LuluHB - that sounds like an awful lot of homework to me.

It worries me - mine aren't in school yet so don't have to deal with homework, but at the moment they are picked up from daycare at 5:45 four days a week (I am hoping that I can change the situation before DD starts school but that may not be possible and she may be in after school care) - so by time they are home is 18:00 - now I assume in the first few years of school at least you don't want them going to bed any later than 20:00 - so you have a max two hour window to have some dinner, and to do whatever homework and reading, and spend some time relaxing together as a family. It isn't so much about whether you work or not but about the amount of time you have with child or children each evening after school before they need to go to bed. I have always thought time spent with children after school is really important (whether doing homework or not) and I am going to do everything I can to try end up with a job or DH end up with a job where we can finish work earlier but current experience leads me to think it isn't easy.

I suppose I always think what is the "problem" that giving lots of homework is meant to solve - I and alot of my generation had very little homework apart from reading in primary school (even at secondary school I don't remember being inundated), seems plenty of people did very well on that model so why the 'focus' on homework now - if it is because there is too much to cover during school hours maybe a better solution would be to cut out some stuff. The article Heaven posted above is interesting - about the importance of the parental involvement vs just homework - when I was a child most people had a parent at home for them when they got home from school (primary) so lots of time to do fun stuff, eat, do homework etc - there was no such thing as after school care - that after school window is being shrunk for many families but the amount of homework is increasing. I totally believe in the importance of the parent as the key educator, and do not think it is sole or main responsibility of the school at all - quite the opposite really and think that I would find having the small amount of time I would have each evening to be the 'educator' monopolized by homework not much fun at all.

Anyway not sure how mine will get to do homework as DH has a bad back and says he refuses to let our children carry those ridiculously oversized bags they seem to have from starting primary :-)