So my first thought when reading the article was that perhaps the HomeworkDad's daughter was struggling with work she wasn't really ready for.
I thought about this idea.
The algebra definitely didn't seem excessive, but I can see that it could take 30 minutes for a learner to finish 11 or 12 detailed questions. It's easy to forget how much time a learner can need.
As for
Angela's Ashes...well, I read the first 6 pages online. I loved it and may end up downloading it tonight. But it's not a quick read. Unlike the HomeworkDad, I have not slowed down in middle age. I can read 200 or more pages of a good novel (as opposed to an easy-read trashy one) on a weekend day when I'm not working. But it still took me 1-2 minutes per page to read
Angela's Ashes--- and I lived in Ireland for many years and got everything he wrote on the first pass. His sentences are long and convoluted, use Irish-style punctuation, and their general tone is very Irish. Easy for me, not so much for people who haven't spent a lot of time in Ireland, I think. IMO, 79 pages by tomorrow for an American 8th grader is way too much. I would easily assume 1.5 hours just to read 79 pages at a quick pace, and maybe 2 for a bright high schooler. Well, an American could read it that quickly, but not
understand it, if you see what I mean.
But more than that, books like this one should be
savored, not consumed in a hurry so you can glom out three "powerful quotes" and "analyze" them. When you have to spend 1.5-2 hours on one assignment before rushing to the next one, appreciating the book as a work of art is almost impossible. This approach cheapens the book in a lot of ways.
I don't know about the earth science homework. The book was originally for college students, but apparently has a "high school binding."
