4 ms·

I agree. As the father of an 11-year-old 5th grader, I have absolutely no qualifications to say that, except for how I see the excessive homework they pile on

I agree. As the father of an 11-year-old 5th grader, I have absolutely no qualifications to say that, except for how I see the excessive homework they pile on ruining her childhood. She should be out of doors riding her bike, exploring the woods, discovering weird new bugs in the dirt, interacting with friends, reading books, building stuff, play-acting, playing music, dancing, and generally being the amazingly creative kid that she is, that most of us should have been, had that creative spark not been quantified and tested and pigeonholed out of us by years of dreary deadlines and shouting matches and power struggles. The poor kids. I hated homework, school in general actually, for most of my student life, and now I get to watch it crush the next generation. Very jealous of the families who home school.

abecedarius 11y ago
What might happen if you encouraged her to skip homework? Is there any mitigation for whatever harms you'd see? I'm just interested in ideas about this: I've been seeing schoolwork darken the life of my niece; her parents are trying to help, and all I can do is mention my opinion to my brother once or twice. I also think homeschooling would be better.
- blisterpeanuts 11y ago
  She'd start getting all these blue slips, then eventually letters and phone calls from the teacher and the principal. School is all-in or all-out. You either play by their rules, or go somewhere else. I think for grade 6+, we're going to look around a bit but the reality is, we're like most other families, too busy and stressed and not enough funds to really do the right thing which would be home school, or else alternative school. But, maybe we will. She's worth it!
  - abecedarius 11y ago
    Good luck! Yeah, I know there'd be a reaction from the school, but I wonder how much real trouble it'd bring. (Of course it's way easier for me to wonder than for you all to try it. I hope I'm not annoying you here.) When I was a kid I skipped a lot of homework -- for some classes in high school, basically all of it -- which got me in some trouble with my parents and got me kicked out of the honors English tracks twice (in middle school and then in high school), but FWIW I still got into a good college via test scores and (surprisingly) teacher recommendations. Unfortunately I can't claim this would generalize -- these were California schools in relatively affluent neighborhoods, and decades ago, and I'm not your daughter... and I'll shut up now. But I hope this might've been vaguely helpful to hear.
themartorana 11y ago
Opt your daughter out of homework. I'm not entirely sure how it works yet, mine is still a toddler, but I won't be letting her childhood be wasted away with busywork.

abecedarius 11y ago

What might happen if you encouraged her to skip homework? Is there any mitigation for whatever harms you'd see? I'm just interested in ideas about this: I've been seeing schoolwork darken the life of my niece; her parents are trying to help, and all I can do is mention my opinion to my brother once or twice. I also think homeschooling would be better.

blisterpeanuts 11y ago
She'd start getting all these blue slips, then eventually letters and phone calls from the teacher and the principal. School is all-in or all-out. You either play by their rules, or go somewhere else. I think for grade 6+, we're going to look around a bit but the reality is, we're like most other families, too busy and stressed and not enough funds to really do the right thing which would be home school, or else alternative school. But, maybe we will. She's worth it!
- abecedarius 11y ago
  Good luck! Yeah, I know there'd be a reaction from the school, but I wonder how much real trouble it'd bring. (Of course it's way easier for me to wonder than for you all to try it. I hope I'm not annoying you here.) When I was a kid I skipped a lot of homework -- for some classes in high school, basically all of it -- which got me in some trouble with my parents and got me kicked out of the honors English tracks twice (in middle school and then in high school), but FWIW I still got into a good college via test scores and (surprisingly) teacher recommendations. Unfortunately I can't claim this would generalize -- these were California schools in relatively affluent neighborhoods, and decades ago, and I'm not your daughter... and I'll shut up now. But I hope this might've been vaguely helpful to hear.

themartorana 11y ago

Opt your daughter out of homework. I'm not entirely sure how it works yet, mine is still a toddler, but I won't be letting her childhood be wasted away with busywork.