"I've never seen my kid get excited about worksheets, or be motivated to ask more questions about a matching exercise. But he was fascinated to learn about how mixing colors creates different ones when we were coloring eggs this weekend. He learned about light, and the color spectrum. We brought out a prism and managed to break light down into several colors of the rainbow (not as easy to do as I had thought). He learned Roy G. Biv. We talked about refracting light and how it makes things look broken in the water. When a family has limited time together, and mine does because both parents work outside the home, I'd rather be able to spend time doing things that make my kid ask questions. That make him excited about learning."


You should be homeschooling. You sound like you'd be really good at it and it would be a good fit for your family.

What I don't get is why the pro-worksheet people care what the other parents do. Why are you threatened that we think our kids have better things to do than busywork? What does it matter to you? Your kid can do all the worksheets she wants.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What I hear you saying is that you care more about your kid learning to "respect authority" than you do about the quality of his education or, more importantly, your time as a family. The premise here is that too much homework a) does not actually help kids learn; and b) interferes with family life by taking away our already limited time to do important things. We anti-busywork moms are not saying that our kids should be lazy or openly disrespectful to teachers - we are overseeing the quality of our kids educations. It is bizarre to me that you would just unthinkingly accept anything just because a teacher assigned it?

NP here. I'm unsure why you think you're a good judge of the worthiness of homework and what constitutes busywork. Just because you went to school doesn't make you an expert on education and learning. So while you're being so insulting to parents who respect the expertise of the teachers in charge of schooling our children, you look a little silly when your only arguments are ones about things you know nothing about (whether or not homework helps kids learn) or ones that concentrate on your own preferences (interfering with family time to do unspecified but certainly more important things than learning).

Hey, do what you want, but please divest yourself of the notion you're doing something good by 'overseeing the quality' of education. I doubt you have a single qualification to evaluate the quality of anyone's education.

Again, you think that learning always occurs with homework and no learning occurs during family time. I need no other evidence or qualifications to know that you do not have a quality education.

Great post, 13:41! We have these sorts of experiences and treasure them. For another interesting discussion topic, look for "Shark vs Octopus" on YouTube and ask your kids if they think the shark or octopus will win.

And you think not learning occurs with homework. I believe homework, when assigned is necessary regardless how I feel about it...and believe that learning can be through a combination of homework and other experiences.

You got that! I don't believe learning occurs during most homework assignments my kids get and, therefore, I chose not to do them. If you want to, fine. I don't really care - I'm too busy enjoying family time. I guarantee my kids will never say they regret not spending more time on busy work!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What I hear you saying is that you care more about your kid learning to "respect authority" than you do about the quality of his education or, more importantly, your time as a family. The premise here is that too much homework a) does not actually help kids learn; and b) interferes with family life by taking away our already limited time to do important things. We anti-busywork moms are not saying that our kids should be lazy or openly disrespectful to teachers - we are overseeing the quality of our kids educations. It is bizarre to me that you would just unthinkingly accept anything just because a teacher assigned it?

NP here. I'm unsure why you think you're a good judge of the worthiness of homework and what constitutes busywork. Just because you went to school doesn't make you an expert on education and learning. So while you're being so insulting to parents who respect the expertise of the teachers in charge of schooling our children, you look a little silly when your only arguments are ones about things you know nothing about (whether or not homework helps kids learn) or ones that concentrate on your own preferences (interfering with family time to do unspecified but certainly more important things than learning).

Hey, do what you want, but please divest yourself of the notion you're doing something good by 'overseeing the quality' of education. I doubt you have a single qualification to evaluate the quality of anyone's education.

Again, you think that learning always occurs with homework and no learning occurs during family time. I need no other evidence or qualifications to know that you do not have a quality education.

Great post, 13:41! We have these sorts of experiences and treasure them. For another interesting discussion topic, look for "Shark vs Octopus" on YouTube and ask your kids if they think the shark or octopus will win.

And you think not learning occurs with homework. I believe homework, when assigned is necessary regardless how I feel about it...and believe that learning can be through a combination of homework and other experiences.

Anonymous wrote:

What I hear you saying is that you care more about your kid learning to "respect authority" than you do about the quality of his education or, more importantly, your time as a family. The premise here is that too much homework a) does not actually help kids learn; and b) interferes with family life by taking away our already limited time to do important things. We anti-busywork moms are not saying that our kids should be lazy or openly disrespectful to teachers - we are overseeing the quality of our kids educations. It is bizarre to me that you would just unthinkingly accept anything just because a teacher assigned it?

NP here. I'm unsure why you think you're a good judge of the worthiness of homework and what constitutes busywork. Just because you went to school doesn't make you an expert on education and learning. So while you're being so insulting to parents who respect the expertise of the teachers in charge of schooling our children, you look a little silly when your only arguments are ones about things you know nothing about (whether or not homework helps kids learn) or ones that concentrate on your own preferences (interfering with family time to do unspecified but certainly more important things than learning).

Hey, do what you want, but please divest yourself of the notion you're doing something good by 'overseeing the quality' of education. I doubt you have a single qualification to evaluate the quality of anyone's education.

Again, you think that learning always occurs with homework and no learning occurs during family time. I need no other evidence or qualifications to know that you do not have a quality education.

Great post, 13:41! We have these sorts of experiences and treasure them. For another interesting discussion topic, look for "Shark vs Octopus" on YouTube and ask your kids if they think the shark or octopus will win.

I've never seen my kid get excited about worksheets, or be motivated to ask more questions about a matching exercise. But he was fascinated to learn about how mixing colors creates different ones when we were coloring eggs this weekend. He learned about light, and the color spectrum. We brought out a prism and managed to break light down into several colors of the rainbow (not as easy to do as I had thought). He learned Roy G. Biv. We talked about refracting light and how it makes things look broken in the water. When a family has limited time together, and mine does because both parents work outside the home, I'd rather be able to spend time doing things that make my kid ask questions. That make him excited about learning.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally look down on the parents on here who are bitching about some homework in the elementary years. If you don't want to help your kid or check it over, so be it. If you want to bitch about it, though, you're clearly passing that attitude (overtly or covertly) to your kids. What a shame.

Go ahead and look down on me. My kid will be your kid's boss some day, because your child will be so busy internalizing lessons about boredom, paperwork, and compliance with authority that he will not learn the skills of creativity, executive function, and expression that are essential for success in today's economy.

We shall see, won't we? That's quite some statement, about which you have no knowledge. I'm looking down on parents who pass the attitude onto their kids (about homework the parents feel is stupid).

It's called critical thinking ... Mindless respect for authority is very 19th century.

This. Nobody wants to raise mindless automatons. Maybe some PPs don't think homework is worth the battle. Fine. But some of us think it's useless at best. And at times, harmful. I can and will say no when appropriate for my kid.

And some think your reasoning is ridiculous. Making a child do some homework that is assigned is not going to create a mindless automaton. I'm not sure where you're getting this black and white. I believe it IS worth a battle (though my kids don't fight it but even if they did it would be worth it) because it is assigned by a teacher. Enuf' said. That doesn't mean that I may not think it is worthwhile, but regardless of what I believe, my kids are doing it and will know there is no choice about it. Harmful? Doubtful. Unpleasant? Maybe. Such is life.

Amen. So glad my mom raised me this way.

What I hear you saying is that you care more about your kid learning to "respect authority" than you do about the quality of his education or, more importantly, your time as a family. The premise here is that too much homework a) does not actually help kids learn; and b) interferes with family life by taking away our already limited time to do important things. We anti-busywork moms are not saying that our kids should be lazy or openly disrespectful to teachers - we are overseeing the quality of our kids educations. It is bizarre to me that you would just unthinkingly accept anything just because a teacher assigned it?

+1

What I hear you saying is that you care more about your kid learning to "respect authority" than you do about the quality of his education or, more importantly, your time as a family. The premise here is that too much homework a) does not actually help kids learn; and b) interferes with family life by taking away our already limited time to do important things. We anti-busywork moms are not saying that our kids should be lazy or openly disrespectful to teachers - we are overseeing the quality of our kids educations. It is bizarre to me that you would just unthinkingly accept anything just because a teacher assigned it?

NP here. I'm unsure why you think you're a good judge of the worthiness of homework and what constitutes busywork. Just because you went to school doesn't make you an expert on education and learning. So while you're being so insulting to parents who respect the expertise of the teachers in charge of schooling our children, you look a little silly when your only arguments are ones about things you know nothing about (whether or not homework helps kids learn) or ones that concentrate on your own preferences (interfering with family time to do unspecified but certainly more important things than learning).

Hey, do what you want, but please divest yourself of the notion you're doing something good by 'overseeing the quality' of education. I doubt you have a single qualification to evaluate the quality of anyone's education.

If a teacher assigns your kid homework, the kid should do it. If you think the homework is consistently inappropriate, take it up with the principal or teacher, but still make your kid do it. But YOU should not be doing your kid's homework, that is called CHEATING. My older brother once helped me with a science project and when my mom came along and saw that he had helped me, she destroyed it bc she said getting his help was cheating and thus I could not turn it in as my own work.

What? Why is a mom doing her kid's homework? Us, the kid should have to do his homework even if it is busywork. Bt the mom shouldn't! My mom never did my homework!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

You have such a warped, myoptic thinking it is hard to reason with you. If you don't want to do homework - DON'T...[b]but don't judge me for making my kid comply[/b]. You want to revolt - and want others to join the revolution...sorry, honey...you "teach" your kids your way and I'll teach mine, my way

Ah, I get it. It's not okay for us to judge you for making your kid do all this homework but it's fine for you to judge us for not making our kids do it. I don't know what revolution you're talking about. I don't care whether kids do homework or not. We all make choices we think are best for our families. Your choices don't work for me and I don't care whether you approval or not and I don't care what you think of me. I think you're trying to hard to justify your own choices. Makes me think you're unsure about them. But, I don't know know you care about my opinion any more than I care about yours.

I never said you couldn't or shouldn't judge...go ahead.

Then please explain what "[b]don't judge me for making my kid comply[/b]" means.

The homework sheeple. Industrialized, assembly line education at its best.

Anonymous wrote:

You have such a warped, myoptic thinking it is hard to reason with you. If you don't want to do homework - DON'T...but don't judge me for making my kid comply. You want to revolt - and want others to join the revolution...sorry, honey...you "teach" your kids your way and I'll teach mine, my way

Ah, I get it. It's not okay for us to judge you for making your kid do all this homework but it's fine for you to judge us for not making our kids do it. I don't know what revolution you're talking about. I don't care whether kids do homework or not. We all make choices we think are best for our families. Your choices don't work for me and I don't care whether you approval or not and I don't care what you think of me. I think you're trying to hard to justify your own choices. Makes me think you're unsure about them. But, I don't know know you care about my opinion any more than I care about yours.

I never said you couldn't or shouldn't judge...go ahead.

Anonymous wrote:

You have such a warped, myoptic thinking it is hard to reason with you. If you don't want to do homework - DON'T...but don't judge me for making my kid comply. You want to revolt - and want others to join the revolution...sorry, honey...you "teach" your kids your way and I'll teach mine, my way

Ah, I get it. It's not okay for us to judge you for making your kid do all this homework but it's fine for you to judge us for not making our kids do it. I don't know what revolution you're talking about. I don't care whether kids do homework or not. We all make choices we think are best for our families. Your choices don't work for me and I don't care whether you approval or not and I don't care what you think of me. I think you're trying to hard to justify your own choices. Makes me think you're unsure about them. But, I don't know know you care about my opinion any more than I care about yours.

That's where we disagree...(yet again, I suppose). It isn't "all this homework." That is the perception you elect to take and pass on to your kids. But you're right...let's agree to disagree. I just want it clear: I do NOT thinking doing journal entires, reading homework, math homework over a break or nightly is a big deal nor is it "all this homework" as you classify it. I also think 20-30 min. of homework per night is more than fine. You don't. So be it. I'm extremely comfortable with my choices in this regard. You sound the same.

You have such a warped, myoptic thinking it is hard to reason with you. If you don't want to do homework - DON'T...but don't judge me for making my kid comply. You want to revolt - and want others to join the revolution...sorry, honey...you "teach" your kids your way and I'll teach mine, my way

Ah, I get it. It's not okay for us to judge you for making your kid do all this homework but it's fine for you to judge us for not making our kids do it. I don't know what revolution you're talking about. I don't care whether kids do homework or not. We all make choices we think are best for our families. Your choices don't work for me and I don't care whether you approval or not and I don't care what you think of me. I think you're trying to hard to justify your own choices. Makes me think you're unsure about them. But, I don't know know you care about my opinion any more than I care about yours.