Do I Still Have to do Homework?

I'm 43, for crying out loud!  I have completed a master's degree!  I'm not taking any classes of my own! Why the heck am I stuck here at the table every afternoon doing homework?!? Walking the homework beat as one of my friends calls it.  Why do I have to be the heavy, the nagging mom every day my children walk through the door from 7 hours of school by making him or her sit down and do another round of school work when I personally think they should have a break? When I think they should be out running around hitting a ball or riding their bikes or playing a game or helping me make dinner (which they like) or doing karate or gymnastics or riding a horse or watching tv and relaxing.  (I know that is pure sacrilege.  What could I possibly be thinking?  I should probably be burned at the stake!) 

No we're figuring out science or writing or vocabulary or a project (that I still haven't seen the assignment sheet for and it's due tomorrow.  Surprise mom!  And we need a poster board and pictures of Jupiter--good thing I have a color printer/copy machine at my home) or math of all things!  I thought I was finished with word problems when I had that last Calculus class in college.  Oh, I was so wrong!  I was so naive!  Can I work them out and get the right answer.  Yes, I can! (Usually, with a little annoyance) but can I teach my child how to get the right answer and show his work?  Not on your life, because I do it the wrong way--the way I was taught when I was little.  I want to scream at the teacher at the top of my lungs, "If you're going to be picky about the way it's done have the kids do it in your classroom while you are there to supervise and answer any questions they may have!"  

But I take a deep breath and try not to yell at my child that I love because he doesn't understand what I don't understand.  There goes my mood.  Deep breath!  Calm!  Think of nice things!  His dad can help him!  He's fantastic at math and so analytical!  Except there's that pesky little thing about it being done the "right" way.  I would have thought that someone who's been working in Finance for over 25 years would know the "right" way to do math, but I guess I'm just fooling myself.

Okay, so I've got the proverbial bee in my bonnet about homework and have to vent a little more or explode.  I'm sure you'd have never guessed.  I've facebooked about it quite a bit this week, but it's apparently not enough so I thought, "Hey, I have my own personal platform.  I'll blog about it."  Not that I have a huge audience or anything, but I just have to put it out there.  Hey, Karen!  Hey, E!  Hey, Daveman and Nathan!  This is for you! 

This week I've read several articles that have highlighted the pointlessness of homework and the possible detrimental effects that it can have on our students out there.  The Time article found here and the articles of Orson Scott Card found here and here and here are eye opening. It just kills me that in the study that proved that homework does not help elementary aged children at all there is a recommendation for doing 10 minutes of homework per day per year in school. So for 5th grade students it says they should do 50 minutes of completely useless homework every night.  That's just brilliant!  

The article about education in Finland was very intriguing.  Find it here.  Thanks for all the links Nathan.  Only 1/2 hour of homework even for high schoolers.  Okay, I can understand that and I can get behind it.

What college track high schooler do you know who does not have a barrage of homework every night? weekend? over holidays?  Even reading lists for the summer?  How about your middle schoolers?  Now it's even trickling down to elementary school.  

Homework in America has gotten completely out of control.   In my opinion it is a major reason for the decline of  America's ranking scholastically across the world.  People can focus for only so long.  They eventually burn out. 

There's no more reading for fun. It's all assigned.  No wonder people are reading less.  Kids start out thinking reading isn't fun.  It does not have to be drudgery.  Reading can be so exciting and fulfilling and informative. (gasp!)  Sorry this rant is about homework.  Back to my topic...

With obesity such a problem in the US, I wonder how much of a role homework plays in that equation.  Our children sit around all day at school (except for PE that's usually not everyday and recess that is getting shorter and shorter) and then are forced to sit around at home doing homework.  Sometimes that homework can last from the time they get home until the time they go to bed.  One friend was telling me that her high schooler is often doing homework until midnight or later.  When school starts at 8 AM, that's a 16 hour day--an 80 hour work week for a teenager.  That is INSANE.  That's 2 full time jobs.  And yet some people think nothing of our children working like that on homework.   

It's a wonder more don't burn out sooner.

I'd love to hear your feedback and feelings out there.  So my rant is over for the day and the platform is now yours.

Showing off!

"What the heck is that lizard doing?"  It was the first time I'd ever seen a lizard puff out his pouch (that I now know is called a dewlap) and I was shocked.  I didn't know that our friendly little green buddies did that.  So I looked it up.   Obviously, I had not been very observant over the years, or maybe they had never felt safe enough around me to strut and do their push-ups and puff their dewlap while I was around, but this one was bold and brave and, frankly, a bit brazen.   They puff that thing out there as courtship ritual.  He could have just been trying to tell us to get lost.  It's a territorial thing too.

Nature does seem to like to show off a bit.  How about this fuchsia?  It looks all dressed up for a ballet performance.
Dahlias are some of the showiest flowers out there.  Here's one from Giverny.
Have a great day!  Follow nature and show off a little in your unique way.

Oh no! Not another one!

I think I may have totally lost my mind folks.  I have decided that I'm going to homeschool David, too.  Have I completely gone bonkers?  Well, maybe not yet, but I wouldn't answer that for next week.  I just couldn't take the madness any more.  

I gave it a good shot.  Five full weeks.  After K-5 in school and all the ups and downs of it.  I figured it was time to give homeschool a shot.  It has worked out really well  for the E.  If today is any indication, it's going to be great.  He was doing everything I gave him without complaint. When he finished he came almost begging for something else to do.  Heaven!  This has not been my experience with my other beloved student.  Shall we just call her resistant to instruction and direction.  

Time will tell on this.  The excitement may wane, but I think this may really work and be good for all involved.  E was actually looking forward to doing Japanese with the D-meister.  So...

Mama rejoices!

Red honeysuckle

Visiting my sister, I was struck by the red honeysuckle that she had in her yard.  As much honeysuckle as I'd seen through all the years of growing up in the south (and that's a lot of honeysuckle let me tell you), I'd never seen the red variety.  

Before they open...(check out the leaf--so cool!)

I guess it was there all along unless it's a recent invasion.  (Does anyone know if there has been one?  The was even some in my parents yard that I thought I knew inside out.  Obviously not.)  The red and yellow combining into peaches and tangerines.  I found it beautiful, especially glowing in the sunlight. 

Have a great Wednesday!

Doubling up

Here's something to consider...
double yolk eggs.  What the heck!  I'd never seen them before that morning at breakfast.  With the first one I was amazed.  I thought it was just a fluke.  With the second, I was floored.  When practically the entire dozen were double yolk eggs I was dumbfounded and, frankly, a little freaked out.  How could that happen on a consistent basis?  I wondered what those farmers were feeding their chickens.  Maybe it's just one particular chicken that lays double yolk eggs, and we just got a batch of her eggs.  Hmmmm?  I don't have any idea?  Anyone? 

Mixing dogwoods

One of my favorite things is the pink dogwood.  I especially love it when there are pink and white dogwoods intertwined.  I think this must be true for a lot of people because in the last few years I've seen this happening more and more and there are quite a few trees I've seen that appear to have white and pink blossoms on the same tree.  It seems to defy logic.  I wonder how they do that.  Plant the two varieties in the same hole?  

Anywho....

It was just something I was thinking about this morning.  Any ideas?

Lurking dangers

I was just thinking of some of the dangers lurking in places we don't suspect like the cedar tree at Mama and Daddy's house.  Here I was practically hugging one part to get a nice close-up.  When...

I take a gander at the trunk beside me and for the love of all that good and holy!  I find some of the healthiest poison ivy I've seen, and I've seen a lot of poison ivy.  Needless to say I gave it some space.

Lest anyone suspect I'm the only one making discoveries, here's Chelsea's little buddy that showed up under her chair at the beach and liken' to scared her to death.  Oh! the screaming and jumping and waving of arms!  I about busted a gut laughing!

Contrast it with the sunset just a little while later .

Beauty and danger are so often together.  Haha!

Have a great safe weekend!