Home work

All this homework my kids have is killing me. If you combine each of their required reading and home work it would take me a total of 4 hours to complete. They get home at 3 and I go to work around 5 or 6 so as you can see I don't have as much time as is needed. Dallin can pretty much do his on his own, but he doesn't. He lies to us about what has to be done and will claim a worksheet in his book bag isn't due till Friday when its really due tomorrow. So he takes a lot of time to hunt down and keep accountable. The other night we found out he had a book report and hadn't read a single chapter of the book. So at 9 pm I started reading to him. 40 chapters later I was crying when the grandpa lost his wife and he was falling asleep on me. We got it done in the end. Olivia has a ton of home work for a first grader. I think its a bit much but O well we must stay calm and carry on. And Addie is too smart for her own good. She is testing at a 6th grade reading level and does her homework during her free time at school. I wont put her in gifted and talented program cause those parents are like the annoyingly competitive parents on STEROIDS! I want nothing to do with that drama. NOt being in the program hasn't made her dumber and being in it doesn't make her smarter it just gives her more busy work. Needless to say I feel like I don't do much for her cause she does it all on her own. One day she came home and told me she was to make a musical instrument from objects she could find around the house. I was freaking excited as HELL cause I finally could be there for her. She told me "Mom I need a couple of things from the store" and she hands me a slip of paper "I wrote them down because I noticed you always forget things we need from the store because you never make a list." Not the nicest approach, but I am beginning to stomach her honesty a little better. I went all out and we made Hello Kitty maracas. I'm sure kids in her class were thinking its a little over the top but I couldn't miss this golden opportunity to HELP in some way. I take Olivia with me to Addie's piano lessons and make her read in the car while we wait. I always feel behind and like there are just not enough hours in the day. Sigh....