I'll do the Parenting, You do the Teaching

Some folks out there may disagree with me on this particular issue but hey! I'm used to being disagreed with. Whatever.

I have been lucky to have close friends and family members who are teachers.  All of them have made the same comment at one time or another: "It is not my job to raise these kids!  It is my job to TEACH them."

I couldn't agree more.

Okay, so now we have a Bear in the first grade.  He is a kid who likes to socialize and participate in extracurricular activities.  We do t-ball, soccer, and karate (but not all at the same time of year) so he keeps pretty busy after school hours.

Every single school day except Fridays, he comes home with a folder full of "homework."  I don't have a single thing against homework.  I think it is very important that we as parents be involved in what he is learning and interact with him on schoolwork.  But here is where my aggravation comes in. This homework takes us upwards of 45 minutes to an hour to complete every school night.  HE'S IN FIRST GRADE!

If it only took us 15-20 minutes every evening to go through it and practice his words and spellings and math sums, I would not have a problem at all.  But on a regular day after I get off work and pick him up at daycare, we have karate/soccer/or baseball then we get home to eat dinner, clean up the kitchen, get his bath, and then time for him to go to bed at 8:30.  In the middle of all this, we might have 1/2 an hour to spend on homework.  It makes me mad because I did not sign up for homeschooling but the amount of homework they send home every day is ridiculous.

And I would really hate to do this as a single parent with more than one kid. Maybe even with more than one job.

I am not a bad parent because I want my kid to have some time to wind down and play for a little while when he gets home from his long day.  He likes to draw pictures A LOT and he likes his super heroes and his guitar.  I know his daily schedule at school.  From 7:50am until 3:30pm they get a total of 45 minutes to eat their lunch and play on the playground (weather permitting).  If the weather is crappy, they go back to their classrooms and find something to do (so long as it is not loud and 22 six-year-olds are unable to work off some physical energy).  During all those daylight hours at THE INSTITUTION OF LEARNING, I expect him to be learning and being taught by *GASP* his TEACHERS!

Because *ALSO GASP* they expect me to be parenting him properly at home so that he is not a disruption to their classrooms.

I'm doing my job but I really wish I could do less of their job.