Brangelina's kids don't do homework!

According to sources, celebrity parents Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's kids don't do homework or take tests. Apparently, they allow their children to choose what they want to learn, when they want to learn it. Here's what's been reported by the celebrity couple's former nannies:

“Brad and Angie are very unconventional parents, to say the least,” one nanny said. “It’s like they’re living in a hippie commune most of the time, because Angie doesn’t believe in rules. She thinks it’s important for their children to have freedom of expression, but that doesn’t always work out well,” the tipster said. Perhaps the most clear-cut example of Angelina’s “anything goes” parenting style is the fact that the children don’t go to traditional school.

Angelina refuses to impose any structure on their studies, according to one of the nannies. “She lets the kids learn what they want and ignore the stuff that doesn’t interest them,” dished the source. “And they don’t take tests or do homework.” Adds a nanny, “Let’s face it, none of those kids will ever be going after low-level jobs, so it’s not like they need a formal education the way other kids would.”

In my honest opinion, this is taking things a bit too far. A little bit of structure to anyone's life, children or adults alike, always does them good. A fair amount of homework reinforces what has been taught at school.

But at the same time, too much of homework can tend to get overwhelming for young kids, consuming their evenings and weekends.

We spoke to few local mums, and this is what they had to say:

Wendy Tan, mother to a 8-year-old, is happy with the amount of homework her child gets from school. Her son is still able to pursue his other interests and gets a bit of free time as well.

Marissa, who has 10-year-old twin boys, says they have no time to be kids anymore. She is constantly rushing them from one class to the next, with homework sometimes being done on the run (read: in the car).

Samantha, with a daughter in secondary school, is of the opinion that less homework is okay in primary school, but as they get older, it just doesn't work. There's a lot more that needs to be done in secondary school, more subjects are introduced and kids need that direction and guidance (and homework provides that). Samantha is pretty happy with amount of homework her daughter is given.

So, what is appropriate amount of homework that should be tasked out to students? Experts recommend that kids have a total of 10 minutes per grade level of homework per night.

What do you think about this? Would you ever be anti-homework or anti-tests? Leave us your comments in the box below.