Homework or not?

With the new school year upon us, this discussion has come up more often than not among us moms- what is the right answer? In my opinion, no one knows. But by golly there has been a lot of research on it! When I was a kid, we were buried in homework it seemed like. It was just the norm. The thing is, different people learn differently. This is a proven fact and well known in education and otherwise. I am a routine person, I thrive on a calendar, gone are the days of personal paper planners but now I absolutely love my color coded iCal on my phone, iPad, computer etc. Each family member, job, activity, has its own color and woah that thing fills up fast. And I love looking at it... routine is great for me. 

So if you ask me if I want my kid to have homework the answer is yes! It’s routine! But then reality hits and if my brand new kindergartner comes home with homework and I have to juggle swim lessons, dance classes, diaper changes and toddlers all while encouraging and helping him do his homework.... yikes!  So, ok, fine... I change my answer! No homework please! Hmm, can we meet somewhere in the middle because I want my kids to succeed! And if one day, if they’re unemployed with no aspirations, I will go back to this day and mom guilt will resurface all over again and I will blame myself because I chose no homework. 

So, I will stand by my first answer of no homework. But- and this is a big but, we will do our own “homework” with taking the trash out, helping with vacuuming, helping bathe the dog... as well as color sorting M&Ms into color coordinating bowls... and eating some (mom too)... and my favorite, our Kumon book. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/4774307076/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_U.qDDb4SSPPSC

I start these with my kids at 3 years old. We only do one page a day, it’s their “school work” and they absolutely love it. I have graduated my kindergartener now to a penmanship book, again a very small amount of actual bookwork, for that “routine” aspect. I guarantee that is one of the reason my son even knows how to write his name. Thank you Kumon books. And here is the beauty of routine, by the time they’ve done this book for a week or two, they can do it virtually unsupervised and I can cook dinner, or unload the dishwasher, or pour that glass of wine we all need with 3 kids 5 and under 😉. 

We are all different, but one thing is the same, life gets busy! Let’s try to do it with a smile— 😊