Is it too much for my 6 year old DD ? Homework.

I think it's easier at this age to encourage them to do household chores with you instead of formal learning.

E.g. writing shopping lists, writing cards for people and doing a small drawing inside - or wherever you have to 'do math' or write something down. "How much do these potatoes cost?" when shopping, etc. Just flagging with her the times you are writing and doing maths is also good.

Mine labelled all our household keys at this age (badly spelt) and the key fobs still have her handwriting on, even though she's an adult!

My DC were never tired after school and by this age were doing dancing, brownies, piano and swimming. We still fitted in reading homework and whatever else was required (not much) but dc could follow their interests after school.

I used to teach basic skills to teenagers who had fallen through the gaps.

So one way I used to teach maths was by rewriting the Monopoly cards to give very simple sums like 'what is the hour now times the date', 'How many pieces of fruit are in the fruit bowl' etc etc and I magnetised a load of coins that I used on the magnet board to do basic maths. As long as the questions were age appropriate and linked to your pets or local street names or houses or friends it helps keep them interested. So 'what is the number of dogs Dave owns added to the hour now' kinda thing. What is the number of the green house on X street plus todays date?

I also used chalk pens on a large white board for them to write things rather than use pens. So they would write the maths to the monopoly questions on the board and if they couldnt do the maths we would talk them through it and little by little they started to get it. Many kids who would not even pick up a pen would go all out on writing on a whiteboard, they loved it.

10 minutes a day is over an hour a week and makes a difference ime- especially if you do it in school holidays too.

Sorry can't edit my post it should say depending what is behind the struggles

Also
"then.more.wrotomgnat" should be then more worksheets at home

At 6 it's very obvious who is on a lower reading level, or might not have handwriting that isn't quite legible and struggles to write sentences.

The only things that the 6 year old is "behind" is the expectations for 6 year olds in our very prescribed education system.

It's not a particularly reliable indicator of success in later life.

Have you spoken tow school about where she is at? Are they worried what are they doing to support her? Do they have thoughts on why she is struggling?

I ask because depending what is behaving nd struggles may inform your approach.
For example if she has poor fine motor skills or her hand/ finger muscles are a bit weaker then a day of writing at school and then.more.wrotomgnat home may not help. But you could do things like dough disco, using theraputty playing games that involve fine motor control. Will all help the writing without work sheets.

Have you tried practicing spellings without writing? My child hated spelling practice with writing (they have various issues with writing) we practiced spellings verbally, used magnetic letters or sometimes a white board if they did feel like writing. I'm these situations the spelling was a lot better. It's definitely worth breaking it down figuring out the issues and finding the best way to approach it.

Try downloading “hit the button” on your phone and let her play for 10 mins a day. It will see more like a game and less like a slog. I wouldn’t worry too much at age 6 @isittoomcuh

Oh I forgot I also taught ds chess last year! Recommend that too

I agree with doing some work at home because my ds has very slow processing so he needs to be ahead in skills so he doesn’t have too much cognitive load in the classroom - ie he has the basics down, so his brain is free to think. Also this year is class teacher is a bit hopeless so he doesn’t get much out of school. He has PLENTY of time to play. Reading + ten mins of work isn’t going to kill his desire to learn.

Last year (Y1) we focused on number bonds and handwriting. This year we are focused on comprehension and writing/spelling.

We play a lot of Monopoly (he was the banker) and dice games and we read (nearly) every day. But yes we do practise in the mornings after breakfast is the best time.

In Y2 ds started TT rockstars thru school - he loves it. He has completely mastered his 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 , 11 multiplication and division facts. He also has spelling shed , Purple Mash and a basic adding/subtracting app.

We let him choose what to do most days - he can pick between a fun workbook based on Minecraft or he can do quizzes I set for him or whatever else I’ve dreamed up but I do make sure if he hasn’t chosen spelling recently we do some practice every now and then. I don’t ONLY do academics - we write cards, learn to draw and practice mouse and keyboard skills and coding etc too sometimes.

He is improving at home but in class he still struggles. His teacher doesn’t get the best out of him, for reasons I can’t fathom.

I do think it’s fine to ask dc to concentrate. He complies because I don’t let him say no, I say “ok but we have lots of time now, if you don’t do it today then it will take longer tomorrow or we have to do it after school so you will miss out some TV time.”

I discovered with headstrong older dd who is academically gifted, that NOT creating a homework habit made things difficult when she had to do spelling practice in KS2.

I also have many Asian friends with happy children doing forced piano and maths tutoring. It’s a very white English thing to believe it’s enough to just play until … when? Age 11?

How are you defining “behind”? What does her teacher say?

at this age I did reading etc in the morning with mine as they were just very tired after school. They are fresher in the morning.

Another vote for reading - it is the base of all learning, powers the writing, and enables the maths questions to be understood when maths gets a both more challenging in year 5 and 6.

Additionally, SATS assess writing, reading and maths, so strong reading and writing scores can pull up the overall score even if the maths score is weaker. These define sets at secondary school.

Furthermore, for the 11+ the reading comprehension skill is essential to decode the questions - an excellent mathematician with poor reading comprehension will struggle, whereas an average mathematician with strong reading comprehension may excel.

Read, read, read.

15 minutes of useful work per night is absolutely fine for a 6 year old.

For me that isn't the problem. Nor is the fact that your daughter doesn't want to do it. Very few children want to study. It isn't as fun as watching TV or playing outside etc. it is 100% normal and healthy for her to prefer and say that she doesn't want to study, and wants to do those instead.

But as a parent, you don't give that option. She doesn't have an option to not go to school, not sleep, not have dinner, not get dressed etc. All of those are required. If you make a bit of studying into one of these requirements, the complaining stops, and it just becomes a regular part of their life, that they accept.

You said though, that when she complains or pushes back, you tell her it is ok and she can not do it.

If you do that, of course she is going to learn that "if I push back and moan, sometimes mummy doesn't make me, and then sometimes I can play more" - so of course she will increase her resistance and show more and more emotion/push back against it.

Make it into a regular part of your routine, as non-negotiable as brushing your teeth.. and within short while you will have no complaints any more.

But if you keep it flexible/optional, most children will always try and find ways of getting the fun option for that evening.

@waterrat So you really think at 6 it’s not already fairly clear who is struggling? It absolutely is. By 9 it’s very obvious and of course some dc don’t catch up or they would all get fantastic results. They don’t, because not all have the same intellect.

I would do maths in a fun way. Measuring for cooking. We used to play cards for adding up. Lots of counting games and cutting up cakes into fractions etc. Maybe stick to practical things? Write lists and thank you letters or a diary. Anything fun. These don’t need to be done every day but reading should be.

You could try doing it in the morning rather than at night if she’s too tired at night. For some kids its about finding that hook that brings them into wanting to do the writing by themselves like “ok lets play restaurants, I’d love to choose what to eat, can you write the menu while I go and load the dishwasher” or something then off they go - absorbed in the game and motivated to write for fun. Or gift her a little journal and a special pen to write with. Or ask her to write a list of unicorn names, or whatever she’s into.
My friends child struggles with reading but she’s found that he loves books about skateboards, so that’s what they read lots of!

I teach this age group and I really do not suggest doing yet more work at home. School is exhausting, tiring and the children work hard. Let your child play at home . The only thing I insist my parents do is hear their children read at least five times a week.

Why not do a fun project around something she's interested in. If you are a family that likes castles/ houses, do the history, photos, drawings..with a short paragraph and make a scrapbook. Sport, art, crafts, cars, boats, ...can add statistical information for maths practice etc..how many more people in 2026 visited than 2000..

I see the aim of home being to allow large amounts of unstructured emotional regulation, play and rest. To let the kids recover from the exhaustion of school and process everything they’ve learned, through playing. That’s how their brain sorts stuff out at this age. Let home be a haven of peace and rest, so she’s ready for school the next day happy and relaxed, and in the best state she can be to learn again.

Tonight my similarly aged DD ran around in the hailstorm in the garden after school for 20 minutes, then came in and watched tv, then ate her tea, then played with a hoola hoop and made a house out of cushions, had a bath then I read her a book and into bed. I read all sorts to her, not school books. She has a desk in the living room she likes sitting at and some days she will just want to sit and write, but many days she doesn’t and that’s alright. She does other things instead. Sometimes we go out walking after school, or baking, or paints. Some nights she plays imaginary games all night, some nights it’s 2 hours of tv. A range of experiences is my aim.

I couldn't agree more!
I always refused to make a fuss about children doing homework in KS1, other than reading at home.

Imo there should be a purpose to learning, preferably linked to the child's interests, so anything involving food, measuring ingredients, cutting pizza/cake/tarts into fractions, also playing board games like snakes & ladders, ludo etc. You can use 2 dice and add or multiply the numbers. Dice can have spots or figures on them.
What about taking orders for Sunday brunch, or similar, from each family member to encourage writing/spelling?
The possibilities are endless with a bit of imagination.

I think you are going to do more harm than good. The problem is the very real risk you turn your dc off education for many years.

I work with this age group. Obviously some children have particular difficulties due to SEND, SEMH and or speech and language issues. But in general, the children who struggle with the work in school have weaker pencil control, limited comprehension and lack confidence with numbers. I would do colouring, play-doh, read exciting stories that they want to hear the outcome of, take them places, listen to audiobooks, do baking and play shops and board games (Orchard games, Ludo, Snakes and Ladders). These are the things I think most of these children need and there isn't time for in the curriculum. I probably shouldn't say this but I think we spend enough time trying to force them to do worksheets!