LH of Dorkiness-somebody has to ask me if I want fries with that.
I knew there was a reason I bought a bottle of bourbon last week. Thanks.
Absolutely.
Kids *also *need to learn that you do your own work. This assignment is teaching them the opposite - that Mom should do the work, at least the hard parts, and the kid will get the oohs and aahs in class for it.
Shit, it’s institutionalized plagiarism, is what it really is. Passing off someone else’s work as your own.
Reading this GREAT response makes me realize: I’m yet to make clear that kids SHOULD do their own homework! :smack: (that’s my forehead BTW) They SHOULDN’T expect Mommy/Daddy to do things for them, because a boss WILL expect them to produce their own work.
I don’t have kids and think that this is a bloody stupid assignment.
I would be unthrilled about buying a kit and would say so in a note to the teacher. I have a price of 2.49/pack for Fimo from Jo-Ann Fabrics… don’t see the price on Michaels’ webpages for the product.
I think it’s deplorable that China and India are kicking our ass, and we need to do better.
I have helped my niece do her homework, and i can say that if she put the effort into doing her homework that she uses to get out of doing her homework, or half-assing it, she would be done with her work in a tenth of the time that she currently spends trying to get out of it.
Personal trainers would be something a parent elects to do with their child as part of an activity. A doctor’s request to monitor a child’s diet is a health related necessity.
There is no rational comparison between a medical requirement to monitor a child and homework “assigned” to a parent. Homework is an extension of class time. It should be limited to a review of coursework and preparation for tests. It’s function is not to take up a child’s time at night. I guarantee you my parents never built clay houses for homework and would have laughed heartily at the idea if I got such an assignment (for them).
They were taught “old school” in every sense of the word. With only a high school education my father built a house, coached sports, repaired everything he owned, and tracked all his financial transactions to the penny. He was never in debt. My mother was a voracious reader and probably averaged 2 books a week. They both had lives of their own outside of raising children.
What my parents learned in school was how to learn. It prepared them for the real world without robbing them of their childhoods. Not only is the op’s example of homework an unnecessary burden on the kids it’s completely unnecessary for the parents.
I’m also curious about the exact wording of the note and I wonder what type of thing is being made out of clay that a 3rd grader can’t do it mostly alone.
“Here’s a lump of clay honey, see if you can make it into something like this picture.”
We call these assignments “Mommy Homework” and we would make the kids do as much as possible by themselves.
I don’t think it’s appropriate to assign homework with the expectation that the parent will do it all.
First off, the entire argument is “You’re not the boss of me.” It’s always the argument. Requiring people to do something when you don’t have the authority to do so is offensive in our society. It’s crossing a boundary that should not be crossed, and is often an indication that the person is a bossy jerk.
Second, though, you guys are leaving out one very viable option. If she can’t get the teacher to relent, she can just not turn in the project. So what if the kid gets a bad grade. Elementary school grades only matter to the parents, and you know why the child’s grade would be bad. No one is ever going to know what the kid’s grade was.
I think part of the reason this is so offensive is that we feel like we have to do everything we can to make sure our kids get good grades, or we are bad parents. The better parent is the one who sets boundaries. A good teacher is one who rewards kids for doing their own work.
In our district, they are also a component for placement - as in “if you want you kid in calculus as a senior, they need to take advanced math in 6th grade. If you want them in advanced math in sixth grade they have to score well on their placement tests. If you want them to score well on their placement tests, they have to be in the higher math groups in elementary school. And the path to those higher math groups - grades.”
Repeat for English, AP Social Sciences, AP Science, et. al.
Why can’t they outsource the project? It’ll help prepare them for business in the US. 
My folks and I hated projects like that. My dad worked away from home, we guarded our family time jealously and it really sucked when we had to spend hours doing something ridiculous with cardboard.