I'm so glad someone started this thread... we have been having major homework angst here as well. dd6 is accelerated to 3rd grade. She should be getting about an hour of homework (per her teacher) but it is more like 4. I will say this is more dd6's issue than the schools. The homework seems challenging and appropriate (hooray!) and when I look at the homework - I think -not so bad - this will not take so long - but it takes her absolutely forever! Lots of whining, tantrums, tears. I don't get it. For a kid who generally has excellent focus, she is completely unable to focus on her homework - I think that after 7 hours of school she is just pretty cooked mentally. Also, I think she just hasn't learned the art of just getting it done. So for example the other day she had to make a list of 10 questions for George Washington. She came up with three - and then the frustration began. She just could not think of any more... I offered suggestions and she would say, "well I am just not so curious about that" or "that is not interesting"... uggh! I felt like saying just write anything - it does not matter if you really care what George's favorite color was - just get it done! It literally took her three hours. On another day she had to respond to a writing prompt - the teacher said they had to "fill a page" with the answer. After about an hour I went to check in and see that dd6 is writing microscopically. Ugh - I mean really- she is a smart kid - to me "fill the page" would automatically translate into "write big"... so here she is after an hour and only 1/3 of the page filled and completely tapped out as to what she wants to say. Other things take her forever because everything has to be perfectly neat - she will erase the answer 24 three times and re-write it so that all of the columns line up perfectly. It is tough because I know I probably send her mixed messages, "just try your best" and "just get it done"...for her trying her best really means going way overboard.
Wow, I had a lot to say.
