Homework battles

It's one of those high maintainence nights for homework.  It is always with the oldest.  My other daughter is so low maintainence in comparison.  It is now 7:14.  She's been working on homework for over two hours, and still has more to go.  In addition, she needed me to check both her math and her vocabulary.  The former required several minutes of one-on-one instruction. 

I get aggravated with homework in general.  My children, like nearly 50% of the kids at their school, get on the bus at 7 a.m. and get off at 4 p.m.  The first thing they do when getting off the bus is snack.  If they think they have an hour of homework (which could mean 30 minutes to two hours), they are required to do it.  Often this starts to run into dinner time.  Then there's dinner--which is our family's time to connect.  Now it is 6:30--so hit the showers and finish up any remaining homework.  Snack again.  WHEN DO THEY GET TO BE A KID?!?!?

I am a little callous, though.  Often times my oldest can anticipate upcoming homework, but NEVER works ahead on the weekend.  If she'd spend 15 min. Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday--boy would her week go so much more smoothly.  She argues that the weekend is her time to rest.  How can I dispute that when there is "stuff" every night until bedtime.  Cannot wait to add volleyball games and practices to this mix.