I feel like I've just been hit by a truck.

We have to deal with homework h**l for 3 nights a week and I'm sick of it. I know part of the problems is my dd's -- she's a dawdler. However, I'm wondering if she has too much homework. She's in 3rd grade and here's what she had to do tonight:

- Read a small story and write out the answers to some questions regarding realism and fantasy. Writing out answers is a new thing -- she's always had multiple choice before.
- Do a math worksheet. It was a four-column subtraction worksheet. Four-column subtraction is a new thing for her. I helped her work on that sheet for about 1 1/2 hrs.
- Another math worksheet. This one was done in class but was sent home because 6 problems needed to be corrected.
- Orally read her 12-page story to me in preparation for a test.
- Write her spelling words in ABC order.
- Study her vocabulary words for a test tomorrow. Due to lack of time, I actually sat in the bathroom with her while she was pooping and called them out to her!
- Study social studies vocabulary words for a test on Thursday.

Of course, in between all of this work, there's crying and complaints of "Why can't I just play?" I feel sorry for my dd -- except for lunch and recess, she hasn't had much of a chance to play. At the end of her homework sessions, I end up self-medicating my splitting headaches with extra-strenght Tylenol and Double Stuff Oreos.

Hopefully (fingers crossed) tomorrow night won't be so bad. The teacher doesn't give homework on Wednesday nights (church night around here), so I should have a chance to work with dd on her social studies words and her four-column subtraction.

Am I alone in this sinking boat or are there other parents out there like me?

I refuse to do the homework. My ds is only in kindergarden but has homework. I just don't think kids should have it at this age. I think in all grades we push our children too much to catch up with other countries. They need time to play and be creative. Otherwise, they don't learn to think outside the box. The teachers here are only supposed to give 10 minutes per grade level starting at first grade. I just can't fiure out what time they use.

Wow, that is a TON of homework for a 3rd grader, IMO!!!

My ds is only in KG, so we don't do much more than reading and a little bit of printing the letters, but I've heard from friends of mine w/older kids in our school dist. that there are some teachers that really pile on the homework here too!!

I hope she doesn't have as much tomorrow and she can play for a bit(and so you can relax too!!)

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my kids hardly get any!! my oldest has only brought home a total of 3 sheets and 2 of them are just the spelling words for the week!!
my kindy has a worksheet a week that takes a total of 10 min!! Its a good reinforcement and lets me see how she is progressing!!

I think some homework is good but it needs ot not take up the whole lives of families!!

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Kelly mom to 3 great girls A Peanut, a monkey and a little burrito.

Now that's a dedicated mom!!

Just last week DH did ds's word search worksheet while sitting on the toilet himself It figures, the one time helps with the kid's homework and he's sitting on the sh*tter!

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"Go on, get outside, get the stink blown off ya!!"

That is a lot of homework. I have a third grader and she doesn't have even close to that much homework!!!

I just checked our school district's policy for homework and third graders in our district are supposed to have no more than 45 minutes a night.

WOW!! Neither of my HS kids have that much homework per night. That seems excessive. They say about 10 mins per grade, so she should be having no more than about 30 minutes of homework, plus maybe a little reading. Do they give them an opportunity to do homework during the school day and she's not using her time well? Or do all the kids have that much per night? I'd try to find that out first.

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This the rule of thumb for our school too...

Although you know, it depends on your child. My older son can get all his homework done, with little supervision, in a reasonable amt of time. He always has been able to do that. My younger son is a bit of a perfectionist, so if he thinks his handwriting looks 'messy', he'll erase and REWRITE an entire worksheet! Ack. We're trying to get him to loosen up a little bit. LOL!

It sounds like she's doing a few new things that are taking a little bit longer, simply because they're new to her...and unfortunately you've got several new things all at once! Plus more than one test/quiz this week...which also makes the evening go longer. If it were me, I'd muddle through, but I might talk to the teacher if the homework continues to take longer than 45 minutes.

Okay so my son get 10 sheets to do every week. And that is just the start of the year, it will increase with time. He is in a DOD school. Which is a Department of defense school, we are a military family!! My poor son has to do about 1 to 2 hours a night. I wanted to get him into basketball, but I am not sure if he will be able to with that much homework.

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Aimee