Homework

Now that we are into the 4th week of school, Thing 1 is starting to come home with homework.  Really, the homework started last week.  He had homework in preschool so I was expecting this but I wasn't expecting quite this much.  In preschool he would come home once a week with a paper where he had to write the upper and lowercase letter 10 times each.  Toward the end of preschool, he would also be writing words 3 times each.  He had 2 days to do this homework before it was due.  I didn't feel much pressure as we would do it the first night that he brought it home unless there was some extenuating circumstance.

So last week on Monday, Thing 1 brought home his composition book and a poetry book.  There were also multiple notes attached letting the parents know what the children had to do throughout the week.  Let me start by saying part of the homework was exactly what he did in preschool - he would write each letter, upper and lowercase, 3 times (instead of 10).  That part did not overwhelm me.  What overwhelmed me is the fact that he not only wrote the letters but then drew a picture that started with the letter (he has 2-3 letters each week to write and 2-3 pictures to draw), has a short story where he has to highlight all of the letters in that story that he just wrote, has 2 poems to read throughout the week out of he poetry book, and has 8 sight words that he needs to know by the end of the week for his quiz.  To me, this sounds like a lot of work for a 5 year old.  Granted, he has all week to do all of this work but he has to practice his sight words and his poems every night in order to do well on his quiz on Fridays.  I'm not sure how long each evening a 5 year old should be doing homework as he is in school for 6 1/2 hours during the day as it is.  I'm thinking that he is still a kid and that he should have time to relax and do things he enjoys.  I also don't like the idea that kindergarten is the new first grade!

I think my biggest problem with the whole thing is that I feel that this is really a reflection on my parenting.  If my child does not get all of his sight words correct on Friday, I am afraid that may say that I am not working hard enough to help my child learn how to read.  I don't really think I can handle going into a parent-teacher conference where I am told that I need to work harder to teach my child how to read.  I think there is a lot of pressure on kids and this is the pressure I feel as a parent.  I work over 40 hours per week to direct 2 programs and when I come home in the evening I would like to spend time with my kids relaxing and having fun, not doing homework.  I didn't become a teacher for a reason - I'm no good at it and I get frustrated easily.  I'm not sure what the kindergarten curriculum is, but I thought that teaching a child to read was something that would be done in school and not something where I would have to quiz my child for at least 30 minutes every night.  Read a book with a my child, I will totally do.  Quizzing my kid on sight words is frustrating for me, so I know he is not enjoying it.  Am I the only one who feels this way about 5 year olds and homework?