The Book of Love

The other night I had a parent teacher conference with the little man's teacher. I don't usually worry because my kid is super smart, but I do have concerns. I need to point out that when I was growing up, the school district I attended was one of the top in the nation, as was my sister's. The school system my son attends is top rated in our state, but there is a disconnect. He rarely has homework.
Almost never.
My friends in NJ moan about how much their 1st grader has to do, and I can't commiserate because the one or two worksheets he gets a week are nothing. I remember having about an hour every night in 3rd grade.
Right now he's learning multiplication. During the conference, his teacher showed me the pictures (?) they use to learn.
In my opinion, Schoolhouse Rock yes. Pictures instead of timed drills, not really. I am old school-be able to spit out those facts. Just the facts, ma'am. I am not a big fan of the new math, and I think that's one reason our kids fall behind students all over the globe. There are just things that need to be memorized.
We do multiplication drills all the time. In the car, while dinner is cooking, drying off after his bath. I print off worksheets from the web for him to practice. Our next project is making factor flash cards.
In first grade, little man had more spelling homework than he has today. The list doesn't get sent home with him; I only found out recently it was on the teacher's website and that was after I asked her about it. My kid was struggling needlessly!
I created my own spelling homework for him. We write the word out. We spell it, we use it in a sentence. I use the puzzle maker at www.discovery.com to make word searches and crossword puzzles. We write stories with the words. He went from struggling to an A.
Our next big obstacle is reading. Little Man does not like talking about what he read, so now I am going to have him write book reports (both the Princess and I started doing them in 2nd grade, Little Man does "projects") to practice that comprehension piece. There are tons of options out there. Right now we are using the fisherman sheet because that best suits our needs.
Don't get me started on the lack of summer reading lists. That frustrates me beyond belief.
I'm not a tiger mom but I do expect my child to do well in school, and develop strong study skills and discipline.