From One Educator to Another

Lately it seems that in all our weekend glory the two public schooled children are bringing home the majority of their weekly homework on Friday. For the past few weeks we have scrambled to get it done early Monday morning before school and instead of practicing piano (grrrr, says, I, the piano teacher!) Perhaps the teachers are trying to meet the needs of the over-extra-curricular child who has little time on weeknights, but (supposedly) more time on the weekend. Not so in our house. I am happy to force sit down with my kids shortly after they get home from school and get all their work done. (Mr. Man even asked recently if they kids ever have homework, since it's always done and put away by the time he gets home.) However, Friday afternoons are for FUN FAMILY TIME and even the occasional FRIEND - and you know how I feel about Saturday and Sunday. And, after all, the kids are only in 1st and 3rd grade - it's not rocket science, nor junior high. So Mr. Man and I discussed, and I composed a nice letter to both of their teachers, accompanying their empty homework folders this morning:

Dear 1st and 3rd Grade Teachers of my beloved children,

I am writing this letter to inform you of a decision that my husband and I have made for our family. At this time, we feel that given our children's ages and our family’s circumstances, we will not be allowing our children to do homework on the weekend. We are going to reserve the weekends for our family.

We are more than happy to complete any given assignment during the week. If there is something that will be due on a Monday, please have it sent home on Thursday, otherwise it will be turned in on Tuesday.

Hopefully you can understand this decision, otherwise I sincerely hope this won’t affect our children’s grades or work completion in any way.

Please let me know if you would like to discuss this further. Both my husband and I are happy to do so. We hope we can support each other in the grand endeavor to educate.

Thanks,

ME

Within minutes of school starting, and I assume the letter having been given and read, I received an email from one teacher. I don't know why I expected an argument. I am WAY too judgmental of my childrens' teachers (seriously trying to remedy that weakness), and so I was delighted when I read the following:

Dear Mr. and Mrs. you-know-who,
Thank you for your note about homework. I will make a note about the return of homeowrk from Friday on Tuesday. Miss J is a good student and being late with a Friday homework will not be a problem for her in discussions of the work. This will not be reflected in her grade for responsibility either. I will not send homework early because we may not have had the lesson regarding the homework before the Friday.
Sincerely, Mrs. B.

I was pleased as punch. So are my kids. And the only thing that bothered me about her response was the mispelling of 'homework'. Oh well.

Happy days. A synopsis of our fun, busy weekend will not ensue. I'm trying to think of something interesting to write about this week besides a basic journal entry. Wish me luck.