Interactive language arts homework helps parents and children come together on activities they enjoy. The article presents a project in which students interview their parents on hairstyles from their youth, write a paragraph about the subject, then follow up with class activities. Includes a questionnaire form for students to give their parents.…

The "Kitchen of Words" home project lets parents help their children master nouns and adjectives within their own kitchens, focusing students on the words involved in the kitchen setting. Students create a list of words that apply to their kitchens, recording nouns, their adjectives, and adjectives suggested by family members. (SM)

In a Florida county school system the combination of three afterschool homework assistance programs has increased students' responsibility for assignments. Students question teachers through telephone assistance. Students and parents talk with volunteer teachers in school libraries. A cooperative-use agreement with the educational channel brings…

Presents observations about the influence of mathematics textbooks and suggests ways to use textbooks to advantage while reordering the sequence and emphasis of topics to allow time for alternative activities. The fifth-grade mathematics curriculum is examined as an example. (MKR)