Doing Nothing is Something by Anna Quindlen

What is one reason that downtime is important?

• Summer can be boring.

• Children may be overscheduled.

• Quiet time fuels creativity.

• Parents have way too little leisure time.

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Which statement is a fact?

• Scheduling may stunt creativity.

• Maybe that kind of summer is gone for good.

• There is even a free-time movement and website.

• Enrichment benefits only parents.

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Based on the text, children mostly lack downtime mainly because of

• parents

• schools

• society

• children themselves

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Which statement is an opinion?

• Karen Hughes noted her dedication to family time: she arranged to have dinner with her son one night a week.

• On Family Night, there is no homework, no athletic practices, and no after school events.

• In the last 20 years, kids have lost about four unstructured hours a week.

• Perhaps we are creating an entire generation of people whose ability to think outside the box is being systematically stunted by scheduling.

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What does the author suggest parents do with the television sets?

• Throw them away.

• Unhook the cable box.

• Watch TV with their children.

• TVs can be removed.

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Which evidence does Anna Quindlen give to support her position that downtime encourages creativity?

• a study showing that children have lost four unstructured hours a week

• her description of the global Right to Play movement

• a reference to research on doing nothing and thinking

• the fact that parents in Omaha lobbied for additional recess

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The kind of summer Anna Quindlen fears is gone for good is the kind that is

• productive

• joyless

• enriching

• unstructured

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Anna Quindlen thinks summer enrichment activities for children are really

• boring but necessary

• for the convenience of their parents

• meaningless and wasteful

• more important than school

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Quindlen's position in her essay is that

• families spend too little time together

• children spend too much of their summer vacations doing useless activities

• children need to have downtime to become creative, developed people

• parents need to do a better job of scheduling their children's activities

Which of the following does Quindlen use to support a claim she makes about how children's lives have changed?

• a story about a presidential aide who resigned because of family duties

• the idea that kids will commit more crimes if they aren't enrolled in sports programs

• examples that show how much better summer camps are now than when she was a child

• a study that shows American children have less unscheduled time than they did 20 years ago

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