Kindergarten for my daughter has been very different from my own experience. For instance, one example is that her school assigns homework. Four nights a week she brings home something to do. When I was in kindergarten, the most rigorous learning we did was to sit in a circle and learn songs by heart.
When I first learned about ‘homework in kindergarten’ I was dismayed. I didn’t want my daughter encountering the rigors of scholarship so early in her academic career. There would be plenty of time for serious study when she got older and I wanted kindergarten to be a soft transition from pre-school. So I looked into sending her to other schools. But several compelling factors contributed to this school being the one she ended up at. And homework in kindergarten became a reality.
Here’s the bizarre fact: when the first few assignments came in, I would feel a small clutch of fear just before I looked at the page. Would I understand it? Would I be able to figure out the answers?
I knew that my child was in kindergarten, but a neurotic part of my brain would still panic in much the same way it would back when they handed out problem sets in programming class (back when I was young and foolish and actually thought I could understand programming). And who does one go to for help in kindergarten? Are there TAs? Study groups?
Thankfully, so far there have been no trick questions. I’ve been able to help her through pretty much everything that they’ve sent home. And even when she doesn’t do the job quite right she still gets a star. In fact, it appears that she pretty much gets a star for handing in anything on her homework.
I would have liked to have gotten a star in programming class.
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