Getting too much homework, Brown Center director Tom Loveless reports in a Brookings press release, is not a common problem.

Setting guidelines

So, how do education experts decide what's right?

The National PTA and National Education Association have guidelines on the amount of homework to be expected at various levels of education.

Both agencies recommend 10 minutes of homework per night, per grade. Second grade — 20 minutes per night. Eighth grade — 80 minutes. Senior — two hours a night.

More surveys show those numbers keep going up as the decades progress — parents who were students in the 1980s had less homework than their children have now.

"I don't think I had that much," recalls Beth Ann Schwarz. The same goes for husband Marty.

But not too many parents are complaining.

A national survey taken in 2000 by the nonprofit group Public Agenda showed 64 percent of parents said their child was getting the "right amount" of homework. Twenty five percent said "too little" and only 10 percent said "too much."

Still open to debate is just how much impact homework has on achievement levels and standardized test scores.

Yet the Lunbeck and Schwarz kids are there every night, ploughing through assignments.

From the front lines

John Lunbeck procrastinates when it comes to homework. It's often a distraction or obstacle in the way of doing what he loves.

John reads on average about two books a week, just for fun. He also has his own Web site where he posts movies he makes.

There's no TV in the Lunbeck house and — except for not seeing "The Simpsons" — the three siblings don't miss it one bit. They prefer books. Emma, who is applying to colleges like Yale and Columbia, has a 3.9 grade point average, and her brothers are A/B students.

John says math homework can become repetitive, doing the same problems over and over. "And we really don't need to do that," he says, squinting through glasses.

Emma rolls her eyes about busy work, time-consuming stuff so easy she says it could be done in her sleep.

"It is excessive," she says.

And the consequence?

Axel pipes in, "She doesn't have a family life."

Emma nods in agreement. Sometimes there's so much homework, it doesn't all get her best effort — there's just not enough time.

The plus, says her mother, Julia Reid, is that a lot of homework tends to get parents involved in their child's education. "Is that a bad thing? I don't think so."