I used to get home around dinner time, because it took about that long to get home from school: I was in a magnet program. I can't tell where the author of the article lives, but if they have a haul to get to school, that might be the first chance the kid gets to really work on homework. (I could do readings and stuff on the bus, and did, but not everyone can..a lot of folks would get carsick if they tried that.)