Do you agree with homework in Primary

When mine were in primary I asked ds's teacher to not give homework over the weekends and school holidays.

I explained that during the week there was time to do homework but that weekends and school holidays were strictly family time.

It fell on deaf ears. The few times we didn't hand in summer holiday homework resulted in a snippy note in their books.

One year the summer project was a beach scene in a shoe box (ffs), did the project, happily glued in real frozen prawns to add a bit of realism.

Did you make them aware of your 'rules' and tell them that those were going to be applied when you accepted the place?

If a school accepts my child they agree to my rules.

A reading book and spellings every week is actually useful for me to understand what my child is capable of and help him progress as sadly he's not a natural reader and is a little behind where he should be. (Despite our best efforts reading to him since he was a baby he's just not fussed about books.) I can see why it wouldn't seem as important if your children love to read for fun, but I'm not sure I'd be able to convince mine to read with me if it wasn't his homework.

In the GCSE years, 9-12, homework generally serves as a practice of newly taught skills, in the same way that a child will practice music for example outside of the regular lesson. The syllabus is so full that spending a lot of time in the classroom practising a skill would be wasteful.
Would those who disapprove of Homework also stop them practising their music etc?

I think this is the kind of thing i’d especially object to as it sounds like it actually requires more effort from the parent than the child!

I don’t agree with homework in primary bar reading and spellings, but would be uneasy with telling my children to ignore teachers’ instructions. Also, my children would hate to get told off for not doing it!

DD has just started year 1 and we’re already seeing reading - easily done as we’ve always read to her, maths apps - not keen on this as I’d prefer to limit screen time during the week not increase it, handwriting practice - cursive and it’s a nightmare.

I’ve also been informed by DD and other parents that if the ‘homework’ isn’t completed, they have to finish it off in break and lunchtime. Strikes me as a way to kill a love for learning especially at 5 years old. I’ve been informed by the school that they haven’t even started learning times tables in class yet and we’re supposed to be completing them on this maths app, which also seems unfair.

Nope. Don’t agree with it at all. I don’t force mine to do it, I don’t engage with it or ask if it’s been done, don’t check the book etc, school are aware of my views. When we are at home we relax and do what we want to, I’m not forcing my children to do something that should be covered in school hours. We read everyday anyway a mixture of home and school library books, even during lockdown as we had no access to a laptop and couldn’t complete the work, school said as long as they read that’s the most important thing, my kids are doing fine without it. And any time homework rewards are given out, my kids get a treat too.

Sums/spellings isn't about hard work though. It's about making sure they are properly ready for secondary.

Either they can spell the words (in which case spellings homework takes 5 minutes) or they can't (in which case they should learn them now - secondary schools don't do spellings - just primaries). They should also make sure they understand what the spellings actually mean - which is often overlooked.

If you want them in higher maths sets in secondary then it's common sense to practice the sums now.

Have you looked at their school maths books? Have you asked the teacher if they are getting all their maths work done in lessons? If they are working slowly and only finishing half of the maths in class then you can see why school would want them to practice sums at home too.

If they stay in competitive sport then they will continue with long hours. I'd be getting as much educational groundwork done at primary.

How amazing then that my DC’s manage to cope so well moving from primary, where they didn’t do any homework to senior where they had a mandatory homework club.

As a concept no, because especially in infants- it is not in the childs control if they can do that homework. If it needs an adult to assist e.g learning something they haven't practiced or getting info from the internet or a textbook then its just a test of who has parents with free time and who doesn't.

As a kid, if I couldn't do the work independently then there was going to be nobody to help me (parents worked late and I had siblings to help with and chores to do) and I had to miss playtimes to make up for something I never had a chance of being able to do. I wanted to read everyday and I'm sure my education would have benefitted, but my home life was not able to facilitate that before I could read fully on my own.

I like the sending home of reading books, wonderful if a kid gets more opportunities to read - but if a parent has to do it with them and fill out a log- its a parent test nothing to do with the childs ability or willingness to work.

If you choose to send your child to school you agree to their rules. If that means homework, you support the teacher in doing their homework. You're not special, your kids aren't better than everyone else, and if their class requires homework of the class they should do their homework.

Or you home ed.

Jesus my typos, they'd KEEL OVER in shock

Wow my daughter's school is the same...lol..is it possible it's the same school?

In her school in London, they used to give different homework. But we moved last year and in this place I've been really happy that they only have the reading which should happen 5 times a week and then there is a couple of maths apps that they should do but there's no set amount of time etc. The school likes to focus on reading which I think at that age is important. My daughter has definitely improved in that area of school since coming here.

Teacher here. I disagree with homework at primary and secondary school. Catch up work is helpful at GCSE level, but no more. It normalises blurring the lines between home and school/work which I don't think is healthy for children or adults.

You're BU.

A small amount of homework is needed to set the habit up for secondary. They'd keep over in school if it hit them for the first time in secondary.

5 hours of one teacher across 30 kids. Not including PE, assembly, forest school and trips. Do the maths on how much 1:1 time each child gets per day or week and how much they are chatting to their mates.

I agree with reading and times tables practice.

Undecided about whether there is any evidence for spelling tests. Inclined to think pointless.

Think the rest is pointless.

I have no objection to helping them learn their tables either as they're essential. Why are tables essential? I could make a case for 2x, 3x, 5x and 7x but why any others?

Not to be rude OP, but you chose 3 kids and competitive sport.