Please excuse Mitzy from her homework, she’s too busy blogging

Originally posted at blog.zooloo.com


My three kids, ages 12 (twins) and 11 were raised with the Internet. They have built their own web sites, have their own (multiple!) blogs, created web videos before they were 10 and understand quite well how to efficiently research just about any topic their schools put on their plate. No one would argue that the internet hasn’t dramatically improved our children’s ability to complete quality homework assignments.

Given that increase in use, I’ve blogged recently about the importance of security and privacy controls and just how to limit time spent on the internet. And my precocious 11 year old daughter actually wrote a piece in a national magazine inferring parental restrictions on internet time were not necessary!

But since those posts, another interesting development seems to be swirling around about where our young people should be focusing their available (and often over-scheduled) time. Internet use has joined with all the other time-suckers our kids are faced with these days, so parents obviously play an important role in guiding them through tough choices and achieving some sort of balance in their complex lives, right?

That’s what I thought, at least until I was hit in the face with the new trend: parents are shying away from teachers and schools where a requirement is “too much homework!” It’s every students dream! Don’t we all remember coming home from school, having a quick snack (where you learned the right way to open an Oreo), followed by your homework, all before you could join the neighborhood gang for an exciting game of dodge ball or kick the can [Editor's Note: This was all before electricity was invented]?

Now, parents whine and complain that Johnny can’t get to soccer practice and Suzie has 2 hours of “competitive” dance practice. There simply is just “no time for homework” and the schools “really should understand and lighten up.” Huh?!? Anyone seen the competitive statistics of US educational performance on the global spectrum lately? Not pretty.

I’m all for the development of well-rounded and socially-adept kids, but given the ever growing list of events and activities impacting our children’s developmental years today, is school the one that should receive “less” emphasis so other activities can get equal or greater time? Or should other activities, like blogging, get the boot? Take the poll below and let me know what you think in the comments section.

For elementary and middle school kids in America today:
A. Homework loads are too heavy, not enough time to be a kid
B. Homework is a joke, there should be more meaningful homework assigned to complement classwork
C. My child’s homework load is just about right