Abundance #5

Abundance #5

Tonight I had a conversation with our children’s 1^st grade teacher who we have been blessed to have in our lives for many years now. The topic of conversation eventually led to homework. She is well aware that our kids, except for our first born, have been terrible at completing homework in the early primary grades.

I hold a strong belief that homework for young students is essentially useless. I believe that a certain amount of myth surrounds the need for the completion of homework. “It will build study skills,” they say or “It will reinforce core concepts.” I actually think homework in the early elementary years is meant more for the parents than for the students. The only caveat being reading to children, which I find to be one of the most important things parents can do at home.

Every week I sit in meetings and listen to teachers admonish parents for their child’s homework not being done. My heart sinks for these working poor parents who are often times holding down two jobs and I worry for the kids who might also be saddled with the stress of what I perceive as educational establishment hoop jumping. I internally roll my eyes and think, “Well, my kid’s homework isn’t done either and I should know better.” Or should I?

I think my distrust of the usefulness of homework comes from having been homeschooled Kindergarten through 8^th grade. My parents chose to educate me from mail order curriculum at a time when homeschooling was considered potentially illegal. No enrichment classes with peers. No drop-in PE to exert some energy, no art classes to socialize in. It was just the basic information you needed to get to high school.

My early education consisted of between and hour and a half to two hours of instruction with a small amount of individual work. This was a consistent pattern except on days when my mother was too depressed, tired or sick to teach me. Then I did nothing but play in my room or outside.  Needless to say, I never had homework because it was all homework.

As a mother who very much wants my children to succeed academically others have outwardly wondered why I have thumbed my nose at giving my kids more than a feeble, “Do you have homework?” on any given school night. It is difficult for me to remember only completing two hours or less of school related tasks on any given day and still ultimately doing well in high school, college and graduate school and then expecting that my children attend school all day only to come home to do more school work. On an intuitive level this is the stripping of abundance.

I want my children to grow up knowing that it is ok and preferable to not work all of the time. I would love for them to have interests outside of school and work. I want them to believe they can be whole, happy human beings whose purpose is not solely to “succeed” or spend inordinate amounts of time away from what nourishes their souls. I pray they can find abundance and not an abundance of homework.