Homework

Everyone is in bed, getting a good night's sleep in anticipation of another week of school. Tootle's kindergarten teacher recently reported that she will start giving the kids homework this week. Tootle can finally stop complaining about the lack of homework (she doesn't know what she wishes for). The teacher promises that the work will seldom be worksheets and is really designed to get the class used to homework so that they are prepared for first grade. It is supposed to take about 10 minutes a night to complete.

Doodle doesn't complain about homework too much, but both she and I wish that there wasn't quite so much of it in fourth grade. She seems to be spending about 90 minutes a night on homework, not because she is struggling, but because of the volume of the work. Here is her typical week:

Monday: piano lesson, math homework, study for spelling quiz, science or social studies homework, read for 15 minutes, write in reading journal (the assignment is to write at least three sentences about what they read but Doodle usually writes about a page), practice flute

Tuesday: Girl Scouts, math homework, science or social studies homework, read for 15 minutes, write in reading journal, practice piano and flute

Wednesday: soccer practice, math homework, come up with five spelling words to add to the standard list of 12 words for the class, science or social studies homework, read for 15 minutes, write in reading journal, practice piano and flute

Thursday: playdate, math homework, write sentences for each of the spelling words, study for science quiz, read for 15 minutes, write in reading journal, practice piano and flute

Friday: playdate, practice piano and flute

Saturday: soccer game, work on monthly poetry presentation or book report, practice piano and flute

Sunday: church, soccer practice, practice piano and flute

I'd like Doodle to take yoga to help her deal with stress but ironically there just isn't time. Maybe when soccer is over, although thus far she is handling the stress of her workload better than she did last year. She loves music and writing so at least some of the work is enjoyable, and the science curriculum this year is a lot of fun. If she could get over her aversion to math (one that I share, unfortunately), she probably wouldn't need yoga.