How Much is Too Much ! ? ! ? !

Okay. . . so, on the subject of homework - seriously - how much is too much ? ! ? ! My sister Pam was telling me how her kids were needing a lot of help with their homework lately and how she was having such a struggle with it. She said that she finally told them, "I've already been to highschool and worked very hard for my grades, thank you very much - I really don't want to do it again!"


Well . . . . . for me, it all started when I pulled my kids out of school to go to DisneyWorld I figured I needed to help them with catching up because they had a lot to catch up on - and I did. However, now they have decided that they need me to go through every little thing with them and so they wait until I get home before they even do their homework. So, by the time I get home I start with each of them - Zac is the best but he has the most homework - right now anyway. I have had to try and figure out sixth grade math again, and am very embarassed to say that I don't remember how to do it - he doesn't have any instructions on his page of how to do even one of them. When I ask him if he can bring the book home so we can go through some of the instructions together he acts like I'm crazy and tells me he doesn't have a book. I asked him if his teacher goes through examples on the board with him - he says well he goes through about two with us - then he tells us that he's challenging us to figure it out on our own when I ask him questions. SERIOUSLY - does a teacher expect a kid to figure it out on his own when his paper has no examples and no instructions on it and they don't have a book to refer to either - PLEASE!!!


Then we start with Josh - he has spelling (which he hates it's like pulling teeth to get him to go over the words and practice spelling them out). Next he has reading comprehension (not too bad for him - I, on the other hand, always hated those things). Then he has a home work sheet usually just wants to do one side - I don't blame him! It has math, geography questions & sentence structure exercises. Then he has to read for 20 minutes and then he has to record a little message about what he read. This is usually about 1-2 hours later.


In the meantime I'm trying to fix dinner. Next off is Hayden's homework (remember he's in first grade). He has spelling words to practice (which he's not a big fan of - plus he doesn't really know how to read well). Then we are suppose to read for at least 15 minutes (which means I read to him and he has to pick out the words he knows on each page). Then he has a math packet which consists of two pages double sided he will do at least one page a day. Then he also has a making words sheet I try to get him to fill in at least three each night. Then he has another activity with spelling - he must do at least two each week - he's pretty slow with the whole writing thing so I break it into four nights half a page a night. Then he's suppose to practice a poem so he can pass it off, and finally he has site words that he is suppose to review each night. Okay, so all of that is at least another hour.


So, then there is usually just an hour before they go to bed. I seriously am worn out by this time and I'm feeling really frustrated about my new routine. Then you know I'm suppose to clean up the dinner, do a batch of laundry, clean up the house - which is usually trashed and then read the scriptures to them, before they go to bed.

Last year seemed to work out great. They would come home at 4pm they would read for 20 minutes, do their homework sheet (count it one homework sheet!), review their spelling words and by the time I got home at 5p their work would usually be done - all I had to do was review what they were stuck on and make sure they were "getting it."


So, I ask you again, how much is too much?? How much help are you suppose to give them? How much are you suppose to do with them, and how much are you suppose to have them just do? I'm being torn. I want to be a good mom and encourage them to get their homework done but I don't want to continue with this new routine every single night!!! It's like Josh said to me, "Mom why do I have to do homework anyway? I've already done all this stuff at school - why do I have to do it again at home?" How do you respond to that?

Family Trip to Florida!

We took a fun family trip to Orlando, Florida! We left on the 4th and returned on the 11th of September. So, we were gone for 8 whole days, 6 of which we spent at the parks. We went to all of them. Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, back to Magic Kingdom again and one more time at Epcot. Just a little note to self "5 days would have been perfect." Like Grandma Quick kept saying, "It's a lot of work to have so much fun!"

We were so glad that Jeff's mom & dad could come with us - we traveled together there and back - it made things just that much easier - it was so nice. Then we met up with Jeff's sister & hubby and their cute family when we arrived. We stayed with them for 2 nights in their 4 bedroom condo and for the rest of the nights we had our own 3 bedroom condo. It was so much fun to see them again. They live in Houston, TX right now and so it was a real treat to be on vacation with their adorable family.

It was also fun seeing the definate and real difference between boys and girls. Girls are so fun and . . . well . . . girly - I liked getting to know my neices better like that - and having more girls to hang out with was just a blast!

On the way home we asked the kids, "Okay so what was your favorite part of the trip?" To which they quickly replied - "Swimming." Isn't that nice to know - next year maybe we'll save a bunch of money and go to the local swimming pool :D

The only thing I can think of that would have made it better is if you were all there with us.

Happy Birthday Pam!!!

Here's a shout out for a big Happy

B-day to Pam!!

I hope your day was filled with fun moments!!

I for one - cannot believe that you are already 39!!!

You'll have to let me know how it feels to almost be 40 ? ? ? ! ! ! !

- Love you bunches ! ! ;)