How much homework for a child is too much? My grand daughter spends at least four hours on

[Sancho]

11. I suppose anything is possible, but it's unlikely to have copying large sections of a book.

If nothing else, there has been a solid avoidance of plagiarism over the last couple decades. I would think the school administration would not approve of whole passage copying unless there was a specific educational reason.

Most districts or supervisors expect teachers to keep track of homework, assignments, or some kind of accountability because of "new" assessment systems that are data driven. Because of this, checks or something similar are given for every assignment. If a typical 6th grade teacher has 5 classes of 25 students and everyone gets an assignment every day, there's no possible way to read everything and react in detail. Most teachers have some assignments that they score individually, but more and more districts are using a variety of standardized and computer-based assessments to prepare for for high-stakes testing. Things like homework are "just do it" and so they get a check (or plus, check, minus) for turning in the work.

Too much homework won't help students learn, but you might take note that school days in the US are shorter than other countries, and our school year of 180 days is less than international competition with 210 or 230 day years. Combined with crowded classrooms, our students have less "time on task" or individual attention. Sometimes teachers try to make up the difference with excessive homework (especially in accelerated classes). They know their students are competing on tests against kids who have more time to learn.

You should talk to the teacher and find out if there's a reason for the homework or if it's a rogue teacher with an unreasonable expectation.