Long article - taking a leave from jobs and school

[Amy in AZ.]

We all know the rat race. I hear about the 2 hours of homework, all of the time, for 4th graders.

Here are families that did something about it. My kids are taking a school sabbatical - CNN.com

 

[SandyM]

I think that is a great idea! I'll bet those kids will remember those few months as some of the best of their childhood.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I have one 9 yo girl that always has an inordinate amount of homework. Recently, she brought home an assignment on Tues., that was due on Friday. It said to either make a film, or create a food from Narnia. Her folks can help her, but when are schools going to figure out that a lot of kids go home to a house of chaos, every day?

I contend that my 95 yo Mother's education was better than mine, my own was better than my kids and now, the schools seem to think that more is better.

 

[nanotech14]

I hear what you are saying. They push so many kids into this, business mode. When Emily was in 7th grade the school had a job fair for them, 7th graders? She had an assignment to write what career that was there they she wanted to do. Emily said there was nothing there that she wanted to do. I wrote a note to the school and told them she was not going to write the assignment, because she is in 7th grade and she has the whole world open to her. I feel we are a the top of this mountian and are jumping off the cliff into a dark deep low valley of despair called "common core education", this will complete the dumbing down of a once great country.

 

[3bmama]

Wouldn't that be wonderful? I am actually going to start homeschooling my 3 younger kids next year(well the only one who is school aged will be my soon to be 2nd grader) I want to develop a love of learning naturally, hours of homework do nothing for a child. My oldest daughter will be in 5th grade, she is into the whole social part of school very deep already,so she is staying for now. She is also my softball pitcher. I worry so much that she will get burnt out before she reaches her full potential. It is so difficult to balance other activities when softball only gives you about a month or two off and we are in a cold weather state! Not to mention the extra time put in as a pitcher. I kind of hate what youth sports have become- year round requirements to be on even a decent team. I consider off and on taking the fall off but we don't have many teams within reasonable driving distance, obviously if she stays with her current team fall ball will be played(current team is moving up to 12u, she doesn't have to and has been pitching only since August, plus she is #3 and will be required to tryout, so she may not make the team if we do decide to try to move up with them) anyway see the stress involved? I have a cousin who was really great at baseball as a kid. Really he was a phenom. Burned out before high school. It's sad and happens in all aspects of kids' lives.

 

[SCDad]

Of course when us old folks went to school, we did not have year round softball to compete with.