School Daze

I guess I'm feeling a little preoccupied with school this year because this is my second post about it.  Today I'm thinking about all the things my kids are doing that we never had to do.  It seems a little different from the conversations my generations had with their parents about school:

"When I was a kid, I walked 3 miles to school in the snow, all uphill."

Even though I spent 12 years in Catholic school, the stories I could tell my kids pale in comparison to the things I see them do in connection with school:

They carry too many books.  My 98 pound kid is carrying 30 pounds of books.  All the time.  To every class.  Everyday.  My daughter has a rolling backpack that has a broken zipper because it's stuffed with books (and she still carries a 3" binder separate from the backpack).  Our solution?  We just bought an extra set of books for my son ($60).  It's absolutely worth every penny.  We have found some of my daughter's books online so she doesn't always have to carry her binder.

Homework.  Where do I begin?  I know I've said here that I've done too many salt dough maps and book reports.  I know my parents didn't do that, probably because I was kid #4 and they refused to go there again.  I understand that kids have homework, but I just didn't realize we they would spend so much time each night doing homework.  2-3 hours is not unusual.  And is it really necessary to do 30 math problems every night?

With all the books that are coming home and the amount of homework we are doing, I'm wondering what they do at school?

cindy