homework before middle school if you do not want them to. There are no grades at that level, and many of the teachers don't even believe in homework but believe the parents want it. In any case, whatever the teacher may or may not think, you are in control as a parent at that age.

I have my children do the homework that I think is good for them to do, based on what I think they need to work on. Often, what I want them to work on is learning responsibility, so having a little homework is good. My kids get "assigned" about an hour of homework each week in elementary school, plus reading every night. That's a good idea, so I encourage them to do it. But if I thought it was too much, I would just decide which homework my child will do and communicate that to the teacher. For a while I had a child who was way more advanced in math than the homework she was getting, so I replaced her worksheet each night with something more advanced that I had her "turn in" to her teacher ... just for the practice of turning something in. For awhile this was just doing math/coding on Khan Academy each night for a few minutes.

You, the parent, are in control.

This goes into middle school too. Your child does not have to take any class you do not want them to take. Grades in middle school are not required. They are not going to not allow your kid into high school just because they didn't take PE. I routinely opt my kids out of "required" classes in order so that they can take something we feel is more useful for them.

Of course, once they hit high school, requirements for graduation are real. Although even then ... you could test out of a lot if you wanted to.