Home Work: Bridging the Worlds of Home and School

The ways in which the cultures of school and home affect children's learning have been studied intensively, often in comparison, one with the other. Moll et al. (1992), for example, described the work educators and families do to support that learning in both contexts. Their work is primarily with immigrant families, where the contexts between home and school can be dramatically different, but we believe that all children face challenges when moving between those cultures. Attending to the work they must do to bridge the two worlds, however, can be difficult to document. Our Day In the Life approach affords the opportunity actually to be with the child during the course of one entire waking day, and to monitor the work they do as they move from home to school and back home again, allowing us to observe, document and reflect upon the manner in which children navigate their home-school work.

Keywords: Bridging, Drawing, Homework, School and Home Cultures, Transition to School.