I certainly agree that free time should be free of the obligations of school. So far as quizzes go, the determiner of busy work is always the student. Is taking daily quizzes meant to give the teacher feedback or to engage students in the process of learning? Students are not going to respond well to daily quizzes.

As far as grading is concerned, if the entirety of a student's grade is based off of an exam, you are creating a high stress high stakes scenario. Again, this isn't conducive to student success. It's a recipe for disengagement, depression, and cheating. Should you say, "well, students can't cheat if I proctor them." Perhaps, but you are creating a scenario where you are the jailor and they are a prisoner. I've beem told as much.

So what do you do instead? Daily practice. You lay out the material and give studenta guided exercises. Ask them probing questions. Get them to engage with one another. This is called Active Learning anf studies have shown it to be one of the most effective ways of learning. Second only to teaching.

Then yoh evaluate their work, grade it as one portion of the sum totak of their grade, (as opposed to a percentage of a percentage, and give personalized independent feedback. The feedback is for them. It is secondary that you get feedback as well.

Exams should be an assesment of the cumulative learning (called a Cummulative or Sumative Assesment. As opposed the classwork which is known as a Formative Assesment). Students shouldn't breeze through it. In fact it should be more difficult than what they've seen. As a culmination of what they have learned. They should be able to extend it into the unknown. And these exams are weighted accordingly.