i thought i was done with homework

 When I was in school, I hated homework. Hated. It. It got so bad that in high school, for a math class, I would pass off a friend’s homework as my own. She had the math class second period, right before home room. During home room she would give me her homework, even though the work was neatly done on smaller sheets of paper that no one else used. Didn’t matter. The math teacher never collected the homework, she would just walk up and down through the aisle of chairs and check off in her roll book that the homework was done.

I think I’m being punished for it now.

And it’s worse.

My mother-in-law has the hybrids do their homework after school, before the wife and I get home. But once I get home, it’s my job to ensure that everything is done and review it for errors or if help is needed.

Not only is there the new math, which is something akin to…well, I don’t know because as you recall, I didn’t do math to begin with, but in today’s world, there’s online work as well.

There are websites to help your child read, like raz kids, mobile apps like class dojo, which allow the teacher to award points to the children for good behavior, subtract points for not-so-good behavior, all in real-time, so while I’m at work I can see how  the hybrids are behaving in class. Or if they’re not.

 This is like a sports fan checking the latest scores for his/her teams. I am constantly looking at this thing throughout the day.

And then there are the teacher’s personal pages on the school website that have links to homework, study guides, links to resources to help with the school work, test schedules, test scores, reminders, upcoming events, guidelines for what to wear for crazy hat/socks/pajama days.

And let’s not forget the daily 20-minute trombone practice. No, let’s not.

Plus the reading challenges for pizza parties, movie days, free Italian ices. The list goes on with things besides homework we need to check for. All of this after putting in a full day of work.

Then I need to sign off on the Hybrid’s homework in his assignment calendar book so that the teacher knows that I know the Hybrid knows things that I don’t know. (see math).

I’m not sure if this is better or worse, knowing how the hybrids are doing in their classes almost minute by minute. I do know that I’m doing more work making sure that they are doing their work then I did when I had homework.