[borntobeagle]

"Across our nation, district(s) or teacher(s) need to consider altering the amount or type of homework."

With all due respect, how about teaching the children when IN school instead of sending it home? When my girls were in school, they had learned everything about Kwanzaa, learned songs about Hanukkah, celebrated Earth day, collected aluminum can tabs for recycling, and learned a little Spanish.

But Math, English, and Reading were sent home as homework.

When you tire of fighting the PTA and the NEA, you take it into your own hands. Democratic doesn't work here, I do not have enough years of educating my children to fight the system. Therefore, I and many others will continue to pull out until the public education system wakes itself up.

[ladylib]

What's especially annoying is when teachers send home work that wasn't introduced in the classroom.

I read an aricle a couple of years ago where a woman was complaining because she got an e-mail from her child's teacher stating that the PARENTS would be responsible for teaching their children the multiplication table through nine. Makes you wonder what is really going on in that classroom.

Hey, if you have to do that, you can do everything else too. Might as well homeschool if you choose to do so. You just don't want to hear the head of the NEA say that parents are not capable of teaching their children. They can't have it both ways.

[thinkingman129]

I agree wholeheartedly that children should be taught while in school. Homework should be an extension of and/or a reinforcement of what was learned in school.

My wife says she learned her multiplication and division tables on Saturday mornings, drilled by her mom. That was 35 years ago. There is a lot that can, and should be, covered IN SCHOOl. But some children need extra reinformcement.

There is nothing wrong with asking a parent to read TO their child for homework is there? Another option that teachers rarely consider is allowing the child and parent to discuss the material and initial that they discussed it, rather than have to write it all down. Another solution would be to write words twice, and then say them out loud 3 times instead of write them 5 times each. There are lots of options a teacher could consider that would be less time consuming for the child and parent.

Some children need a lot of supervision (get back to work, etc.) when doing homework.

Homeschooling is not the only option.