Rant!!!!!!!!

I am soooooo frustrated! I have a nine year old son who is in the 4th grade. We live in a school district that believes heavily in home learning. This means that my children get home work every night, Mon-Thursday. Ok I have accepted this, I also have a 14 year old so I have gotten some what used to this............BUT!!! I am so absolutely enraged at what has been happening with my son that I want to screaam, which I just did to my husband!!!! I took him outside as soon as he got home, away from my kids and ranted and raved for about 10 minutes!!!!
(Poor GUY!)

The rule of thumb is 10 minutes of home work per each school year the child is in. Ok, that would mean 40 minutes of home work for my 4th grader. Well, the last three weeks something has happened and he has been bringing home so much homework it takes him on an average of 2 and a half hours to get it all done!!!! Some nights he has been working for over 4 hours on his work and is in tears because he is so tired and frustrated-BUT he feels he must get it ALL done.

This week is the icing on the cake, he has a oral report due on Friday about any famous person of his choice. He did his research and decided on Abraham Lincoln. I can handle that, a project to do at home, that is fine, BUT for the last two nights he has brought home packets that are 17-18 PAGES!!!! When does she expect us to do this report that is due on Friday?? OMG!! The packets contain information about the food chain, energy from the sun, helping plants, feeding prey and predators and decomposers. Now I am teaching him this information. Is she in a panic because she did not budget out her time well??? Why is he getting home work that takes him 3 hours a night??? I am sending a letter with him tomorrow. He will not be able to do any outside homework if he is to get done the Abraham Lincoln report by Friday. That is it, Iam done and it has gone on far too long.