Are Children Today in Danger of Receiving Too Much Homework?

Children need to learn. Children need an education. An education begins with repetition and retention. Children's minds are not strong enough to survive on independent thinking. Not yet. It is through repetition and retention that children can discover where their minds work best, what they enjoy the most.

Me, I hate math, but I got through it. My son, he hates math, and he is struggling like the dickens, but he, too, is getting through it. He realizes the importance of it.

Every day after school it is homework time. They do their homework at the kitchen table, while I am preparing them a snack and am there to oversee their work as well as be of any assistance if needed.

Would I rather them be outside playing every day until dark instead of only an hour or so most days? No. Because I know they will have weekends for that. I would rather they learn first, play later.

Do they complain? Of course, what child does not complain? I did and I am sure you did, too.

But I still know my multiplication tables. I still know the capitals of all fifty states. I still know the seven continents. I still know how to diagram sentences. I even remember fractions.

These are just bits of knowledge that I learned from repetition and retention. It has helped me throughout my life and has assisted me in helping my children with their learning.

Homework provided structure and boundaries- which all too few children receive.

Homework does not hurt our children, or us. Homework enriches a child's gift of learning.

So many parents today think that schools place too much emphasis on homework. Do they really think that or is it just the time constraints of two working parents, coupled with the grumblings of children's time- homework, athletics, social activities, and family time as well as simple 'me time' something all children need.

If we give in to the complaining of too much homework- what will we give in to next?

I can still recall all the science projects I completed when I was young, and my children, although grumbling all the while, remember theirs that they have already completed.