The sad part about all of these extra projects is that it is "Parent homework." I guess it is a nice concept to have a family work on a project together, working toward a goal, etc. But after we did so many science, reading, art, etc. projects (my ds and dd are grown) I always felt badly for the kids who had working parents or non-english speaking parents, or really no parents at all who helped. Their projects were NOTICEABLY different from the rest. If they hung the poems/art/dioramas, etc in the hall you could tell who made what.
The child with the engineer father had the most amazing science project, the child with the artistic mom had the best display. GEEZ it ends up being projects for parents. We even had a science fair in 1st grade, seriously none of the children understood any of the science part and obviously the entire project, board and display was totally done by the parents, the kids were only learning to read and write!
I remember in 2nd grade, my DS had to write a creative 2 page story once a week. 2nd grade!! EVERY WEEK. I remember breaking down and crying somewhere in the third month......this isn't homework for you, it's homework for ME!!! (and that was on top of science fair, book reports and other projects.)
I also have a strong homework philosophy....

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