<p>I would do the same thing in that situation as ChoatieMom, except that I’d do the notification in a conference. Some students do need drill; others have homework because they don’t get their classwork done–one of my kids had this problem for a while. I’d want to get the teacher’s perspective first, but I’d be inclined to nix the extra homework if it’s clearly busy work.</p>
<p>On the other hand, I actually don’t think my first grader gets enough homework in math and reading, so she has to read and do some extra math every day at home when she doesn’t have homework. Call me a tiger mom if you will, but that 15 minutes of math homework every night still gives her plenty of time to play. If my kids, like Choatie mom’s, excel in drill and on tests, I adjust that–for example, we don’t bother studying spelling. Still, I’m pretty old fashioned in my views of education, and see value in a short, focused amount of daily drill and repetition at home as well as at school in early elementary (the sponge stage).</p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t think there’s any one right answer here to the question of how much homework is too much–but as parents, I do think we can keep our kids’ workloads balanced, at least in the early years.</p>