Homework. It’s the last thing any parent wants to do after a long day of work.  Coincidentally, it’s the last thing kids want to do after a long day of school.  So when they come home and announce that they have no homework, you want to believe them more than anything.

Yet sometimes, there’s a certain something in the way they make the pronouncement that makes you suspicious. You know what I mean. No pause to think when you ask if they have homework. The indignant look you get when you ask them to check their backpack.  The “you never believe me” stare when you ask to see their homework pad. Your suspicions are usually not unfounded.

A 2007 study by Metlife found that 93% of students from third through twelfth grade reported doing at least some homework each school night, with almost half reporting doing at least an hour each night. As a parent and a former student yourself, you know that certain subjects almost always have homework.

Math, for example, requires practice and repetition. No math homework for more than one day would certainly be unusual.  According to the Metlife study, 70 percent of students in grades three to 12 had at least one homework assignment in math.

Of course, it’s possible that your child goes to school in Finland, where they don’t start school until they are seven and rarely take exams or do homework until they are well into their teens. You would probably know this, though, since you drive carpool and you don’t remember seeing any signs in Finnish along the way.