Homework for Kindy Kids - For or Against?

Do you believe 4 year old kindy goers should be given homework? Is it too young? And that they should enjoy their kindy first before the real school? 4 year old kindy kids are actually 3+ year olds... not that older than the babies and still at the edge of toddlerhood. And now, they have to go to kindies and get homeworks. Sigh!

In my search for kindies, I have come across 2 types of kindy. One that says no homework because a kindy should be fun for the 4 year olds and the other that advices that we have to start preparing them for school right at the beginning. I have the 'benefit' of both extremes. Ryan had his 4 year old class in Eduland back then. Eduland/Beaconhouse sells no homework... they also sell balanced program, not fully academic... err...in my opinion, there was a bit too much focus on activities. And now, Raymund , just only turned 3 in Nov, is attending a fully academic (of course, still have some activities la) one at SuperFun Learners. Raymund has homework. Not too heavy. Just writing numbers. Some coloring. But it's homework alright. So, which is good? Is there any hard and fast rule? If there is, all kindies would have already adopted it.

During Ryan's time, I chose Eduland because I wanted a more complete program for him. The activities to build his non-academic knowledge and development. That was my condition. Did it work? Not for him. If you have read my earlier post, you'd know how mortified I was when I realized how simple the syllabus was in Eduland when compared with SuperFun Learners. Ryan is playing catchup now at SuperFun Learners' 6-Year-Old class (fully academic kindy) - and all those extra $ and classes that I have to arrange for him to get him ready for primary school. Of course, if your child is brilliant and his grandma coaches and advances him day in day out, then that's fine - but that's still reinforcement. It is so much harder for Ryan now. I have even asked myself, had Ryan gained from Eduland? It's not a complete lost but it could have been a lot better given his background ... Ryan was a late speaker (see my earlier posts).

With Raymund, he is with his brother in Superfun Learners. The kindy is good. His teacher has already called me twice to give me feedback. She said that Raymund is afraid to write in class and that he was given his 1st homework to write number that day. She asked us to coach him and give him more confidence. I was very grateful.

I'm a firm believer of practice makes perfect. I have seen it work in my two boys. Ryan comes back with averaging 4 homeworks. Enopi follows the same theory. And that's additional for him. I have seen good improvement. Of course, getting him to do them requires a lot of patience and encouragement. Enticing him with rewards, eg. Wii games, if he completes his homework fast and correctly works. With Raymund, it is more difficult since he is so young. My maid helped a lot.

Sometimes, I feel sad when I see them already 'stressed' up so young. Is there a choice? Maybe. I don't know. But in the current education environment, the expectation level is not like it used to be during my time. I was really treating kindy like a playground back then. Now? Different story. That's why enrichment classes make money. With all these, there is no choice but to join them else our kids get left behind. I'm not asking my kids to produce Number 1 position in their report cards. I'm happy with a good average. I just don't want them to fall behind, and then lose confidence and be miserable.