[Broken_Hippo]

I'm not sure why a gifted 8-year-old or 14-year old should have more homework. After all, they are still kids. If you have more difficult subject matter that is suitable for their intellect, the homework shouldn't be an issue.

I got poor grades when the homework started kicking in. I had a little bit of homework in 5th grade. 6th grade I had a few hours per night. In 8th grade, they put me into regular classes and I had zero homework simply because they were so much easier. I was bored all day, but made great grades. I made Ok grades the next year or two, depending on the class. my sophmore year, we moved again. This school had a more balanced gifted program, and my grades stayed up.

Now, I realize I have my own sort of issues with some of this stuff and maybe others word differently: I have a lot of symptoms of mild dyslexia, which would have been easily overlooked in the 80's and 90's (I moved countries as an adult, learned a second language, and made friends with a psychologist with a dyslexic brother. She spotted it with my spelling problems, but I've not been tested). But the point more is that 8 year olds, even intelligent ones, are still 8-year olds and often have the maturity of 8-year olds. 14 year olds still have a normal 14-year old's hormones.