A. fatigue B. defects C. perfect D. improve E. rise F. mistakes G. carefully H. carelessly I. ignore J. assignment K. grades L. primarily M. lack N. short O. reducing It's an annual back-to-school routine. One morning you wave goodbye, and that very evening you're burning the late-night oil in sympathy. In the race to 1 educational standards, schools are throwing the books at kids. Even elementary school students are complaining of homework 2. What's a well-meaning parent to do? As hard as it may be, sit back and chill, experts advise. Though you've got to get them to do it, by helping too much, or even examining answers too 3, you may keep them from doing it by themselves. "I wouldn't advise a parent to check every single 4," says John Rosemond, author of Ending the Tough Homework. There's a 5 of appreciation for trial and error. Let your children earn the grade they deserve. Many experts believe parents should gently look over the work of younger children and ask them to rethink their 6. But "you don't want them to feel it has to be 7," she says. That's not to say parents should 8 homework—first, they should monitor how much homework their kids have. Thirty minutes a day in the early elementary years and an hour in 9 four, five, and six is standard, says Rosemond. For junior-high students it should be "no more than an hour and a half," and two for high school students. If your child consistently has more homework than this, you may want to check with other parents and then talk to the teacher about 10 assignments.