How much homework is too much?

My youngests are in grade two and there are many nights when we spend well over an hour on homework. I think this is wayyyy more than we got as children too. I don't actually remember ever having homework before grade 6 or 7, now it seems the kids go to school all day to learn, and then come home and have to spend the majority of the evening still learning schoolwork. When is there time to relax and play?

Unfortunately due to our school year - 185 days, and the length of the days, our kids have to come home with a lot of work. Many countries, spend more time in school, meaning longer days and more per year and the summer break is used to improve skills for the school year and we as a country are lacking. When I was working with people from India, they were very concerned because if their kids started school in the US, they could not go back to India because the kids would be so far behind their Indian counterparts. My son was very good in math and was in the next grade up or in an AP math class when we had the discussion and the Indians told me, what my son did in 5th grade was in 2nd grade in India. Now I have no way of verifying this statement, but we are lagging behind the rest of the world in reading and math.

Well i also used to get lot of homework at school. I feel the saying " all studies and no play makes jack a dull boy" applies here. As i can understand how kid feels having to spend most of the evening trying to finish one's homework otherwise one get's punished at school. So even though i was good at studies at school, i don't think it is right to burden a child with too much homework. As homework should be to the minimum so that it can easily finished ina n hour. As child should have time to play, revise what he has learnt, practise his hobbies like learning dance, singing, art.

I think the schools are getting carried way by giving too much homework. This seems way to much.After all they are children who have to have a life beyond school. all day they should be learning and a small amount of homework is fine.

I recently took my nephew to nursery. They said that they are preparing the children for all kinds of test the schools now have for their 1st standard students. Most of the schools now have tests for 6 year olds for admission in to schools. I find this absolutely ludicrous. What are you going to test on a 6 year old. My nephew is just 3 years old and they want to prepare him for tests. That is the situation here right now. So I don't have to say anything about the home works they are going to get once they become older. I think the problem is the education authorities are eager to add new things to syllabus but they find trouble removing topics from syllabus. Sorry if I have wavered from the topic of your discussion.Regards

Hi, I'd like to say that times have changed and the competition stiffer and fiercer. I remember when I was young - around 7 to 12 years old - there was not much homework for me. That was arond 10 years ago, I'm 19 now. Since I entered secondary school, the homework pile had increased. My niece is only 8 and she has lots of homework too. I blame it on the mindset of many people, especially parents who want their kids to be the best of the best. Sadly, the kids nowadays don't have much time for fun too as they spend most of their time poring over books or attending tuition classes.

My son is 9 and he usually only has about 15-20 minutes of homework a night and almost never gets it on the weekends. I think that's enough at that age. They're in school for eight hours a day, they don't need to come home and spend hours doing more work. I also have a 15 year old and he almost always gets his homework done in study hall, unless he has a report or project.

This is a real sore subject with me. I homeschooled all 3 of my kids until high school. I have to admit that I cannot fathom WHAT these teachers do with the number of hours in a day that causes them to not finish the work and force the child to do so much at home. I understand that the classes are getting larger and larger but there is no reason why there has to be homework every day and often hours at a time worth. It's ridiculous. They have to study for tests, that's fine and normal and very expected. But doing "work" outside the class EVERY night and taking up all of the kids activity time is just uncalled for. And then they wonder why we have obese kids? Maybe if they could get away from the kitchen table where they're stuck doing homework for 2, 3 or even 4 hours a night and more so they could get outside to MOVE they wouldn't have the obese bodies! I too never recall having so much homework. Most of the time I NEVER had homework over the weekends and had at the absolute most 1/2 hour to an hour on bad days, some days none at all. It's gotten out of hand because these teachers don't want to truly teach or they have to spend their time attending to ill behaved kids.

well I remeber having that much and practiced 1 hour a day on piano,But I had History and geograghy not social studies tho alot of times I got most of mine done in school

I think it is because we are so behind in the world when it comes to educating our young. They are adjusting the way we teach our kids so they can compete in this world against the better educated countries

sometimes i just don't understand the school curriculum they should be enjoyable to the students but it turned out to be a burden to them. it feels sad that our kids nowadays are experiencing this burden. instead of the enjoyment they should get from the school it is the other way around. i think teachers should just give minimal homeworks to kids.

I think some homework is good to prepare children for what is to come- junior high and high school. But what your daughter has is too much. I don't think more than half an hour a night is necessary. They do need to enjoy being children!

I was told when my son start school that he should get 15 minutes homework for each grade, so by this rule of thumb - a 5th grader should spend about an hour and a quarter doing homework. I went to a catholic school, we always had at least an hour of homework and I remember that going back to 3rd grade, I remember homework before that, but I can't give a time frame.

When I was in elementary and middle school, I used to get homework that took over an hour...that I believed was too much homework. When I was in high school, i used to get hours and hours of homework and that was too much because I wanted to enjoy myself and get invloved with after school sports but I did not have any time at all. Since I am in college and I get a lot of homework, I don't mind it

as what i've observed from my cousin, he does a lot of homework everyday and might even stay up till midnight just to get everything done, now that i think is too much, the poor kid has to wake up early for school everyday