Hey, Mom and Dad. How Much Homework is Too Much?

Welcome to "Hey, Mom and Dad"—a weekly feature in which we ask our Facebook fans to share their views on parenting. We're starting off with a question we posed last week on the Patch Facebook pages:

Class is well under way for students all over the area. What once seemed like a few minutes of simple spelling and math has turned into a couple of hours of complex equations and formulas. So, we want to know:

How much homework is too much for a grade-schooler?

Take a look at what people had to say and join the conversation in the Comments section.

April N. I think 10 mins per grade level is acceptable. For a 2nd grader, I would expect 20 mins to be appropriate, 5th grade 50 mins etc... Sometimes it is going to be more, sometimes it is less, but that is a good ballpark, IMO. If there is WAY MORE on a regular basis, I think that would warrant a convo w/ the teacher. — via Downers Grove Patch Facebook

Kelly H. I like April's guidelines. And while I don't like the way Greg said it, I agree with part of his response; a teacher can't really say "this will take 20 minutes for all students." What an "average" student can complete in 20 minutes might take some students much longer. — via Downers Grove Patch Facebook

Olivia P. I used to babysit a girl in Oak Park and we would be up all night most nights doing homework! Give the kids a break! They are in school all day long doing work...I think 2 hours of homework is enough. Anymore than that is too much. — via Oak Park Patch Facebook

Melissa C. School comes first, before sports, but more than an hour at that age is too much. — via Naperville Patch Facebook

So what's your take? Are kids getting too little or too much homework these days? Tell us in the comments.