When excitement and dread intersect

Ryan starts 2nd grade in ten days and I am both super excited and super dreading it.

Excited for the obvious reasons but dreading it because I'm not looking forward to the homework battles to come. And, there will be homework battles. There's just no way around it.

I live in Loudoun County, Virginia which is the wealthiest county is the entire country. Yet, with all this money & resources that come with money, they haven't managed to figure out that it's been proven over and over again that homework is counterproductive to learning.
*I don't mean reading which should be done by every child, every night, at every age. That's a given.

1st grade was hard on the whole family and we started taking Ryan to see a tutor. The tutor then assigned homework which added to our battles.

Over the summer the tutor has been sending home two workbooks a week to complete and it's been a fight. James told the tutor this week that once school starts, do not assign two a week. We can handle one TOPS. And, truthfully, that too will be tough.

Simply put, it's been overwhelming. Ryan isn't going to be able to do sports this Fall because we need to put all our efforts into the academics and seeing how he handles his new class.

I wish I had the guts to say his teacher "Sorry but, no. Ryan will not be doing homework". The emotional & intellectual impact of homework drains Ryan, drains me and impacts the mood of the family.

We want our son to succeed just like all parents. But, when we know that homework just isn't beneficial and this age, it's frustrating that we have to continue to do it with very little to be gained.

So we head into another school year. A new IEP attached (which is a good thing in our eyes) and hope, hope and hope some more that this year will be different. Ryan is not enjoying the school experience and that makes me sad.

Good luck to all parents sending their darlings back to school. May the wine be flowing and the homework warfare be minimal.

P.S. Battle, battle, battle. I've used that word a lot here today. But, it's the most accurate word I have for it.