Do you agree with homework in Primary

I agree. The sports and music provision at my ds’s primary is very limited. While I do support doing spellings, times tables and reading at home and my ds has a routine to read and practice tables every morning, I really feel extra curricular activities in a lot of cases offer more benefits than a lot of the homework that is set. At our school, as well as the reading, spelling and tables, the homework typically replicates work they have already done at school, or is a craft type project that becomes a battle of the parents to see whose paper mache solar system or cake Stonehenge sculpture is the best.

Anything other than reading spelling and times tables is a waste of time

Not the homework I set, deadline told same day each week, task set crack on. Non completion consequence issued. Tasks able to be completed by student independently- if they are stuck they can come and see me, reminded of these frequently.

I'm not talking about Primary - personally think it's a waste except reading - always read books at bedtime, spellings, tables practice which my yr 4/3 children do on an app very little input from me needed.

My sixth formers have a series of lessons in year 12 to improve study skills to assist with becoming independent.

Perspective from the other end. My DC are adults now.
I said no to homework for the youngest because it was making him hate school.
Picked it up slowly by y6.
No harm was done. Both DC achieved the highest grades in GCSEs, A levels and degrees and are now in professional careers.
Hindsight allows you to see the things that matter and homework for a 4/5/6 year old isn't one of them.

Totally agree.

Yes ..I often wonder why we don't advocate 45 year olds moving into a care home to get them ready for being elderly

It isn’t really independent though is it- parents are helping and testing and cajoling primary aged children to do the tasks they have been set.

And in high school it’s micro managed and over directed- that’s why first year students on degree courses struggle with meeting deadlines, writing to word counts and how to do independent reading and research. They have to be taught to use the library and how to use effective search terms etc.

I don’t think much happens at all. If they don’t learn them by year 6 then they have another 5 years to learn them before they might loose some marks on gcse papers. For a lot of people (especially people with SEN) spelling tests are actually not a good way to learn spellings. The increase in reading and writing (thus greater repetition of using words in context) in high school has a significant impact.

No I think it's good. Not all children have the same support at home. I lived 50/50 with my mum and dad, when I was with my mum homework was done and she helped or reminded me but when I was with my dad it wasn't on his radar. I had to remember it myself and throw together whatever I could find when I was at his house. This was really stressful and hard and I remember tearing a cereal box with my hands and unpicking one of his jumpers (sorry dad 😂) so I could make a weaving for homework the next day. It was hard and upset me at the time but it tought me a lot, I always think back to that when I think I can't do something ! I did it as a little girl and I can do it now

Reading, spellings, times tables and some little 5 minute worksheets - Absolutely fine.

Project work and researching stuff. Or writing a whole page of stuff every week. - Too much.

Online stuff - Hate it. During covid they used to get you to log on to online books rather than give you an actual book. Thank god they didn’t carry it on as some great new learning initiative and they brought books back.

The habit of working independently to revise for their exams. In a class of 30 students I can do revision but not bespoke to individual needs, if they go on to university being used to work even more independently on some courses to do well.

Not sure whether you mean if they haven't learnt them by spelling test next week, or by end of primary school (year 6 in England).

If they haven't learnt them by the end of primary school, they will be behind in this area when they go to secondary school. Then I would guess they will probably never learn them, as secondary school doesn't seem to focus on spellings - that was covered in primary school. This will not help them in GCSE or future life.

If they get weekly tests and haven't learnt them, and they get them wrong in the test then the teachers will see they are struggling with spellings. I don't know what happens then. In first instance I would expect parents to be asked to help them learn the spellings that are sent home. Maybe school will try to give them extra time but TAs are so pushed that there is no guarantee. Over time the child falls behind their peers and then they are behind when they start secondary school. See above.

What do you think happens?

Plus 2 older kids train 4.30pm-8.30pm.

So the kids are doing 20 hours sport outside school a week and you "can't fit in homework".

The chance of your kids having a career in their sport is minute. They will need their education. My friend has an olympic gold medal for her sport. Guess what she's doing now age 40? Working in an office.

If you don't have time for homework, then cut back on the sports. You have your priorities all skewed

This

A very small amount of homework also instils some work ethic in the child for taking responsibility for their own work and I think by going against the teacher and saying your child will not complete it, you are setting entirely wrong example to them.

This. We just get 10 spellings & a maths sheet that takes 5 mins. The spellings are always themed to reinforce what they've been doing in school. Reading i don't count, we'd do it anyway.

Yes that's completely fine if you have the time for all, but op says no time due to sports

We didn’t cut back on sports and music in primary years - important to learn the basics then. For DT’s homework started at senior school with a mandatory homework club. Worked well with continuing good grades in school and with out of school activities.

If you don't have time for homework, then cut back on the sports. You have your priorities all skewed

Going to be a bit of a shock doing none in primary and then getting homework in secondary. I don't see an issue with some spelling etc. Aren't you teaching your kids that they can ignore teachers and can do what they like. Rules don't apply to them etc.

What happens if they haven’t learned them?

I didn’t mean kids do schoolwork from dawn til dusk, I meant adults get up early and do xyz home/family labour, then do a full days paid work, then get home and do xyz unpaid labour for their workplace then do xyz home/family labour. It’s normal for mums at least to find they don’t sit down til 9:30pm or so everyday (you see it on here all the time!).

Is that what is done in secondary? In my experience it’s more like do xyz task by Monday, do a draft by Tuesday etc- very little in the way of deadlines for coursework submission is x date in May- here’s what you need to do, get on with it. Obviously the younger the student the more help and checking in is needed, but I don’t think gcse/a level students need to be micromanaged to that extent.

A large part of why the first year of many degrees doesn’t count towards the final grade is because a level students are taught so few self study skills and don’t know how to manage their time, when to ask for support, and how to motivate themselves.

Seconded.

We don’t receive homework, so I set it myself and I’m convinced this is why there has been significant improvement in attainment levels.

Yes there is typically differentiation in maths in lessons.

But spellings? I'm not sure that these are typically differentiated at school.

In England there is a list of words that all pupils are expected to know to spell by the end of year 6. They might be run through in class, but then the pupils are typically expected, as homework, to check they know them. Some will know them, others will need to work harder to learn them. This is usually done at home. It's an easy piece of homework and theoretically it doesn't require any adult assistance (although obviously it helps).

From dawn til dusk seems like a stretch. Surely no primary school asks for more than 20 mins per night?

And what you suggest for secondary is already don pretty routinely.

Quite a few pp have said something like 'maybe a bit in year 6 to get them ready for secondary' and so on. But surely it's better to have a gradual increase than a sort of cliff edge?

Often to me it seems like complaints about homework are less about genuinely feeling that it is in some way detrimental to the child and more about parents who cba supervising it. It's not a big time commitment in primary. If lone parents with several kids and a full time job can do it, anyone can.