Homework and Hermits

HOMEWORK!!! Who thought that giving homework would be a good idea? I'm sure its not just us students who hate doing it, but think about those teachers, who thought that they'd enjoy reading and marking the homework that us students rushed at the last minute so that we could get on with watching our favourite TV show or hanging out with our friends?
As the sort of student who can't be bothered with the fuss teachers make when you don't hand work in, I do my homework. But don't be fooled! That doesn't make me a teacher's pet, or some sort of nerd who actually enjoys sitting at a desk doing extra work. Living in England, my half term has just started. At the age of 11 my sister is all "yay! A week of no school! A week of no work!" However, at 16 and doing A-levels, half-term is the holiday of doom. It is the week where you have to catching up with all the work that has been piling up since the beginning of the new term, just in time to go back to school the following Monday for the whole system of work to start up again. If we had two weeks off then maybe we would have one week to catch up, and one week to do what we like. But NO! Apparently we are only allowed the occasional free time, just enough to say 'hi' to our friends over MSN, moan about how you have soooo much work left, then say 'bi' because your parents have just come to check on you and are saying "why aren't you getting on with your homework?! Don't you want to get such-and-such a grade?" The answer is, yes, obviously, but sometimes you feel like becoming a hermit.
Hermits have the best of lives. No people to worry about, no teachers to tell them when they should or shouldn't be doing work or having free time, and no reason to get up early on a Saturday morning. Ok, so they also have no friends, but what about hermits reunited? Plus, I'm guessing you could be a internet-savvy hermit who talks to people via chat rooms etc. Ok, maybe being a hermit isn't the best of ideas for someone like me who can't function without friends to talk to on a regular basis, but surely there has to be a mid-way meeting point?

So where is that half-way between homework and hermit?