Park Slope School Says No to Homework

A Park Slope elementary school has put an end to traditional homework and replaced it with play-based learning, according to DNAinfo.

Teachers and staff at P.S. 118 (the Maurice Sendak Community School) are using a new program called Exercise Your Brain, which replaces homework with after-school activities such as dancing, cooking and other play-based learning.

The program was created in response to concerns from both parents and educators over the amount of time and effort students spent on uninspiring worksheets. In addition, recent research has shown that elementary-aged children do not benefit from doing extra work at home. 

The teachers at P.S. 118 looked at schools such as Chelsea’s P.S. 11 and Kips Bay’s P.S. 116 for inspiration after both schools made the decision to ditch homework for young students.

“Learning should be self-initiated and not top down,” said Laura Willeford, a third grade teacher at P.S. 118, who worked on the program’s design with  husband-and-wife team Alexis Hernandez (a first grade teacher) and Matt Weeks (a third grade teacher). "And they start realizing that the things they create are important."

The program, launched last week, lets kids choose from a rotating menu of activities they can do while at home playing and spending time with their parents. For example, this month's offerings for third graders include “Dance, Dance Revolution” (making up your own dance and incorporating something from class into it), “Chopped” (helping a parent measure ingredients for a recipe) or “Mad Scientist” (doing a science experiment and videotaping it to share with class).