AIBU to not do homework with reception age DC?

It's young, however. I used to teach. We would have secondary age students coming through that couldn't read. Had never read a book. Parents dumbfounded but equally had never tried reading with them to realise! Parents should take an active part in their child's schooling. As long as you make sure they're on track with basic skills is fine.

I refused to use an app.
We read actual books and he does a few sums and spelling which are age appropriate.
I won't have him in school for 7.5 hours a day and then start homework.

I really wouldn’t worry about it, OP. What you’re doing sounds more than enough. You certainly haven’t failed your DC.

I have a DC in reception and our school only sends home phonics books, nothing else. My friends with DCs in other local schools talk about “the school apps” and I’m secretly really glad we don’t have any of that, I’d hate to feel obliged to do things on a screen for school.

We just read the phonics book every night and the rest is just whatever DC wants to do - board games with counting, writing just using the pens and paper that are out, on DC’s little craft table, l lo reading a non-fiction book from the library about animals. I honestly believe at this age it’s about sparking curiosity and enjoyment of learning, rather than filling in worksheets/completing apps, so I’d just keep doing what you’re doing…and maybe add in watching Number Blocks as a quick win!

Are you bilingual?

Why don’t you arrange to go into school and have a chat with them. You can find out what they expect and regard as the norm and find out how your child is doing compared to the goals that are set in that school. Once you are armed with all the information, you can make an informed decision as a parent about what you do, and don’t want to do.

Edited to add: I think it would be worth explaining to them that you have no previous experience of the schooling system in England.

Aside from reading, I am hugely against homework at primary school. I resent them dictating what enriching activities to do and when.

DH works full time and I work 4 days per week. DC5 is in afterschool club those 4 days so the most we do is read her reading book (perhaps 2 of those 4 days and on the weekend). The school is really good about sending home ideas of additional learning to do and has just started to set some maths tasks, but we don’t really do them, we don’t have time. DC5 loves to write and so will often grab herself some paper and write lists of things and is starting to write sentences, but this is off her own back. Her letter formation is not great but she will not accept instruction from me on how to form the letters properly, so we don’t do any of that. I’d rather let her work that out and not quell her enthusiasm for writing by criticising.

I don’t believe that everyone else will be doing loads at home. We live in an affluent area with largely engaged and interested parents and DC’s TA proactively came up to me and praised the amount of reading we do at home, which suggests we are doing more than most.

Number bonds are the pairs of numbers that add up to 10 (I found out at parents' evening that we were supposed to be practicing those) e.g. 4 and 6. Easy to practice and useful.

If DD is writing, I remind her about letter formation. They do that a lot at school though, so I don't worry about it too much. Remember that a sentence can be 3 words.

It's the school's job to worry about the eyfs goals, not yours! If you're worried go in and speak to them.
We have 2 reading books a week that we are supposed to read 3x each (we usually manage do them twice) and about 4 worksheets per week on writing or maths.

These are extra practice but my child does her learning in school - she certainly isn't learning new things from the homework. She is doing really well with minimal input from us (although like you we talk about things, do craft, read stories etc).

If your child is behind the school should have notified you - why hasn't there been a parents evening? There's normally 1 per term at primary? The school don't sound great to be honest. They should be keeping you informed of what your child is learning in school each week.

Yes, if they are reading phonics books that is enough.

I'm pretty certain the majority of parents of reception children aren't practising phonics with their child OP. If you want to great but don't worry if not, especially if your child is on track. Phonics is absolutely hammered in schools and a lot of kids get it without any additional practice. I've never worked in a school that has set phonics homework.

My dds reception teacher recommended practicing phonics 3 x per week for " their age plus two minutes" so 6 mins for. 4 yr old.

Have a look at the stickers on the books they send home to understand if dc is on phase 1, 2, or 3 as the expectation by end of reception is completion of phase 3 for majority of kids.

My dd is summer born and probably won't reach that but we are focussing on better concentration and practice, which the teacher says is improving her learning at school. It's important that they enjoy it though no don't feel under pressure.

You might find dc is flying and extra work at home offers little added value.

In reception we read every day and near the end for simple spellings

In 1 reading every day. Spellings once a week and a project every term so 6 a year

In 2 (now) reading every day. Math app that do daily games for 5/10mins a Maths homework over weekend / spellings once a week and project 6 times a year so each term

I don’t like the expectation that your child is to read the same book with you several times. My children would have found that infuriating.

I would have them read a phonics book to me every day (I particularly liked the Julia Donaldson Songbirds series). I also got my children to practise writing 0 to 9 (as it’s so much easier once they stop writing them the wrong way round). They may get some spellings in the summer term but it’s a bit early for times tables.

@somptuosité

Why is that important? I know it's not my thread but I am just curious.

Our school expects reading three times a week and phonics daily. The phonics is just practicing the songs they do at school so doesn’t take long and we do it while DD is playing or when we are in the car. We usually manage the reading but occasionally don’t, we do read to her every night before bed though, just not always the school books. My daughter loves writing and maths so she does some of that pretty much every day as part of her playing.

We almost always make sure our reception age child does their homework but this is definitely not a volume that means doing something every day. What they get varies depending on what they're learning. Since the beginning of spring term they get three reading books a week. For the Easter hols they got this and one worksheet based on technology which is a topic they're going to do after the holidays. The books each take about 5 mins to read. We also read to her most nights before bed as well. She also has a maths workbook that we may do a few mins of here and there when we have time and she fancies it but I recognise it's not necessary. Most of her phonics group are in year 1 so she's doing very well with her reading and at parents evening they had no concerns about any other aspects.

We definitely didn't have an app or anything in reception! Reception was just read to them/with them as often as possible. From Y1 they had Mathletics but was optional. Only in Y4 have they got a bit serious about homework (but I think that just the teacher tbh)

Ah you haven't let them down at all. They are so little and change so quickly.

Have a word with the teacher after the holidays to clarify what you should be doing in terms of homework.

Really I'd say get them reading as much as possible and read to them. Take them to the library and let them pick books.

Count things in every day life, slices of pizza,splashes in the bath etc. encourage them to do simple addition and subtraction using fingers or counters /bits of pasta etc.

Play games with dice so they start to be able to recognise small numbers.

With regards to your actual question my reception age child gets a reading book a day and one lot of writing/spelling practice a week.

When I went to school in mid-late 80s I remember getting reading, spellings and times tables homework.

My youngest is reception age. She reads a couple short books to me a day, we do 10-15 mins on her maths app, and there are usually 1-2 worksheets a week which take maybe 10-15 mins. So on average maybe 30 mins total per day. But, she absolutely loves reading and maths, is very keen to do it and is usually the one saying 'mummy can we do my reading please', so its really easy. My oldest had a similar amount but it took over an hour a day - 45 mins 'encouraging' and 15 mins actually doing, and with hindsight I wished I hadn't pushed as hard as it caused lots of meltdowns, which weren't worth the benefits

Are you bilingual?

@SunStorms

I read to my reception age DC every night, we do lots of craft activities, learn about nature, science and history together, they have a great general knowledge, I thought I was doing fine as a parent but…

You are doing fine!