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I have 3 children at school as I'm writing this. My oldest is in the fourth grade and I also have a boy in the second grade and a girl in the kindergarten.

It seems to me that homework varies from one teacher to another quite a bit even in the same school and same level. My second grader went to full day kindergarten same way as my younger girl. And I do not remember him bringing hardly any home work at that time. But my girl gets sheet after sheet day after day. Sometimes she is tired of even starting her practices and I am wondering if this will affect her will to learn new things in the future!

I think we live in such competitive world that even a young child gets sucked to this "gotta learn as much as possible as soon as possible to be better than others" life.

To me childhood should be about exploring and playing and having fun. Schools should come up with more creative hands on lessons and projects that just black and white copy sheets and lines to practice your numbers and letters day after day. I'm not against homework but there should be discussions about the amount and purpose with the younger ones!

My fourth grader has had some trouble with his math and spelling and last year I admit of getting quite frustrated with him trying to get him to understand his home work. He also plays baseball and game and practice nights it seemed to be impossible to get everything done before the bed time. And tired child is not learning the way he should the next day at school!

So what should a parent do? Skip the sports and stay on the right track with school? I don't believe in that, my child deserves to play the sport he loves and physical activity is just good for him.

We resolved this by communicating with the teacher and my son has an option not to finish his home work at game nights but he has to get everything done in the weekend or double the work in other school days. This seems to work better for us and I feel that he is improving better than before this arrangement.

Another helpful thing to do is to practice different learning techniques. Don't just make your child to sit down and study, try to get him interested about the subject and find examples and ways he will use this knowledge in the future. If there is another purpose to learn, not just to get a good grade, it will make more sense for your child to actually learn something!

And if he remembers the prior lessons it will make it easier for him to move on to the next lesson and usually this means that he will not need quite as much time to complete his homework!

If you feel like your child has way too much home work contact the teacher and the principal. Talk to other parents and ask how they feel about the amount of the home work. Do not get hostile with the teacher but try to explain that there IS life outside the school and yes, education is very important but not the only important thing in your child's life!

Learn more about this author, K Bert.
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