What a Week!

I cannot believe it has been so long since I've had a chance to post.

Mondays are our "free days" here. No one has any after school or evening activities. So that was my last chance to post.

One of the things making this week so crazy is Miss M's homework.

She is technically in 5th grade - but her and some other kids have tested for placement into 6th grade math.

She can totally handle the work, understands the math concepts - it is the sheer volume of homework.

She has 30 math problems each night. Most of which have multiple steps, with all work needing to be shown.

Add onto that, spelling - written word definitions, and sentences.

Then she has social studies - writing key words and definitions, as well as the occassional worksheet.

Then she has English - at least a page or two of various English papers (definitions, dictionary skills, etc.)

Then she has science - questions or worksheets or definitions. Oh and she has a biome project due in 10 days.

Then she has reading - typically review/reread the story and answer questions in writing. Or read pages in the current novel being read. (Big project subject)

Then she has Religion - which at the 5th grade level is very conceptual, and requires a significant amount of rereading and discussion. (another big project subject)

Add onto all this homework, which has been taking approx. 2 1/2 hours each night - two nights of cheerleading practice and two nights of field hockey practice.

Now the diocese has established homework guidelines for each grade level. For 5th grade, the guideline is 60-90 minutes per night.

I have talked to other parents, and this is not just happening with Miss M. Many of the students are taking 2 - 3 hours to complete the assigned homework each night.

Thank goodness I pick the kids up at school and she is home by 3pm. She ends up doing homework until 5pm when we leave to go to various practices. Then we are home by 8:30pm, she eats and finishes her homework, showers, and gets to bed around 10pm.

So here is my question, is this typical homework for a 5th grader? (Miss M is my firstborn - so I really don't know what to expect)

I also cannot ask any 5th grade parents from last year - as this is the first year the school has allowed advanced placement of 5th graders into 6th grade math.

What do you all think? What has been your experience?

Til next time, I'll still be...

Being Brenda