By: Yana Weinstein

A lot of our posts are aimed at students (39 posts so far), and many more at teachers (87 posts) – but we also want to involve parents in conversations about strategies for effective learning. So, dear parents of grade-school children: this one is for you!

As our kids grow older, most of us face a similar situation: an increase in the amount of homework that our kids bring home. Of course, there’s a lot of variation in how kids react to homework, and how we parents handle the requirement: some kids will enjoy it and do it without being asked, while others need more prodding; and some parents will be real sticklers about when and how homework is done, whereas others may let kids handle it more independently.

Some parents even reject the whole notion of homework – there is a small but significant movement to “ban homework” because some feel that the time it consumes and the disagreements it causes at home after school are simply not worth it. Is there any truth in that, from a scientific perspective?