Occasional homework for kindergarteners. I remember them counting all the lamps in the house. Draw your family from tallest to smallest. A few “work with your family” projects - a fun one was making “them” - they sent home a jointed paper doll that we dressed and added hair to. Around mid-year they sent home books for the kids to read.
The Princess used to get a homework packet every Friday, mostly writing practice and a new letter each week. As the school year wore on, counting practice progressed to single-digit addition and subtraction. Now (first grade) she will be getting a homework packet every Monday, due Fridays. This week she has the usual writing practice, plus a (very easy) vocabulary list. Tuesdays are library day in her class, plus a piano teacher comes by once a week with his (her?) Casio keyboard, and there are visits to the computer lab twice a week. I don’t remember my sisters having to do even half of that stuff 25 years ago, when they were in first grade. For the record, I didn’t go to school in the U.S. till 5th grade, so to compare my first-grade experience with that of my child would be comparing apples and oranges.
I find this writing practice thing strange. Our school doesn’t teach printing. They do teach cursive, but kids are pretty much on their own when it comes to letter formation. They never had those “draw the letter K” worksheets.
By first grade they can all print, though. It isn’t always tidy, but it seems comparable to what kids in the other district that are “taught” it can do.
My kids have no homework and I gather they won’t have any – it’s in the handbook, no homework. I asked for homework in first grade when Eldest was having some difficulty connecting the notions of addition and subtraction, but was turned down. So I just gave him some anyway, and got in trouble because I used a number line for illustration and they use an abacus. Meh.
However, my niece and nephew Stateside started to have homework in Kindy also.
An abacus? Where do you live Marienee?
To be on topic: I don’t have any kids, but I watched a kindergartener last year who had simple weekly homework. Basic addition, subtraction, and those practice making letters sheets. There was also a cardboard punch-out clock where we had to move the hands around to practice simple time telling. Although that was more like studying, since there was nothing to turn in.
Oh, sorry, I usually mention it. In the south of Holland, where the sheep peacefully graze. It’s a Montessori thing I gather – the kids go to a Montessori school at the moment.