We don’t know who invented the concept, but the word “homework” goes all the way back to ancient Rome. Pliny the Younger made his followers practise their speeches at home. Homework, in the form of memorisation exercises for monks and other scholars, was taking place in the early Middle Ages. Homework has been around forever, and it’s been a controversial subject – for students and educators – for about that long.
Supporters of homework point to it helping student achievement but argue that it can have many other beneficial effects. These include good study habits, prepping students for future learning. It can also help students see that learning can occur at home as well as at school. Homework, they say, can foster independent learning and responsibility. It can also give parents an opportunity to see what's going on at school for their child and foster positive attitudes toward their achievements.
Opponents of homework, on the other hand, counter that it can also have negative effects. They argue it can lead to boredom with schoolwork and can deny students access to leisure activities that teach important life skills. Parents can get too involved in homework as well, leading to pressure and even confusion if they insist on doing things differently than the teacher.
It seems unlikely there’ll ever be agreement on how useful homework is, but one thing is certain – if we are going to assign homework, it should be as engaging as possible, while always being directly relevant to what is being taught in class. That is, it should complement instruction rather than merely acting as “busy work”.
Fortunately, CARS & STARS Online fits this idea perfectly because the work students undertake at home with CARS & STARS Online is the same as the work they complete with CARS & STARS Online at school.
CARS & STARS Online is the reading comprehension program for the 2020s, rather than the 1990s. Students can login to CARS & STARS Online on one device and begin exercises, then login later from another and resume from exactly where they left off. They work through the program entirely online, meaning that “homework” is not extra work or activities laden on top of core instruction to reinforce learning or give them extra opportunities to see it in action – it is the continuation of the core instruction they’re doing at school, in the same form, just as they left it.
And a CARS & STARS Online parent account means parents can keep on top of their child’s reading progress instantly, from any device. It’s just like having full access to their classroom teacher at any time because parents can look directly at what their child is doing and see constant updates on their results and progress.
Homework still exists in the 21st century, but with CARS & STARS Online it is homework that is targeted, informed, relevant and directly contributing to core instruction – rather than just extra work to keep ideas fresh in students’ minds.
If you are interested in learning more about the CARS & STARS Online subscriptions and how they can help children to achieve better results, then sign up for a free trial to be an integral part of your child’s reading success.
