November 20, 2019 TOO MUCH HOMEWORK!!! Hi Nikki! Now that I’m in fifth grade, I’m getting totally SLAMMED with homework. The teachers are probably getting us ready for middle school, but sometimes I have like THREE HOURS of homework! The only way to get it done is to come straight home from school and spend all my time on assignments! If I do the school play, softball or anything else, I’ll never get everything done! Do you have any advice for me? Horrible Homework Hassle Hi Horrible Homework Hassle, Oh ugh, you’re totally right. The teachers are trying to prepare you for middle school. But instead of piling on the work, it seems like they should let you be a kid for as long as you can! I did some research and the National Parent-Teacher Association recommends ten minutes of homework per grade, per night. So… If you’re in third grade, you shouldn’t have more than thirty minutes Fourth grade, forty minutes Fifth grade, fifty minutes, and so on. However, please don’t use this as an excuse NOT to complete your homework! I can promise you, your teacher is NOT going to be very happy to hear you didn’t finish your homework just because you read on the Dork Diaries website that Nikki Maxwell said a fifth grader should only have fifty minutes of homework. It won’t be MY fault if you get a bad grade! LOL! But, I totally agree that three hours sounds like way too much for fifth grade! ☹!! The first step might be figuring out if you REALLY have three hours of homework. I mean, I believe you that it’s taking too long. But could it be taking that long because you have lots of distractions and take lots of breaks, etc.? I’m not saying you shouldn’t take breaks, but there’s a difference between taking a five minute break every thirty minutes or so and drifting to TV, video games, or your text messages between every math problem. ☺ You might also experiment with what time of day you work best on homework. After school, you’re already exhausted from working your brain all day. Maybe you’d work more efficiently (meaning more quickly!) if you got up earlier in the morning! Or maybe you need a break after school, but you work well after dinner. It’s definitely not cool if your homework keeps you from doing any other activities you enjoy. Those activities aren’t only for fun, either. Things like school plays and team sports are important for building teamwork skills, discipline, and other educational-type stuff, I’m sure! Sometimes it’s hard if you’re getting the homework from different teachers, like if you go to different teachers for math and language arts, they might assign work not thinking about how much other work you’re also getting. Kids complaining about homework is an age old thing and I don’t know how much luck you’d have if you go straight to the teacher. I think talking to your parents should probably be the next step, after making sure you’re using your time well. Bring them the statistic about ten minutes per grade. Show them your assignments. See what they think. If your parents talk to your teacher about it, there’s more of a chance something might change. If they get other parents involved, that could increase the chances even more. A whole group of parents approaching the school to talk about the homework load could be really effective. I hope you and your parents and teachers can work this out. I think everyone has the same goal—for you to learn and be prepared for middle and high school. But part of that has to be giving your brain a rest and giving you time for other activities. You have my support! Do you get a ton of homework? Do you have tips for getting it all done? Tell us in the comments!
Anonymous 4th Grader says January 5, 2020 at 10:39 pm Dear Horrible Homework Hassle, I am in 4th grade and I have TWICE that! Like, come on! UGH! SAVE ME FROM THE WORLD!?!?!
Miss Dork says January 5, 2020 at 8:57 pm The teachers give me way to much homework! My sister finishes it on time, but I am to lazy to do it! It is so annoying!I need some tips!!
candy gril says January 4, 2020 at 9:17 pm i know!i have 5 pages of homework to do and do the whole thing in 30 minutes!
Unicorngirl says January 4, 2020 at 9:40 am I totally understand what your going through i think you should ask your parents to let you study with a friend so it will be fun but if they say no tell them about how you get waaay to much HW
Homework? says January 4, 2020 at 8:44 am I’m in 5th grade and i barely get any homework, so sad to hear your story
Lolzy says January 3, 2020 at 6:48 pm Oh my god that sounds terrible! In 7th grade I have only about 30 minutes 🙁
YUM says January 3, 2020 at 11:19 am im only in third grade but I still have lots of homework.i have to do 2 math things 2reading things plus I have to write about my weakend.so just get through it but cosentrate because u need a good grade!I really hope this helped!
What am I doing with my life? says January 2, 2020 at 11:19 pm Haha, just wait until high school, I’m a freshman and I have about 2 hours of homework each day and I’ve been told it only gets worse
Someone says January 2, 2020 at 7:32 pm I’m in fourth grade. Not that’s it helps, but I’ll probably LOVE homework. You can probably guess that I’m geeky. LOL!
Dorky Artist says January 2, 2020 at 5:37 pm This is SO RELATABLE Horrible Homework Hassle. I’m also in 5th grade. I somethimes have up to 2 hours of homework. But the studying pays off for tests. Wishing you good luck! Its not that horrible. It pays off.
JEFF101 says January 2, 2020 at 1:26 pm Let me say this : its winter break and my teacher is saying that we have to do a book report after break !
Pollen.xoxo says January 2, 2020 at 12:49 pm I get loads of homework too. My top tip would be to complete it the day or night you get it, so the workload doesnt pile up. 🙂