Nova Scotia is coming up with new guidelines so that students will be assigned a standard amount of homework based on their grade level.

Mary Fedorchuck with the Department of Education said homework assignments across Nova Scotia vary too much. She said the new guidelines will help teachers across the province co-ordinate how much homework they give to students.

Nadine Saunders said she and her son William, who is in Grade 7 at Hebbville Academy in Bridgewater, N.S., will appreciate the changes.

William has been in a rotary class system since Grade 5 and has at times spent two hours a night doing homework.

"The teachers didn't know when the other teachers were giving homework and sometimes they'd overload you with homework and you didn't get it all done in time," Saunders told CBC News on Wednesday.

Jeff Dewolfe, the student co-ordinator for the South Shore Regional School Board and a former teacher, said teachers sometimes assign busy work because they feel obligated to do so.

"I felt obligated to some degree to give homework every night, so that the parents would see me as someone who was diligent and providing a strong academic program for their children," Dewolfe said.

As for William Saunders, he said he looked forward to the change and potentially more free time. "I would go outside and go back in the woods, and I wouldn't have to worry at all," he said.

The Department of Education hopes to release the guidelines in February.