Homework Woes

Obviously this isn't a picture of one of my children, but it sure expresses how I feel about homework! Don't get me wrong, I completely support homework as a practice and extra help to reinforce what is being learned at school. I think it's a necessary component in learning... especially in math and spelling. The thing I don't understand is why teachers insist on giving multiple assignments to 2nd graders and expect them to complete everything in 20 minutes without the help of an adult. What I say to that is, "HA!"

Brad's reading has jumped by leaps and bounds, but that doesn't mean he can read every word on a worksheet. And when the worksheet is supposed to be helping him with his spelling and vocabulary, it makes it difficult when he can't identify other words on the page that are supposed to be context clues to get the correct word he's learning.

I just get frustrated when 2nd graders are doing as much work as I did in middle school. I know, it's the same as our parents saying that they had to walk uphill to school in 5 feet of snow with no jacket and shoes with holes. I get it, but I am trying to be real here. I didn't start getting multiple assignments until I was in at least 6th grade - when I had multiple classes to attend! Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that the way it was in the "good ol' days"?

I guess I can blame a lot on the &@#%*$ SOLs that Virginia insists makes everyone a better student and smarter all around. All I have to say is, "Hmph!" Maybe I was just blind to what other kids that weren't in the accelerated classes were or weren't learning. Were they really failing out left and right? Were they really doomed to jobs only at McDonalds? Give me a break! What was wrong with the way it used to be done? Our poor teachers have to stick to a curriculum, so teaching and learning isn't nearly as fun as it could be. Oh yeah, and fieldtrips...

Don't get me started! Oh, I guess I am already started. Redbud Run Elementary School does not allow field trips unless they are "educational" in more than 1 area. Yup, you heard it! Everything has to have an underlying reason to happen. Brad goes to the apple orchard next week, but I'm sure they're going to talk about the life cycle of the bee that pollinates the flowers (containing petals, sepals, stamen, pistil and stigma) on the tree that allowes the fruit to be formed through help of both the Light Cycle and photosynthesis (yes, you'd think they're the same, but they're not!) that is conversely being affected by the depleting ozone at which time they will learn about the various types of pollution that are affecting our atmosphere. I know, and all of this for a 2nd grader!

So the moral of this ranting and raving is that I hate homework!
Thanks to the school for making my life worse than it was when I was in school!