Reply to putting my foot down about homework: vent and rally cry

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[quote=Anonymous]my bright, hard working 4th grader has WAAY too much homework.  its not healthy and its negatively impacting the rest of the family.  i want to put my foot down and tell the school she just won't be spending this much time on homework and that they need to prioritize what she needs to do so that it can be done in an hour, preferably less.  period.   (call me crazy) i think that spending 7 hours a day on directed learning is plenty.  i resent that my entire family's lives are now held hostage on a daily basis by my 9 year old's teacher.

its wrong and its unhealthy. there is much more to life than schoolwork and the balance is waay off kilter.  she is not struggling. she is not living in a deprived environment.  she has no special needs.  she's a normal, average, healthy kid who needs time with NOTHING PLANNED (not the time that just 'in between' the planned stuff where you are just waiting for the next planned event0 she needs it  every day.  she needs time to learn how to do chores and then time to do them, to learn about grocery shopping and cooking/baking, time to garden, play with friends in an unstructured, nondirected way.  Time to play outside/exercise (thats not PE or 15 mins of 'recess')  Time to read for pleasure: whatever she wants for as long as she wants and visit and get lost in the library.  Time to do some community service. Time to hang out and bond with her family, go to museums, see a move, visit her grandparents. time to learn a craft like knitting or sewing or woodworking. time to play board games and chess and do puzzles and lie on the bed and watch the shadows move. go for a walk in the woods.  go to a nature center.  learn about having a bank account.  go to the 6pm free shows at the kennedy center.  she, and all kids (and dare I say it...adults, too!)   need time to experience and learn about life, which is sooo much more than academics, but yet connects with and enriches academics, too.  i'm not talking about watching tv, web surfing or playing video games..but they have a place, too..and good for times when the brain is drained.

you can't learn about life if every minute of it is structured and planned, because you can't plan every teachable moment or experience. "real"  Life should not be relegated to a few unstructured hours on weekends or summer break.

unless a family is struggling with poverty or serious illness, just living life and being a child  should be a rich, educational learning experience in an of itself.

vent over.  thank you for reading.  if you agree, speak up so that i am not the lone voice in the wilderness.

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