Homework Woes

Last year, I was frustrated that my boys had to be in only half-day kindergarten and then had to bring home work because there wasn't enough time in a half-day for the teachers to get through all the curriculum. Now, as first graders, I thought it'd be better since they're there all day. Nope - it got worse.

This year (so far...), the boys have 15 minutes of math, 10-15 minutes of reading, spelling words and "sight" words practice (words they have to know "by sight" since the usual phonics rules don't apply - like "have" and "was").

This comes to about 30 - 45 minutes of work after they were in school for 7 hours! What gives? This weekend, they had everything but the math ("Free Fridays" on math) and my 8th grade daughter had NOTHING. Yep - not a single thing to work on. She didn't have long term projects, lots of math or social studies questions, not even a book report due!

The hubby and I discussed this and the more we talk about it, the more we agree that when kids get home at night, especially younger kids, they should have the time to be KIDS - running outside, building things, doing crafts, baking cookies and just generally decompressing.

By the time we're able to get off work and pick them up, it's already 5pm (which is also part of the problem - neither of us is ever able to leave on time and the 20-30 minutes drive between our jobs and home is another time eater - but that's another rant). Three nights a week they have sports they choose to participate in (2 football nights and 1 karate). With dinner, baths and sleep routine (aka, cuddle time) that leaves about an hour or so to just be kids. Oh - wait - in that hour they now have to get in the 30 - 45 minutes of HOME WORK!

This was their schedule just for today:

• Get up at 7:45 am
• Leave for school at 8:30
• School from 8:50 to 3:50 pm
• After-care until pickup at around 5
• Football practice from 5:30 to 7
• Dinner at 7:00
• Showers from 7:15 to 7:30
• Homework from around 7:30 until 8:15
• Cuddle/chill time until 8:30
• Bedtime at 8:30

Tomorrow is essentially the same thing, except we have dinner then karate instead of football then dinner. Wednesday and Thursday is a little looser since there isn't a sports practice on those days, but we do have Emily on Wednesdays which muddies up the works some.

Is it really any wonder adults are workaholics and stressed all the time? Apparently, we're taught to be this way from our youngest school years. I can see the stress and unhappiness in my Travis' eyes whenever we pull out the homework folders. He struggles with it more than Thomas, but beyond that, he just wants some time to play and watch some cartoons. He got about 5 minutes of TV today - and that was only because I didn't catch him right after his bath to jump on the homework! Thomas didn't get any TV at all. And neither of them got "downtime" today. And there won't really be any tomorrow either. there may be some on Wednesday and Thursday, but by that time in their week they're bushed. By Saturday they're just crabby and whiny and we spend a lot of Saturdays just being lazy around the house trying to recoup from the insanity of the week!

So, what kind of America would we live in if we simply allowed kids to be creative and free-thinkers (aka, "themselves") for those few hours at night instead of forcing them into MORE schoolwork and conformative thought? Would our kids know how to leave work at the office and spend time with their kids when they grow up? Would they get more sleep and be happier in general? What exactly are we teaching our kids LONG TERM with "homework"?

Anyway, just a little venting and food for thought. I gotta go check my work email and test a few websites now. *sigh*