Working parents, activities and homework

[Anonymous]

I don't allow my kids to do homework until 7th grade.

[Anonymous]

morning homework or less activities. For us, morning homework worked best.

[Anonymous]

2 working household here. One of us always works from home each day. My kids don't have that much homework either. Reading is not a chore, they so it constantly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Can you afford an afternoon sitter who will pick up the kids, do snack and homework, perhaps cook dinner?

My friends paid for a college student to do this for their daughter.

We probably need this. How do you find them? Sitter city?

I have found tons of sitters through my neighborhood listserve. I'm surrounded by tens. I usually just use my teen neighbors.

[Anonymous]

We staggered our hours so I was home a bit earlier.

In middle school I cut back to 35 hours a week.

But you are already getting them at 4 so this is a hard one. Maybe do less cooking?

[Anonymous]

That’s too many activities in the evening. Each kid should have one thing per week, max. Kids need more downtime than you think and all that rushing and running to stuff is stressful to the family. A relaxed family dinner together is far more important for their development than some lessons or whatever. I’d talk to the teacher about that much homework. My 6th grader doesn’t have that much.

[Anonymous]

We partly managed it through staggered schedules, so one of us was mostly home by the time the kids were done with school. Since you have kids who have a lot of homework and consider reading homework, I think that means you have to cut down on the activities, especially if they are the kind of kids who need no distractions to do their homework, which means they won't get it done while waiting for their sibling to be done with an activity. Or you could hire a sitter to stay home with one kid and do homework while you take the other one around. This is definitely hard to find, but if you luck out you might find a high schooler. Try neighborhood listserves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much damn homework?

My 4th grade son is in the GT program and can get his done in 15 minutes.

It’s usually a math sheet and reading comprehension or writing.

He sometimes chooses to do it in the morning.

Omg, our 4th grade Gt has elaborate projects, fairly involved project lite weekly homework

It’s cool seeing how much they accomplish on their own, but deadlines can mean late late nights bc of the fragmented weeknight times.

Same poster. Do they give time in Class? Our school always does and both my boys do a great deal (if not all) of their projects during the free time. They knew if they did this they wouldn't have to do it at home. They also knew to do it on sports nights.

Ask your kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How much damn homework?

My 4th grade son is in the GT program and can get his done in 15 minutes.

It’s usually a math sheet and reading comprehension or writing.

He sometimes chooses to do it in the morning.

Omg, our 4th grade Gt has elaborate projects, fairly involved project lite weekly homework

It’s cool seeing how much they accomplish on their own, but deadlines can mean late late nights bc of the fragmented weeknight times.

Same poster. Do they give time in Class? Our school always does and both my boys do a great deal (if not all) of their projects during the free time. They knew if they did this they wouldn't have to do it at home. They also knew to do it on sports nights.

Ask your kid.

I want to add I used to hear horror stories from friends at the school about the amount of GT homework and how long it took their kids. My kids are now in the program and I don't see it at all. It could be a time-management problem.

[Anonymous]

You need to hire an afternoon housekeeper type person. Someone to make dinner, oversee homework, and drive kids to activities. You pick them up on your way home.

[Anonymous]

I second PP who thinks there are way too many after school activities for OP's kids. I would move the activities to the weekend where possible. My DC has been taking piano lessons on Sunday afternoons for five years. I don't think we would have done it for this long if it was on week nights. If week night activities become stressful, it's time to pare it down. Choose one maybe. Either sports or scouts, not both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can they do homework in the morning?

Four nights of activities is a lot, too.

Part of it is multiple kids and different activities per kid (age gap)

Generally just 3, but we only have 4 nights to do homework so Fri activity is free anyways.

I notice the "we" up top. Are you perhaps commuting together with one car? If you are, buy a car (doesn't have to be a good one) and separate things more.

Also, no making a kid read before bed who doesn't want to. Very stressful when tired and interferes with sleep. Reading doesn't come easy to all kids. Do that stuff in the AM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't allow my kids to do homework until 7th grade.

I don't even think kids should have homework until high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I second PP who thinks there are way too many after school activities for OP's kids. I would move the activities to the weekend where possible. My DC has been taking piano lessons on Sunday afternoons for five years. I don't think we would have done it for this long if it was on week nights. If week night activities become stressful, it's time to pare it down. Choose one maybe. Either sports or scouts, not both.

One sport one night a week per kid (can't schedule same night), and one night when they both do piano. Piano on weekend won't work with our school.

The bigger issue is the transitions eat up time: school to SACC to home to activity (and maybe not even *their* activity). A driving sitter is probably what we need at a minimum.

Scouts would be once a month.

There *is* that much homework. I see the resultant projects and homework they do, they are very elaborate and way beyond what I did at this age.

The reluctant reader has traits of ADHD, and our understanding is that physical activity and music can actually help moderate that, hence why we prioritize it still.

Mornings would be ncie but kids are like teenagers already and sleep in to the nick of school starting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No second grader should be doing 40 minutes of homework.

If they really like their activities, they have to do HW at SACC. If they don’t like their activities, drop them.

You cook in batches on the weekend, so weekday dinners are reheating and salads.

Your kids do not go to bed at 8pm.

This is how it works.

20 minutes reading, 20 minutes math and writing

They are happy to do it in SACC, but between Snack and mandatory outside time, they lose almost half an hour before they can settle down to work, then we arrive and whisk them home — too many transitions.

We do reading at bedtime. Just push the bedtime a bit early. Kids settle in bed and read.

We have a reluctant reader, needs to be at desk with light to focus. Loves being read to at bedtime.

Then read together at bedtime - one paragraph/page each or something.