Big Babies

Try reading some of the research on this subject. Obviously kids need to practice things to get good at them, but at the elementary age, they don't need to be practicing more than the 6-7 hours a day they spend in school. Of course, parents should encourage kids to pursue personal interests that inherently reinforce academic type skills -- reading whatever books interest them, building playhouses (takes quite a bit of measuring and planning), and in my case, forming little "clubs" with my little friends, which entailed writing exhaustive lists of rules, statements of purpose, initiation ceremonies, etc. I'm not suggesting that kids should come home and lounge in front of the TV or play video games 'til bedtime.

I did NO homework, even through high school at a tough prep school, and it didn't hurt me a bit. Sure, I got exceptionally crappy grades, but all the things I learned in the many hours I devoted to things I was really interested in kept my brain developing nicely. I had one of the very lowest GPAs in my high school class, but the highest SAT scores in the class. I was in the bottom 10% of my college class GPA, but had LSAT scores in the top 10%. I'm now quite successful as a banker, and making plenty of money. And I'm taking science courses at night for fun (the serious kind, for science majors, pre-meds, etc.), and getting all A's -- because I want to, not because somebody's telling me I can't go play with my friends or read the book I want to read, until I've done my "homework" for the zillionth time.

Schools should not be allowed to program nearly all of kids' waking hours, shoving out other activities that the children and their parents choose. And if schools wouldn't waste half the school day on nonsense, and on long explanations of the projects that are being assigned to devour kids' free time, and on worthless "presentations" of these "projects", kids could learn plenty during the school day. I've even heard of 5th graders being expected to give PowerPoint presentations and 4th graders being required to produce a "magazine" complete with pictures, index, etc. No wonder they can't multiply or spell or think. If little kids get the idea with their little friends that they want to make a play magazine, that's great. But it's a game, not real work.

I drove on easy street, and I have had to survie trials and tribulations.

When I was a single young woman (23), I moved from Texas to California because my company had work in California not Texas. I would have lost my job in Texas. At that company, I was one of 2 women selected as one of their top 20 employees out of 2000 employees.

My mom suffered a mental breakdown a year later and my dad almost died. It was difficult on all the family.

I suffered through 3 miscarriages, but was finally successful at having a kid. After my first child, I had twins. I survived 2 months of complete bedrest, and did exactly what the doctor ordered so that my twins would not be born early.

Unfortunately, my twin daughters almost died at 6 weeks old from a respiratory illness. One of them has brain damage.

My daughter has done very well considering, and I think that is in large part because of my hard work and dedication.

My husbands hard work early in life did not prepare him for the miscarriages or having a daughter with brain damage. He'll even tell you that. Nothing does. You just have to step up to the plate. We both have done that.

If you live in Texas, the team homework assignment is a state requirement. We hated those assignments and always opted our daughter out of them. She did the entire assignment on her own and made better grades than the kids who worked on a team.

It worked well until her junior year. Her history teacher (a first year teacher who was an ABSOLUTE twit) wouldn't let my daughter opt out. We ended up in a two hour conference with the new VP and the new teacher that ended when my husband forced them to admit that they had no intention of letting her out of it.

My husband then turned to my daughter and said, "You have to understand that these people are typical bureaucrats. They are not here to work with you. They are not here to help you. They are here to tell you that you have to do exactly what the say without thought or deviation."

The state can babble all the "requirements" it likes, but it can't make your kid do this crap unless you go along with it. Any college worth attending will get the picture, when your kid's transcript shows a bunch of Ds and Fs and no diploma, while SAT and achievement test scores paint a clear picture of outstanding academic achievement. An application essay on "Why I didn't waste my time on all those stupid assignments, and what I did instead" will be the icing on the cake. If more parents stood up for their right to direct their own children's lives, the trend would catch on, and the educrats would get steamrolled.

What are team homework projects?

I am sick of homework at my house. Mainly because most of the homework is just busy work. My kids do not need to write their spelling words three times if they already know how to spell the words.

One of my daughters has brain damage. She's done really well, but she is spent at the end of the day. She does okay with math homework because she's good at math. However, she loses it when it comes to any writing assignments. Then we end up getting into fights. I just don't need that with her.

I think I'm going to fight the homework thing more next year.

My parents got me a new car when I was 16. I took great care of that car.

My parents helped my older brother buy a used car. He paid for most of it, and they paid for some of it. He totalled it. In fact, he totalled something like 3 cars.

Like I said earlier, it just depends on the kid. I was always a very hard worker (good grades, didn't get into trouble, etc). My brother was always on the edge. Barely finished college, got into more trouble than me, etc.

Both of us actually turned out okay.

My 2nd graders learned how to make Power Point Presentations.

They actually like it, and one of them makes them for fun at home.

I think the homework should be to study for tests. The kids and parents should know when the tests are and what the material is. If the kids need to work to do well on those tests, then fine. If the kids don't need to work, then they get to play more. Fine with me also.

The parents and the kids can figure out the best way to prepare for a test.

I'm talking about elementary school. High School is different.

Thank you for your inspirational story! I, too, come from rural stock where the guiding principle is: There is no government program or regulation that you can't get around and/or milk like your favorite cow.
It makes me proud to come from such resourceful people. It helped the Russians survive 70 years of communism.

Believe it or not, one of my brothers-in-law spent some time in the county jail because he wrote bad checks to pay for the wedding of one of his four girls. He's a wonderful, caring man and all four of the girls turned out great. But he wanted more for them than he could afford. I don't know if the girls realized that until he ended up in jail.

Carolyn

I'm sure your son is a wonderful person, all around! You're post just made me realize in general how often some people equate being a good student with a good person. I can't tell you how many times I see news articles where some teenager killed or maimed someone and the parents and others involved respond" But he/she is on the honor roll, a straight A student!"

There's a short but excellent book on this subject called "The End of Homework". I can't recall the author's name, and she's actually rather left-leaning, but she's right on the mark about this homework mania.

WOW........I just love a story with a happy ending......LOL