I was first introduced to the concept of homeschooling about 20 years ago when my sister announced her decision to home school her son Josh. At the time, Josh was 6 years old, the eldest of 3 children. I remember being surprised by her announcement as I knew of no other mothers who homeschooled their children. I also remember thinking what an ambitious undertaking it was. Little did I know that many years later I would be proud to say that my sister has successfully homeschooled 4 of her 6 children all the way through high school. The two eldest boys graduated from state universities and now have good-paying careers, one in IT and the other in business administration. The third and fourth eldest are presently at state universities. And my sister still has 2 more to go, a girl and boy, 13 and 11, one of which has learning disabilities.

I don’t think my sister planned to home school all the way through high school. I think she took one year at a time and made that decision year by year. Looking back I consider her a pioneer who persevered at a time when homeschooling was not accepted by the mainstream because she believed she was doing something extraordinary for her children: giving them a good education in a nurturing environment and instilling in them the love of learning.

One evening I walked into the den where my two boys have their desks and do their homework. My oldest wasn’t there but my son “Goosie,” age 9 at the time, was sitting there with his head down on the desk. I first thought that he may be sick and I went over and gently asked him if he was OK. This sad little face looked up at me and proclaimed, “This learning is killing me.”

Wow, what a statement. He’s only 9 and his school backpack weighs so much I can barely lift it for him to put it on. It’s a fact that America is falling behind other nations academically and that our culture puts more emphasis on celebrity, glamour and materialism than education, but let’s get real here. The mountains of homework that these kids get in elementary school is simply too much and in a lot of cases becomes counter-productive.

Let me pose some questions to think about…and respond to if you have a strong opinion either way:
1. Why do young children (at the tender age of 5 to 8 or 9) get hours and hours of homework every week?
2. If a child can answer 5 to 10 homework math problems correctly, why do teachers make them answer 30 or 40 of the same type of problems?
3. Is it right to give children hours of homework assignments over holidays and weekends?
4. Why don’t schools figure out a way to avoid having each teacher pile on big homework assignments to one child, especially when they have different teachers for each subject? Shouldn’t there be consideration for the fact that each teacher is assigning (lots of) homework to the poor kid?
5. Why are teachers allowed to assign more than one long-term assignment (project) each year?

I have a friend who has two of the most gifted girls I’ve seen. She is extremely focused on their education and has been since the day they were born. They have been homeschooled since birth. When the oldest girl turned 10 she told her mom that she wanted to go to a school. The mother decided to grant her daughter’s wish and researched all the schools in her area, both private and public. After much due diligence she decided on a public school that offered an outstanding “gifted program.”

After a month the poor girl was completely overwhelmed with homework and by the end of the first session her mother pulled her out because the she was exhausted and totally bummed out by the “busy work” that they piled on her. If the normal assignment was to read two chapters, they gave the gifted kids four chapters. Regular program students were asked to answer 20 questions while gifted kids had to answer 50. It was possible to do the work, but it left no time for anything else.

These girls are well-rounded and pursuing their favorite interests. They study languages and music, are enrolled in martial arts classes, and the younger one is playing tournament tennis. They could give all that up for meeting overbearing homework assignments, but what’s the point?

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…