Back to school, back to busy

Oh I'm going to say it's too much. My son did extremely well academically UNTIL 4th grade. They say this transistion is the hardest that students go through their whole academic carreer. I thought that was untrue but sure enough by second semester of school, my son was having such a hard time he was basically just giving up on keeping up. If you can try and do it on the weekend, I'd reconsider my opinion. I think it's just too much during the week. Every school is different as well, but I know in 4th grade Nick had at least an hour to and hour and a 1/2 of homework Mon - Thurs. and 2 reports during the year.

Just some advice from a mom who's been there.

"It's not to late to become who you've always wanted to be..."

Personally, I have to have at least 1-2 weeknights where we don't go anywhere...miss a night of homework and it takes 2 or three to catch up. You could always let him try it if he really wants to do it and if it gets to be too much, ask him what activity he's going to cut back on.

It seems kind of a similar activity to capoeira (okay, I had to spell that three times to get it right). Are you sure he doesn't just want a trampoline? I think it's a lot with three other commitments in the week and being in 4th grade. I'd agree to let him either try it out, or wait and see how he is doing in school and add it as a reward for good grades.

Susan is mom to Alexander, Isabel, David and stepmom to Eric. Make sure your email address is current, we'll be giving out great prizes DAILY in September after our site makeover! Don't miss out!

I agree it does seem like a lot but maybe you should let him try it for a while and see how it works out.

jesshod is a mommy to 2 girls (ages 6 and 1) and is an arizonamoms.com discussion leader living in Surprise.

Thanks so much for the input! Susan, you may be right about the trampoline, but they scare me, so I kind of like that he would be somewhere where they know what they're doing so it's a bit safer. Anyway, we went to the free trial class last night and it wasn't too bad because it's so close to our home. Sawyer, of course, LOVED it. So we agreed to try it for a month and see if he can keep up on his homework. I'll let you know how it works out.

Karina Bland is raising her 9-year-old son in Tempe with a lot of love, humor and support from her friends and family. A longtime journalist covering child welfare and education issues for The Arizona Republic, she blogs about raising good kids.