al-Seddik mosque in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, April 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

FILE - Muslims hug and greet each other after offering Eid al-Fitr prayers at the Jama Masjid in New Delhi, India, on Wednesday, June 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)

FILE - Shiites attend Eid al-Fitr prayers at Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, Iraq, Saturday, April 22, 2023, to mark the end of the holy Islamic month of Ramadan. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil, File)

FILE - Imam Souleimane Konaté, left, leads worshippers in Eid al-Fitr prayer in New York on Sunday, June 25, 2017. (AP Photo/Michael Noble Jr., File)

FILE - A woman and child peer out their car window as bubbles are blown into their car by volunteers from the Muslim Community Center as part of an Eid al-Fitr ceremony celebrating the end of Ramadan and a month of fasting in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, Sunday, May 24, 2020, in New York. Because of the need for social distancing due to coronavirus, the celebration was a drive-by celebration in which sweets and toys were handed out. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)

FILE - Men and children attend a prayer service at Masjid Al-Farooq for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, Friday, June 15, 2018, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - Muslims gather for Eid al-Fitr prayers marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan on a street in Bekasi, West Java, Indonesia, Thursday, May 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)

FILE - People wait for the buses that will take them to their hometowns at Kalideres bus terminal, in Jakarta, Indonesia, Tuesday, April 18, 2023, a week before the Eid-al Fitr holiday. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara, File)

FILE - Shiites observe the crescent moon to determine the start of the tenth Islamic month of Shawwal, which marks the end of a month-long fasting of Ramadan and the beginning of the Eid al-Fitr festival in Najaf, Iraq, Thursday, April 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil, File)

FILE - Muslims girls display their hands painted with traditional henna to celebrate the Eid al-Fitr holiday, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, May 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad, File)

FILE - People buy sweets at a shop in preparation for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr celebrations, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Sunday, May 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad, File)

FILE - Muslims offer sweets to police officers on duty after offering prayers on Eid al-Fitr in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, May 3, 2022. Muslims are the largest minority group in the Hindu-majority nation. (AP Photo/Bikas Das, File)

FILE - Women and children gather before Eid al-Fitr prayers, Friday, April 21, 2023, at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

FILE - People ride a motorbike as they celebrate Eid al-Fitr feast, marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, July 17, 2015. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

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CAIRO (AP) — Muslims around the world will soon bid farewell to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and start celebrating the holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Eid is marked with congregational prayers and festivities that typically include family visits, gatherings and new clothes.

This year, Eid will come just after the Israel-Hamas war crosses the somber milestone of having stretched on for half a year. During Ramadan, as Muslims around the world savored the traditions of their diverse communities , advocacy, prayers and charity for Palestinians in Gaza were high on the minds of many.

What’s Eid al-Fitr?

It’s an Islamic holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the month when devout Muslims fast daily from dawn to sunset. Ramadan is a time of increased worship, charity, and good deeds.

Eid al-Fitr means the feast, or festival, of breaking the fast.

When is Eid al Fitr?

Islam follows a lunar calendar and so Ramadan and Eid cycle through the seasons. This year, the first day of Eid al-Fitr is expected to be on or around April 10; the exact date may vary among countries and Muslim communities.

What are some common Eid greetings?

Eid Mubarak, or Blessed Eid, and Happy Eid.

What are some of the traditions and customs associated with Eid al-Fitr?

In Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, many people embark on an exodus to their hometowns to celebrate the holiday with loved ones. This year, an estimated 193.6 million travelers are expected to crisscross the vast archipelago for Eid in a homecoming tradition known locally as “mudik.”

In the past two years of Eid celebrations, Indonesians crammed into trains, ferries, buses and onto motorcycles as they poured out of major cities amid severe traffic congestion to return to their villages to celebrate the holiday with families. Flights were overbooked and anxious relatives, weighed down with boxes of gifts, formed long lines at bus and train stations for the journeys.

Before the holiday, popular markets teem with shoppers buying clothes, shoes, cookies and sweets.

In Malaysia, Muslims also have a homecoming tradition for Eid. The first day usually begins with a morning prayer in the mosque, seeking forgiveness from family and friends, and visiting loved ones’ graves.

There’s an “open house” spirit that sees friends and families trading visits to celebrate Eid and enjoy traditional delicacies such as ketupat, rice cooked in a palm leaf pouch, and rendang, a meat dish stewed in spices and braised in coconut milk.

Older Muslims give money in green packets to children and guests who visit their homes.

In Egypt, families partake in Eid prayers amid a festive atmosphere. Many visit relatives, friends or neighbors and some travel to vacation spots. Children, usually wearing new Eid outfits, receive traditional cash gifts known as “eidiya.”

Making or buying Eid cookies dusted with powdered sugar is another fixture of marking the holiday in the country.

In the United States, where Muslims make up an ethnically and racially diverse minority, many come together for Eid prayers and for festivals featuring fun activities for children and families. These often include such things as face painting and balloon twisting.

Associated Press writers Niniek Karmini in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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Can’t Find Eclipse Glasses? Here’s What to Do.

You can watch a projection of the eclipse using some common household items.

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By Katrina Miller

Follow our live updates on the total solar eclipse .

Reliable paper-framed glasses are by far the most popular option for safely watching the total solar eclipse on Monday. But they’ve gotten more difficult to find in some places ahead of the event.

If you’ve checked everywhere — your local planetarium, public library and even online — fear not: There is still a way to watch the eclipse safely, using items around the house. Here are a few options.

Use your hands

Palms up, position one hand over the other at a 90-degree angle. Open your fingers slightly in a waffle pattern, and allow sunlight to stream through the spaces onto the ground, or another surface. During the eclipse, you will see a projection of the moon obscuring the surface of the sun.

This method works with anything with holes, such as a straw hat, a strainer, a cheese grater or even a perforated spoon. You will also notice this effect when light from the partially eclipsed sun streams through leaves on a tree.

Set up a cardstock screen

For this option, you need a couple of white index cards or two sheets of cardstock paper. First, punch a small hole in the middle of one of the cards using a thumbtack or a pin.

Then, facing away from the sun, allow light to stream through this pinhole. Position the second card underneath to function as a screen. Adjust the spacing between the two cards to make the projection of the sun larger or smaller.

Make a box projector

If you’re up for a bit of crafting, you can make a more sophisticated pinhole projector . Start with a cardboard box — empty cereal boxes are often used, but you can use a larger box, too. You’ll also need scissors, white paper, tape, aluminum foil and a pin or thumbtack.

Cut the piece of paper to fit the inside bottom of the cardboard box to act as a screen. Use tape to hold it in place.

On the top of the box, cut two rectangular holes on either side. (The middle should be left intact — you can use tape to secure this if needed.)

Tape a piece of aluminum foil over one of the rectangular cutouts. Punch a tiny hole in the middle of the foil with the tack or pin. The other cutout will serve as a view hole.

With your back to the sun, position the foil side of the box over your shoulder, letting light stream through the pinhole. An image of the sun will project onto the screen at the bottom of the box, which you can see through the view hole. A bigger box will create a bigger image.

Enjoy the show through any of these makeshift pinholes. And remember, during totality, you can view the sun directly with your naked eye. But you should stop looking at the sun as soon as it reappears.

Katrina Miller is a science reporting fellow for The Times. She recently earned her Ph.D. in particle physics from the University of Chicago. More about Katrina Miller

What is Passover? What to know about the Jewish holiday

It's time to dig deep into the cabinet find your Seder plates and prepare to answer The Four Questions again.

Passover, one of the most celebrated Jewish holidays, is on the horizon. It commemorates the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt as told in the Bible.

When is Passover in 2024?

Passover begins before sundown on April 22 and ends after nightfall on April 30.

What is Passover?

According to the Jewish Virtual Library , Passover begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan and commemorates the departure from Egypt after 44 years of slavery, as told in the biblical Book of Exodus. The term Passover, or Pesach in Hebrew, refers to the fact that God passed over the houses of the Jews when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt during the last of the 10 plagues.

Passover lasts for seven days. On the first and last days of Passover, work is not permitted.

How is Passover celebrated? 

On the first night of Passover, Jews commanded to have a special family meal filled with ritual to remind us of the significance of the holiday, according to Jewish Virtual Library .

Seders involve moving through a book called a Haggadah, which contains stories, prayers, poetry and other teachings. It is based on God's instructions in Exodus 10, "That you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt and my signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord."

Children are encouraged to take an active role during the Passover Seder, including recitation of The Four Questions.

What are The Four Questions children ask during the Seder?

Passover is also celebrated by explaining the history of Israel to children. During the Seder meal, children are told why this night is different than others and ask The Four Questions , according to ReformJudaism.org :

• On all other nights, we eat chametz (leavened foods) and matzah. Why on this night, only matzah?
• On all other nights, we eat all vegetables. Why, on this night, maror (bitter herbs)?
• On all other nights, we don't dip even once. Why on this night do we dip twice?
• On all other nights, we eat either sitting upright or reclining. Why on this night do we all recline?

Each question is answered to educate about the history of the holiday.

Tip for safe eating during holidays: Easter, Eid, Passover meals are coming. Here are food tips safety before you celebrate

What is the most important food during Passover?

The most important food during Passover is “matzah,” or unleavened bread. The symbolic meaning of the bread is that the Israelites didn't have time to let the bread rise before leaving Egypt so had unleavened bread.

The Seder plate includes:

• Maror — a combination of bitter herbs, eaten to memorialize the bitterness Israelites felt while they were slaves in Egypt.
• Chazeret: The second bitter herb, most often romaine lettuce, but people also use the leafy greens of a horseradish or carrot plant. The symbolism is the same as that of Maror.
• Roasted egg: represents spring and the circle of life
• Roasted lamb shank bone: The meat represents the Pesach sacrifice
• Charoset: A mixture of wine, nuts and apples is used to represent to mortar used by Israelites in Egypt.
• Karpas: Greens to represent spring

When is Easter in 2024? : Here's why the holiday moves dates

What is the afikomen?

The afikomen is also part of many seders. There are three pieces of matzo on the Seder table. One piece is broken in half and set aside as the afikomen. It's the last thing eaten at the meal.

In some families, the afikomen is hidden. Sometimes parents hide the piece of matzo, and children search for it. But in other families, children are in charge of hiding the afikomen while parents have to look.

Should I wish someone a 'Happy Passover' or other greetings?

“Happy Passover” is an appropriate sentiment to say to someone celebrating the holiday. In addition, you can say “chag sameach,” which means happy holiday in Hebrew, or chag kasher v’semeach, which means have a happy and kosher Passover.

Cameron Goodnight, Marina Pitofsky, Charita M. Goshay and C. A. Bridges contributed to this story.