A couple of short YouTube videos on the subject:

Making Students Work A "Second Shift"

Click to view

CBS News: Do Kids Really Need Homework?

Click to view

I truly do think homework, except in special cases, should be abolished. Here are some links I found for those interested, but I'll give my reasons:

• Kids need time to relax and digest what they've learned, engage in reading and play and other activities for their own pleasure, and spend time with their families.
  
  
• With the obesity epidemic in this ( Read more... )

I just sent this to one of The Boy's teachers in response to yet another packet of projects and vocabulary sent home over the weekend. Do you think I'm out of line ( Read more... )

I've been wondering why my 14-year-old thinks Lady Gaga is the bomb. Now I understand.

Excerpt: Generation Gaga doesn’t identify with powerful vocal styles because their own voices have atrophied: they communicate mutely via a constant stream of atomised, telegraphic text messages. Gaga’s flat affect doesn’t bother them because they’re not attuned ( Read more... )

Moratorium, suspension .... call it what you will. A pile of excrement by any other name would smell as putrid ( Read more... )

I lurk on a TON of livejournals, and I love to view "friends of friends" when I'm bored with nothing better to do. It seems to me there are two main types of LJ bloggers -- those who simply want to share what's going on in their lives, and those who are actively seeking a place to rant, debate, argue, or otherwise draw attention to themselves ( Read more... )

I posted this as a comment in the talk_politics forum, responding to this post on the trend of teenagers "hooking up," but I thought I'd also put it here to see if it engenders a good discussion ( Read more... )

From Jeff ( Read more... )

I'm having fun torturing Jeff, who has been ordered to walk at least a mile a day. It's too darn hot to walk outside, so I took him to Hobby Lobby and followed him down each and every aisle. He was using a shopping cart as a walker, and I was throwing things into it. Bliss!

Last Wednesday, got up at 5:30ish am. Got dressed, arrived at the hospital early, and after a slight delay, I was taken to my pre-op room. I was shaved from neck to ankle. I kind of felt like an Olympic swimmer, except I knew I would still sink if thrown into a pool. They put in an IV line, wheeled me into the operating room (which was REALLY cool ( Read more... )