I hate homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Homework seems so insidious to me. With my middle schoolers each discreet task doesn't seem so big (10 math problems -fine), but with7 subjects it adds up! Are the teachers not coordinating on this, do they not realize how long it actually takes? And the $64,000 question is: do the child free teachers understand how busy and full home life is, especially with multiple kids in the house?

Short answer? No. The principal of the high school my daughter went Freshman year was under the impression that the 2.5 hours of homework average the county recommended for high schoolers was per subject. I made him add up the number of hours of homework per class based on that rule, plus the number of hours the average kid spends on the bus and in classes. Then I had him add the number of hours they were recommending the kids sleep as per their happy posters on the wall. He came up with 26.5 hours. I then asked him where he was buying his time portal for the schools, as I wanted to get one myself.

There was total silence in that auditorium full of parents, then one by one hands went up, with parents asking how he came to this conclusion and what he was going to do about it.

I moved my kid to private. Problem solved...for us.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I have done that math. In bed at 9:20 and up at 6:20. With a bit of reading in bed, it is sufficient.

Yes, it is tight. And yes he gets way too much crap to do on way too many pieces of paper. But bottom line, he is a PITA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homework seems so insidious to me. With my middle schoolers each discreet task doesn't seem so big (10 math problems -fine), but with7 subjects it adds up! Are the teachers not coordinating on this, do they not realize how long it actually takes? And the $64,000 question is: do the child free teachers understand how busy and full home life is, especially with multiple kids in the house?

Short answer? No. The principal of the high school my daughter went Freshman year was under the impression that the 2.5 hours of homework average the county recommended for high schoolers was per subject. I made him add up the number of hours of homework per class based on that rule, plus the number of hours the average kid spends on the bus and in classes. Then I had him add the number of hours they were recommending the kids sleep as per their happy posters on the wall. He came up with 26.5 hours. I then asked him where he was buying his time portal for the schools, as I wanted to get one myself.

There was total silence in that auditorium full of parents, then one by one hands went up, with parents asking how he came to this conclusion and what he was going to do about it.

I moved my kid to private. Problem solved...for us.

Good god, that principal was an idiot. If a kid is doing 2.5 hours of homework per subject per WEEK--in other words, being home-schooled--the child wouldn't have to be in school in the first place. Meaning: what the hell are they doing with their INSTRUCTIONAL time in school?

Jeez.

[Anonymous]

OP Here. Commiseration please.

MP ends in a week and a half.

Between now and then, there are five tests (I could have guessed, but he did not), three projects, a group project, and two writing assignments. That's on top of the usual day-to-day.

The challenge: get my son through this with our relationship intact.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP Here. Commiseration please.

MP ends in a week and a half.

Between now and then, there are five tests (I could have guessed, but he did not), three projects, a group project, and two writing assignments. That's on top of the usual day-to-day.

The challenge: get my son through this with our relationship intact.

What? Is that crazy?

Can any of the projects be consolidated? So, for example, can the writing assignments be on the same topics but with a different twist? Or one or two of the projects tie into the writing assignment? Otherwise, it sounds nutty.

[Anonymous]

Standard end of term work for middle school.

Honestly, no individual project is a bad one and there's no coloring. Probably the girls who were more organized got at least two done before the weekend...

It will be a long day with religious school and soccer in the mix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Not to worry you, but procrastination and stalling are classic signs of ADHD. I did that as a teen overloaded with homework, DH still does it all the time for everything, and DS too.
DD is the only who is NOT diagnosed and - surprise - blasts through her assignments!

I would learn about ADHD and observe your son carefully.

It might not be adhd.....I have always been a massive procrastinator but not due to adhd, but something more fundamentally tough to change...motivation due to nihilistic tendancies/thoughts.

i.e. going through this with my niece who is living with us as she's thinking about law school but putting off lsat practice...'what's the point of studying, I can't get a 170+ anyways even if I tried as hard as I could and without that I can't get into a top law school, and without that there is no point in going....so why should I even try'?

I can see this reverse rationalization happen more and more in young adults, college, and younger students as opportunities get scarcer and there is more 'winner take all' or "yale-or-fail" economic forces encroaching into a wide variety of facets in life.

[Anonymous]

NP - OP, I completely agree with you. Homework made our lives miserable. Public and private. And our children never had enough sleep. Join SLEEP. They are working from the other end trying to ensure that high school kids get sufficient sleep in the public schools. It's a start. I would do it all over differently if I could.

[Anonymous]

I. HATE. IT. TOO.

[Anonymous]

Expanding -- my oldest is only in 2nd grade and it's driving me nuts. We get home 5/5:30, kids are tired, I cook dinner, we eat at 6, my husband gets home at 6:30, and the kids want to see him, so they play for half an hour, bath starts at 7, after that and reading at bedtime, lights out at 8. My second grader has 40 minutes a night of homework. If this were once in a while, sure, it would be fine to squeeze it in. But it's every single night, and it means there's no time to do other things, and that does not sit right with me (nor her, which is why she draggggggs her heeeeeeels). The kid is 7, for heaven's sake.

[Anonymous]

We are strongly thinking about homeschooling and homework is definitely one of the reasons. Not the only one, but not a minor one either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Not to worry you, but procrastination and stalling are classic signs of ADHD. I did that as a teen overloaded with homework, DH still does it all the time for everything, and DS too.
DD is the only who is NOT diagnosed and - surprise - blasts through her assignments!

I would learn about ADHD and observe your son carefully.

I was going to say the same thing. Not to further stress you out, OP, but have you ruled out all learning disabilities or potential neurological problems? My Aspie can make any assignment go on for hours. His anxiety compounds the situation x 100. And ADHD. And dylexia. Homework has been hell for us. We've had to rely on tutors as DC has progressed through school and homework gets more and more demanding and complex. I know it's not his fault. He has xlnt student habits and will work for hours on end - it's just that the work isn't fruitful or executed. Oh yeah, we have executive functioning problems too.