No TV and Homework Can Suck It

When I picked Luc up from school on Monday he was a bit bummed. Apparently his teacher told the class that they could not watch t.v. or play video games for a week. I asked him why and he said he didn't know. There was no note sent home, so I didn't know what to think, but he didn't watch t.v. We don't watch much anyway.. they get about 45 minutes or so while I make dinner in the evening. He only plays video games occasionally with Phil on the weekends, so no big deal. Except, I was a bit annoyed that someone else was telling my kid that he couldn't do these things.
On Tuesday morning I asked the teacher what the deal was and she said it is national turn off the t.v. week -- so all the kids signed a pledge not to watch t.v. or play video games. That did bother me a bit. I think some of the kids might watch quite a bit of television and some go to a babysitter after school, and the t.v. is on all the time. I don't know, but I was bothered by the idea of my child signing a pledge I had not approved of. I know, it sounds like something stupid to be upset about, but it's the idea behind it. I think I should have had a note about it in advance.
Anyway, the t.v. has been off while the kids are awake since Monday. They don't seem to miss it.

I guess since the kids aren't supposed to be watching the t.v., the kindergarten teachers think that it is a good time to send home a ridiculous amount of homework -- and I mean ridiculous.
Monday wasn't so bad. We just had to create a cover for a book the kids were to write this week. Didn't take more than about 15 minutes, including the artwork time.
15 minutes is about what I would expect a Kindergartener should have for homework.
Tuesday night was t-ball practice so we had to do the homework before that. Assignment was to write the first part of the story (about one page) and then make a picture to go along with that.
These are kindergarteners, and for some (like my boy) writing is a very slow process. First Luc had to dictate the story to me. I wrote it out and then he copied what I wrote. I have to sit with him because he is only six and still needs to be reminded to put spaces between words and periods at the end of sentences.
Luc wasn't in the mood to do any of this because, for goodness sake, he had just gotten home from 5 hours of school. Wednesday the assignment was the same (for the 2nd part of book) and again, we had to do the work right away because of a school fundraiser at a restaurant for dinner and then a program at the high school Phil wanted to take the kids to.
Today, Luc had a friend over, so the homework waited until after our late dinner.
Here is my gripe... the assignment for Tues, Wed, and Thurs took at least 45 minutes each. 45 minutes for a 6 year old! I don't even think a 5th grader should have that much homework.

I was listening to Talk of the Nation on NPR yesterday and people were calling in with ideas for things that should be done away with. One woman called and said homework. I say amen. She is a single mom, who works and her kids are involved in sports, plus, duh, they like to read for recreation or just play. But there is no time for that with the loads of homework they have. After a long day of school for the kids and a long day of work for mom, instead of having quality family time, they have to struggle through hours of homework each night. I dread that because I know it is coming.

Perhaps we parents should boycott homework for the younger set.