I'm sorry, but I have to say this...
I hate homework. It is my least favorite part of the day. I have tried everything to get it done, and it just sucks.
I have tried screaming and yelling, I have tried simply not caring, I have tried not doing it at all, I have tried doing it before we pick up other kids, I have tried doing it while I cook dinner, I have tried doing it before bed. There is no good time.
So now here's where all the teachers hate me, and I have A LOT of teacher friends. I went to Longwood...hello!
Why the hell does my 2nd grader need to do homework?
She spends 7 hours a day in a classroom. She spends 3 hours at home every night. In that 3 hours we must eat dinner. We also take a bath most nights. We try to read books. We like to play. And these are nights that we have nothing else going on...no errands to run, no practice to go to.
So how in the world am I supposed to also fit in 20 minutes of homework with a child that does not want to do homework because she's been doing work all day in the classroom? And by the way, it is not 20 minutes. Last night, it was almost an hour!!! One third of my night!
I already know what you're going to say. Teachers don't have time to teach everything that needs to be taught to stick with state standards. Am I right? Well, I don't care!!!! And I'm not screaming at the teachers here. I love the teachers in my life and I know how hard the work.
So I'm screaming at the system. It's ridiculous!!!
Last night, we come home and sit down to do homework before we pick up the boys. She is not focused. She wants to eat a snack and talk about other things but we don't have time to eat a snack and talk about other things. Because we have to draw a stupid graph about storms. And then write all the facts we possibly can about them in the graph. I read the directions to her 5 times, she read them, she still did it wrong. Because she's totally not interested. Her brain has been working all day, she wants a break and I don't blame her.
I don't go home and get on my work email. Why should she have to come home and do more school work?
And while we were reading the packet about storms, she kept just telling me all these random facts about storms that were correct and not in the mandatory reading book. So obviously, she has learned something in school about storms, because I assure you, we do not sit around the dinner table discussing Tornado Alley and Hurricanes forming over the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico during warm months.
So after a half an hour of reading this packet, and then 20 minutes of pushing her and begging her to do the graph right...I said screw it, she obviously knows the stuff.
I try to take that attitude with homework, but it's hard. I don't want her to fall behind, because even though she knows about storms, she doesn't do as well with math.
I really don't know what the answer is. Any advice?
