Today I had a one of THOSE parent teacher conferences for Super Michael.  Apparently, he hasn't gotten back into the groove after getting back from Winter Break a couple of weeks ago and after being out of school for 3 weeks or so, he just doesn't feel like doing his work at school and he's having a hard time focusing.  I can completely relate, because I feel the same way.  I want to be back on vacation too!

We have tried a couple of things to try to change the situation, the first being that we do homework FIRST thing when coming home instead of going straight to playing, and secondly, we're using visual things (like pennies) to help him with his math homework.  It's only been a couple of days, but I've noticed that he's getting back into the groove and instead of spending 45 minutes on a math sheet (ARGHHH), he's back down to around 5 minutes or so.

Nothing is more stressful than having to go in to talk to the teacher about problems with your child.  I stressed out about it all weekend, but tried not to let it show so that it didn't worry Super Michael.  I don't need him stressing out any more then normal about school.  I want him to enjoy school and not stress out about it like I did as a kid.  You naturally want your child to do good in school, you naturally want them to have friends and be well liked. 

I think I stress out about his school life a lot more then Super Michael does, which, in retrospect is probably how it should be.  He doesn't worry too much if his school work isn't up to par (but still wants to do well), he doesn't worry too much if the other kids don't want to play with him, he just goes and finds someone else to play with, or goes and finds something else to do by himself.

Still, it's your kid, and you worry about them, of course, but in the end it usually all turns out in the end.  We worried about him in Kindergarten last year and he graduated to 1st grade and learned a lot and I am always amazed at how much he's learned.

I'm still besides myself with the AMOUNT of homework that they send home for a first grader.  Even moving at a fairly good clip, it still takes him a good hour and a half to complete all of his nightly homework.  This includes his extra handwriting practice because his handwriting is nearly as bad as mine (I can't even remember the last time that I actually hand wrote something besides a check, and even THOSE are rare with ATM cards and online banking).

I'm curious to hear from others how much homework your kids bring home on a daily basis.  Do you think it's too much, just right, or maybe they should have more?  Do your kids get bored part way through?