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Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Homework! Homework! Give me a break!

"Homework!  Homework! Give me a break!"

We are only in  week two and I am shouting this at the top of my lungs, throwing my glasses off my face and grabbing a Summit Bar to munch on.


Does any one else remember that commercial or am I just showing my old age?  You've got to love the grainy footage from 1981!

Anyway, back to my complaining.  Peter had a ton of homework over the weekend but got in done and managed to do some fun things as well.  He hopped into the car on Monday afternoon and said that he's got so much he better get started in the car.

So he whipped out a pencil and a workbook and got to it.  He got home, grabbed a snack and immediately started back in on the homework.  Around 4:45 (well over an hour into his homework) he starts to freak out a bit.  "Mom, I'm never going to get this done before Boy Scouts.  And if I don't get it done before Boy Scouts when we get home, I'm going to be up for hours."

I calmed him down (y'all, this 12 year-old can still freak out much like he did at 2) and we went over everything he had to do.  And based on everything he had to do, I made the executive decision that he was not going to be able to go to Boy Scouts. 

He finally finished his homework around 8:00.  Now don't think he was continually at work on this.  He likes to work for a bit, go outside and shoot 10 baskets, work more, take a 10 basket break.  It works for him if he knows there's a break coming up between the work. 

Yesterday, his load was homework load was much more manageable but Sarah had a ton of it.  She got to work on it at 3:15 and worked hard until almost 5:00 (with no breaks because she can't stand to stop if she knows she's not done).  She has just started swimming one night a week for the next two months and she had to get dressed so we could go to that.  We left around 5:30 and got home around 7:30.  We ate dinner and then she worked on her homework for another 45 minutes and then she was finally done.

The swimming program she is doing is either 1, 2 or 3 nights a week.  Since this is her first time in this program and her first year in middle school, we went with one night a week.  She really wanted to do 2 but I just felt like it would be too much.  And now I'm glad I chose the 1 night option.

I don't feel like the kids are overscheduled but on nights when their homework load is just too much, it makes me wonder.  I know the general rule is 10 minutes per grade which would put Sarah at 60 minutes a night and Peter at 70 minutes but they are waaaaaaay over that guideline the last couple of nights.  I know that their school is tough and it won't be like this every night but YIKES!  What a way to start the year.

Too bad they don't still make Summit Bars because I think we could all use one!

5 comments:

Sandy said...

Last year when my daughter was in 5th grade, she was overloaded with homework 5 days a week. It was crazy! She had very little time for anything else and really struggled. After meeting with her 6th grade teachers last night, I was pleased to hear that they give very little homework because they recognize that the kids need some down time in the evening.

MarianneF said...

At least he is responsible about it. My 7th grade boy just rushes through, really sloppy and then gets poor grades! He can "finish" in 15 minutes sometimes!

Madeline said...

Wow, that's a lot of homework. I am not anti-homework but I am also not anti-activities so I do think a balance needs to be struck! I hope this trend doesn't continue completely.

RR Mama said...

I hated Jr. High homework. My oldest always came home with a ton. He would spend 2-3 hrs working on it. It's a little better now that he's in high school. Hang in there mom!

Kelli said...

I am right there with you on homework! Isabella's chemistry teacher told us at back to school night they should,have 45 minutes of homework a night... What!?! She has 6 classes!