Primary 5 (age 9-10) homework - how much, how often?

[Carrotsandcelery]

My dd is 9 and in Primary 5 in the Scottish Educational system.
The school has recently increased the homework issued.
They are given a story to read and a lengthy worksheet related to the story on a Monday for the Wednesday and on a Wednesday for the Friday. They also are given spellings (about 25) on the Monday which they have to write out 3 times each. They write about 4 sentences as well, using 4 of the words. They have to learn these words for a test on the Friday.
Is this a normal amount.
Dd has several after school activities and often has to come with me while ds attends after school activities as well.
She has spent a lot of her home time working on these exercises. Is that just the way it is from now on or is this a lot to do?
Is it inappropriate to ask her to do homework in the car while she is hanging around with me waiting for ds to finish activities?

[onimolap]

Doing your homework on the bus (or in the car) is an honourable tradition.

DS gets 2 homeworks a night (meant to take no more than 20 minutes each), plus he is meant to read daily and write up his reading record himself.

[Carrotsandcelery]

Wow - that sounds like even more work.
I feel bad about getting her to do it while we are sitting outside music lessons etc but it seems a good use of the time and to free up time to play when we get home.

[munstersmum]

Is the problem the quantity or how quickly it has to be turned around? It seems there is not option to do any of it over the weekend. Maybe ask if the Wed for Fri worksheet could be handed in on a Mon?

[Carrotsandcelery]

The turn around is a bit of an issue for us. We used to get it out on a Monday to return on a Friday which gave us plenty of time to process it in a better quality manner. Two nights to process it though makes it very tight.
I used to teach Secondary and we always gave at least a week unless it was catch up work. It was a school rule to allow pupils to plan their schedules with other subjects.

[SalsG]

My dd is 6 and has reading 3 nights, maths the other 2 nights and 10 spellings to be written out 5 times for a test each week. My ds is 12 and has 3 sets of homework each night taking 1/2 hour each! On top of that they both attend Beavers/Scouts and after school clubs!

[Carrotsandcelery]

The school has a policy of no homework for anyone at weekends.
She does swimming one night and horse riding and violin on a separate night so her own schedule is not that busy. Her ds has a very busy schedule though and she gets dragged along, which is the problem really.
I know that by P7 the workload is heavy so I will have to figure out what we are going to do.

[Buda]

My DS is in Year 5 and they get given spellings on a Monday. Usually 10. They have to write them into sentences and sort them into alphabetical order and learn them for the Friday. On Wednesday they get homework - maths, literacy and sometimes topic. Maybe 4 sheets of the literacy and topic. The maths is on a website. That all has to be handed in on the following Tuesday. They are also supposed to read for 20 mins each night.

[Carrotsandcelery]

That sounds about the same amount of work over the course of a week Buda.
Do you think I could ask the teachers if we could have all the work on a Monday so that she can do it during the quieter time at the start of the week or would that be cheeky?

[Solo2]

That actually sounds blissfully little compared to my 9 yr old twins! They get up to 25 spellings a week (words like "conscientious" this current week) for a Monday test, plus are expected to read every night. they also get one to two subjects per night - eg Physical Science - do an experiment, writie it up and draw a diagram, Geography, History, French, Maths and English.

It usually takes them about an hour to do the main subjects and then more time for the spellings/ reading and they're currently getting - on TOP of all this - revision for pending school exams - eg two English Comprehensions plus finding adjectives - would be one lot of revision.

As a result, they can't do any clubs after school - although they do one at school on Wed and we don't then get home till around 6pm when they have to begin the homework thing. Even I'm exhausted by this and finding it hard to help with Maths homework, especially (see my other thread).

Tonight is an example - DS1 had English revision sheets to do, plus learning several French words - meaning and spellings, plus a science experiment to do and write up and do diagrams. DS2 had English revision sheets(similar), Maths revision of compund fractions and conversions to decimals, percentages, whole numbers, 4 science questiosn to research and answer and French words to learn.

We got home around 4pm and they've worked from about 4.15 pm till 6pm and still haven't finished but are too tired and so are now watching TV....

[Carrotsandcelery]

Yikes Solo2! That is a lot of homework. Is this in a British school?
There is an afterschool club Euphemia but it is not fantastic to be honest. It is fine for care for working parents but they concentrate on physical exercise and social interaction rather than on getting homework done. If it was focussed on homework then it would be the solution.

[bibbitybobbityhat]

That is frankly ridiculous Solo! Is it a private school? I would never want my 9 year old to have to do that amount of homework.

[Carrotsandcelery]

I have to admit it is a real shame they don't have time for other interests. Do they enjoy the work. If they thrive on it it is not so scary. If they would rather be swimming or dancing etc then it is a real shame.

[paranoid2]

My Dts are 9 and in school in NI.

They get about 30 spellings to learn over the week, number facts to revise each night, eg prime numbers/ multiplication/division tables or learning facts about a maths topic. they sometimes get English facts to learn also. They get a worksheet to do on either english or maths each night and they are expected to read for about 20 mins. Mine are also preparing for the transfer test to post primary in November so have revision at the weekend as they go over tests done in class

What you child gets doesnt sound too bad tbh

[Carrotsandcelery]

Now that I hear what other schools are handing out I feel we have got off lightly. What time are you sending your dcs to bed? We are suspicious that we are maybe sending our dd too early for her age and that that may be the problem.

[Solo2]

Carrots and Bibbity, my twins are at an acdemically selective school in England and we sort of knew what it'd be liked when we 'signed up' for it. I guess this is partly how the school gest such good results - but there are times when I feel like my DCs just need a break from all the pressure!

My sons probably take longer than others to do their homework as there's always such a battle and resistance to it. Some children simply come home, get straight down to it and are finished within about 40 mins - which I think is the actualy expected time for it all to take each night (more at w/e).

In practice, we rarely do the spellings except once, as DCs are pretty good anyway at literacy stuff. On the other hand, the Maths can be a massive struggle even for me and take much longer than it should!

I spent about an hour last night just trying to help DS2 revise compound fractions, translating them into whole numbers and he just couldn't 'get it' at all.

The kind of homework the OPs child is getting was about what my twins had to do in Reception/ Yr 1. It's going to get more and more as time goes on but at least they'll be fully prepared for the greater expectations of the senior school, whilst some children coming into that system fresh, at that point, will get a massive shock - although I'm sure many of them will be 'maths geniuses' and find that part of the homework quick and easy!

[Carrotsandcelery]

I understand better now Solo2. I assume they are bright then and, as you say, you knew when you signed up that it would be intense.
In my experience children get increasing amounts of homework in Primary school and the shock is that they get relatively little in S1 and S2. The teachers have such a massive work load for the senior pupils that they cannot issue a great deal for the junior classes. The teaching staff just can't cope otherwise.

[Solo2]

I really hope they do experience a decrease in homework at first, once the start in the seniors! They're about middle-ish in their school - so not 'coasting along' at all or mega-bright compared to some of their peers but mainly 'holding their own'....I hope!