Growing up in India, the one thing  I remember the most about my school days are the homework I had to do, especially the ones that were supposed to ensure that the student had perfect penmanship. Special exercise books, some with double lines and some with 5 lines were used in this quest for beautiful handwriting.
Handwriting exercises certainly was beneficial in my early childhood as it taught me fine motor skills. But what was the need for me to do those exercises  when I was in grade 10?

It was not just handwriting exercises I had to do, There were also maths, science and english home work. It was a never ending cycle of work that actually did nothing good for me!

And the worst thing is, I still have a lousy handwriting..( and sometimes, even I can’t read what I have written..especially those recipes that I collected in my teens.. tbl spn and tspn all look same) and I don’t remember much of what I studied in school. But I remember every story I read !

When Yaya was 5, like every mother, I too thought it was time I send her to school. ( Yaya never went to nursery school). We were in India at that time and my friends recommended this particular school that was supposed to be the best. I called the school and they wanted to interview Yaya first. I refused. I wanted to know if the place was ideal for my child before they interviewed my child to see if she was  ideal for their school, after all I am the one who is paying the fees!. They weren’t happy, but my friends’ children were attending the school and I ‘managed’ to get the school to give me an appointment.
The principal talked about the famous alumni of the school, which bollywood actress’s kid is currently attending etc etc.
Then she talked about what is expected of my child.
And finally I asked her the one question that mattered to me, “what about homework?”
She replied ” we do tons of home work and we even have extra classes in the weekends”

My child was 5. There was no way I was willing to send Yaya for extra classes during the weekend and I didn’t see the need for Yaya to do homework at such a young age.
So Yaya stayed home.

The one year Yaya attended the school in Malaysia was really nothing short of hell. I send her to the private school hoping that she would be spared from the tons of homework the Malaysian schools force up on the kids. No such luck. She used to sit down and do her homework from 4 in the evening till 9 and often she couldn’t complete it and I had to wake her up early the next morning, so she could finish her work and wouldn’t get detention.

The first year in Canada, I had actually bought text books from India, because I was really worried that my child wasn’t learning anything at school. She had no text books, no work books and hardly any home work. It took sometime to accept the fact that the Indian/Malaysian way of educating the young do not work. All it encourages is rot learning.

Baby is in grade 5.
This is her homework for this week.

She is given this sheet on Monday and has to complete it by Friday. As you can see, she still hasn’t started doing it. She will start working  on it on Thursday about 8 pm, just about 30 minutes before her bed time!!
My son’s home work is due on Wednesday. He had forgotten to bring it home during the weekend. He went to school early today, so he could do his homework!

I read this article this morning.. and I have to say, I agree with it fully. I don’t understand why my child should bring work home when I don’t and I am really glad that my children are spared from the homework torture!