It’s the one word that comes with a lot of emotion at Patrick M. Villano School: homework. Some students zoom through it, while others think it never ends. Is it easy, hard, or just impossible? Fifth grader C.J. Polk thinks that compared to last year, fifth grade homework is mostly hard, but sometimes it’s eaay.
“I usually do assigned reading and sometimes study. I also sometimes get Math homework,” C.J. Polk said.
Polk thinks English Language Arts, or ELA, is the hardest subject for homework because there are more assignments and sometimes projects. Polk said that Science is the easiest subject because there’s barely any homework. Fourth grader Lamia Metjahic is adjusting to homework at her new school.
“It is a little hard,” Lamia Metjahic said, “because sometimes if I don’t get it, I ask my mom, and she explains how to solve it, and after that I know how to do it.”
Metjahic was in third grade at Memorial School last year She added that for ELA, homework is usually correcting capitaization, usage, punctuation, and spelling in sentences.
“I also measure stuff in the classroom and talk about shapes and other things,” Metjahic said about Math.
“The hardest homework I ever did was Math because sometimes I have a hard time doing length or measurements and also some number problems,” Metjahic explained. “The easiest subject is ELA, because I could correct sentences and it’s very easy and not complicated.”
Metjahic said third grade homework was easier than fourth grade homework.
When asked if homework gets harder in sixth grade, Juliette Ignazzi, a sixth grader responded: “I have a lot of homework, but it’s not that hard yet.”
Ignazzi noted that it is still early in the year to determine if homework will get much harder. Ignazzi also noted that Math is her favorite subject.
“Social Studies is the hardest subject so far,” Ignazzi said.
Overall, the amount and difficulty of assigned nightly homework varies on the grade level. For example, ELA is the easiest homework subject in fourth grader, but in fifth grade it was the hardest due to the amount of homework given. All students interviewed agree that homework gets more challenging each year.
Carmen Machado • Oct 18, 2025 at 8:01 am
Homework is something I hated doing when I was in school. I found it hard and tedious. The worst part was the obviously “busy work” homework style that was given to us when teachers were told that they HAD to assign homework, BUT if the homework assignment is crafted in the right way, it gives the student a quick recap of what was taught and preps them for the next class which will build on the prior class. I was an educator for 38 years and always made sure that my homework assignments could be done in 10 to 15 minutes. Both my daughters were students at Villano and then graduates of Emerson Jr.-Sr. High School. They thrived with the teachers that understood the strength of a good homework assignment and were always annoyed with the busy work assignments that they got, so the homework questions all parents teachers and students should ask is: How will this assignment enforce and prep me for the educational goal that needs to be reached when attending my next class? Is this busy work or does it reenforce what was taught?
Olga Kozak-Anlar • Oct 17, 2025 at 4:09 pm
Great job, Emanuel and Sophie!