Homework

EDUCATION policy-makers and Maryland officials are investigating ways to link teachers' job evaluations to students' progress.Before deciding to implement such a plan, school administrators and state officials should consider some issues that teachers confront daily in classrooms at a levels of education, from kindergarten through college.First, a question: If a teacher teaches, will the students learn?Assume the ideal world. Our teachers are academically qualified in their subjects, are fully certified, have met all of the state requirements to be in the classroom, are highly motivated and like their students.

IT'S SUNDAY. ARE YOU ready for some football? Well, don't be dropping by our house because, in a role reversal that has heads spinning, the parents are forbidden to watch TV until homework is done.I'd worry if the same thing were not going on all over America, or at least in the home of our good friends the Smears. (We are always checking with the Smears to make sure what is happening in our house is normal, and they have never disappointed us.)Anyway, their daughter and our son, students in a high school European history class, have declared the family room off-limits while they type their way through centuries of war and famine at the computer.

We're in the thick of homework season. Kids are getting serious, whipping out those No. 2 pencils -- or turning on the computer -- to do projects, studying and real work. Here are some of the best ideas, products and resources for getting out from under that pile of work:* Organize your study area with two musts: a calendar and an assignment book. Keep a calendar by your child's homework area to keep track of projects and long-term assignments. (That science fair can sneak up on you.) Try mounting a reusable two-month or three-month wipe-off calendar.

To help you have a fab school year, we'll give you 12 tips to get you through until next summer!Try our top tips for a tiptop year!1 Get organized! Clean your room, de-clutter by giving away stuff you don't want anymore.2 Set up a study pad in your room with good light and a supply of pens and pencils.3 Set goals and make a plan.4 What do you carry with you every single day? Write all the combinations for your gym locker, hall locker, etc., in it -- but reverse the order of numbers in case anyone sees it.5 In the front of your notebook, keep a running list of all the math formulas you use this year.

The next time you're missing fun because you have tons of homework, think about this."In the 1920s, physicians led a movement against homework; they believed it interfered with kids' health," said Etta Kralovec. She's the director of educational studies at Maine's College of the Atlantic. "They said kids needed between six and eight hours a day of fresh air and sunshine."Kids today may simply need a break. Some experts say there are serious reasons for confining schoolwork to school."We don't believe people should work longer than eight hours a day," Kralovec noted.

In their book "The School-Savvy Parent," authors Rosemarie Clark, Donna Hawkins and Beth Vachon suggest these resources for helping your child conquer homework.* "How to Do Homework Without Throwing Up," by Trevor Romain, contains valuable insights, truths and pointers presented with humor, and it's written for kids ages 8 to 13.* "How to Help Your Child with Homework: Every Caring Parent's Guide to Encouraging Good Study Habits and Ending the Homework Wars," by Marguerite C. Radencich and Jeanne Shay Schumm.

I AM LOATH TO give up my place at the pinnacle of martyrdom, but I must admit that there is someone out there who has a more relentless and debilitating schedule than I, a working mother of two school-aged children with an hourlong commute and a husband who travels for his job.It is my son, the high school freshman.I will never admit this to him - and he doesn't read the newspaper, because none of his teachers have assigned it - but his life is such an endurance contest that I am surprised he is not crabbier than he is.My husband and I told Joe that the demands of high school were going to hit him like a brick in the nose.

Dazzled by his spacious new house in an upscale Owings Mills neighborhood, Mark Seals could hardly wait to move in. But the investment counselor was shocked by what he saw at the settlement table: maps showing a long-planned, four-lane road running straight through his community, virtually sideswiping his house."

I CAME TO AN appreciation of cauliflower late in life.When I was a kid, cauliflower was one of those foods I was "supposed to eat." My dad, in an effort to stir up interest in the winter vegetable, would recite a couple of lines of corny poetry -- "See the little cauliflower, growing sweeter by the hour" -- as the steamed forms were placed before our assembled clan. My brothers and I would push the dreaded florets of cauliflower to the edges of our plates, and roll our eyes at our dad's performance.

My 10-year-old uses the excuse that he "forgot" for homework that he should have brought home and for certain rules around the house. His memory is perfectly fine for the things he enjoys. I would like him to take some responsibility for himself. Please help.-- B.L.Kaukauna, Wis.In most cases, self-reliant children are not born, they are made. This is a process that usually takes about four years and requires help from parents and teachers, too.In a nutshell, the child must come to understand his problem and live with the consequences that result from it, says Gail Caissy, author of "Early Adolescence: Understanding the 10 to 15 Year Old" (Insight Books, $26.95)

When River Hill High School 10th-grader Kelsey Balimtas sits down to do her homework, her cell phone and computer are always right in front of her. She would like to stay completely focused on the textbook, but honestly, she says, she just can't. Her cell phone calls to her with an irresistible buzz she can't ignore. She bounces from homework to text message to Facebook and back to homework. "I think the quality of my homework is decreased," she admitted. And so do college professors and high school teachers, who say this constantly plugged-in generation is less able to focus on subjects that take deep concentration.

As Silvia Bowles held open a book called Hot Dogs, 6-year-old Eric Moody read out loud, pronouncing each word slowly and clearly. Four days a week after school, the Swansfield Elementary School first-grader heads to the Community Learning Center in the school's media center. He started attending when he was in kindergarten, and he looks forward to his time at the center, from 3:10 p.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. "We do fun stuff," he said. And he is getting valuable homework help.

When it comes to building a house, architect Mark L. Giarraputo knows his stuff. Homes his firm has built in Maryland, Washington and Virginia have won many recent awards, including seven this year for custom homes from the Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association. The interesting issue for Giarraputo and others in his business is the constant ebb and flow of American attitudes toward the places where we live -- our ultimate lifestyle statement and refuge. For more than 200 years we have been redefining our homes as we work to impress our neighbors, live better lives and take advantage of technological innovations to make life easier.

Cecil College is sponsoring the eighth annual Stuff-a-Truck event to gather donations for the needy during the holiday season. All contributions go to Cecil County families in need and are distributed through the Family Education Center and the Ray of Hope Mission Center. The truck will be at the Wal-Mart in Elkton from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday; the American Legion hall in Rising Sun from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and on Cecil College's North East campus from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 28. Suggested items include unopened children's toys, baby formula, diapers, baby wipes, new winter wear for children, bleach, washcloths, towels, liquid hand soap, kitchen sponges, infant clothing and cleaning supplies.

There's very little about learning that goes on in school. A lot of it is being still, being quiet, not talking to your neighbor, not moving around too much. Especially if you're a boy, it's lethal." - RANDY KARR, a parent who enrolled her son in the experimental Brooklyn Free School in New York that allows kids to set the schedule and devise classes without tests and homework. ASSOCIATED PRESS

Navy@Duke Today, 1 p.m, 1090 AM, 1430 AM Line: Navy by 11 1/2

Several years ago we co-authored a book on homework. At the time, we were often asked about the advisability of regular homework for elementary school children. In the last two years, the question has expanded - especially this time of year - to include inquiries as to whether children as young as first grade should be doing homework over their summer vacations. The subject of homework over vacations is bound to be controversial. There is relatively little research on this, and research on the normal homework students do during the school year is itself a source of debate.

The homework helper when I was growing up was Mom. Dad was willing to help, but he had a tendency to make up stuff. Now there is a more reliable source of help for kids: Cosmeo. Backed by Discovery Communications Inc. -- the company that produces the Discovery cable television channels -- the Web site is a pay service that uses videos, games, interactive exercises, text articles and photos to explore a variety of school subjects. For $12.95 a month (the first month is free), it's supposed to take on some of the tasks that used to be performed by Mom, only it's better because it understands trigonometry.

Seated at a check-in table stationed in the school's foyer, Markeya Nardini and Domenique Miller are consummate hostesses - and ardent advocates - on the day that Carroll County school officials had chosen to focus on an increasingly popular after-school program. The two girls are wild about the Community Learning Centers program, which enables them to get help with their homework, play games that reinforce lessons they have learned in classes and join after-school clubs. "You have teachers here helping you with your work, and they understand it because they taught it to you during the day," Markeya, 10, a fifth-grader at Willliam Winchester Elementary in Westminster, offers with little prodding.

When Mike Manik tried to help his son with his middle school math homework, the only real lifeline seemed to be the answers in the back of the textbook. "Helpless" is how the 38-year-old Rosedale man described his situation - "I wouldn't recognize the things I was looking at." But last week, Manik returned to the school where he had flunked algebra two decades ago. This time, he sat in the front row of the classroom with other parents, reviewing the order of operations and debating the best use for means, medians or modes.