Nine-year-old Arieanna Shaughnessy and her mom say she is buried under a heavy homework load.Mark van Manen Bev Shaughnessy says she and her daughter are being eaten alive by the homework monster.

The myth of boundless, unbearable homework assignments seems to be boundless in itself. Fueled by anecdotes and spread by journalistic sensationalism, the homework monster has become entrenched ...