AIBU to think fitting homework in is so hard?

No I meant you should only do this for 10 minutes at a time - not that the kids will learn to read in 10 minutes! Often and short was much better for us.

I'd just read to him for now OP.

Honestly just focus on 5-10 mins daily. No more. Give the toddler breakfast to eat and have him read at the table.

What time are you getting up? It tends to work best with reception age kids if you write off evenings & get them in bed by 7 or even earlier, so that they wake early enough the next morning to fit it in when they are fresh.

@purpletick I have the same struggle with my 5 year old DTs, they are in ASC 3 times a week and are shattered when they get home, one day they have swimming straight after school so that doesn't work either. The best solution I have found is getting to school a bit earlier and doing it in the car with them, it's not ideal and trying to keep one quiet whilst the other reads is still an issue but it's better than the struggle of trying to force them to do it after school when they are tired.

I empathise op. Mine are also 5 and 2. Luckily my 5 year old enjoys the reading but I struggle to fit it in as much as i’d like as my 2 year old is incredibly clingy and going through terrible 2s and doesn’t give me space to help my 5 year old.

I feel for you, its so hard when they are small and already so tired after the school day. We try to do the majority on weekends. Sometimes she's not in the mood and we'll take it in turns to read a page each of her reading book to make it easier.
With tricky words, each week we write them down and stick them around the house on various doors as "passwords" that she has to say before going through. This has been a game changer as its a fun game, she reminds us to "say the password" and even tells us if we've forgotten to change them from last week's words!

Wrap around child care should hear the kids read. Then your child can reread to you when dressed in the morning or when in car.

Make special effort to hear them read on Sat and Sun. Reading is essential for all success at school.

I think mornings and be creative with the 2 year old.

Can she sit with you and listen too or have her own book?
Or just be firm - 10mins play with her trains?
Or stick her in a play pen in a different room and ignore?
Or give her 10mins TV?

With mine, they read after a short afternoon tea break. Signed the reader book, spelling etc . Before dinner.

ThenZ my child would reread their reader in the morning while we drove to bus stop. Their young sibling was happy in carseat.

It’s totally impossible - I drop mine off every morning at 07:30 and pick them up at 6 from wraparound care because I have to work full time as a single mother.

When exactly am I supposed to do homework in the 30 minutes of consciousness before the school run or the 2 hours of time at home before bed when also squeezing in cooking, tea, bath, bed and a 2 year old sibling’s needs?

And make sure he can do hospital corners and shine his shoes too. Bonus points if you can get him to salute you.

Are you running a home or a boot camp?!

Luckily there's no formalised homework in my kids' primary school but we did make sure to read with them almost every day. We built it into story time in the evenings - would pick a book to take turns reading to each other, do a few pages of their reading and then read something they chose to them, etc. We both work full time so there was really no other option besides bedtime. If it's just reading this year can you build it into the bedtime routine? Should only take a few minutes. Are you a single parent?

DD is in reception and luckily we only get given phonics sheets and a new book once a week. I don’t make a point of doing it though. I just ask DD to read her book to me either in the morning or at bedtime and we go through any words she struggles with together and talk about tricky words and phonics. I wouldn’t have time to actively do any sort of homework with having 7mo DS.

To be honest it's pointless at this age, reading is enough and more but only if they are willing. I slacked of with one of mine because it was causing more harm than good. In year 5 he suddenly wanted to do it. By high school he was in all top sets and by GCSE he got all 7,8 and 9s. He is on track to get A and A* for A levels. Forcing homework at reception can put them off education. I'm very glad I took a more relaxed approach at such a young age. Schools only care about figures to make them look good not the welfare of the children.

After school he needs a snack then homework.
Then time to play while you make dinner bath and bed. It's a good routine when you get into it

as it's just reading, and reading needs to be fun, I'd do it when you have 5 minutes to snuggle on the sofa and do it together. it doesn't have to be the full book every night repeated 7 times. just read with him for 5 minutes. next night do some more pages. if you finish the book sign it off and read one of his own.

more than freezing him to read, you're instilling a love of books. that will make your life easier and his richer in the long term

If there is one thing I regret about my (now adult) son’s time at primary school it is the time we spent struggling with homework. I wish I had just left it. Times tables and spelling I didn’t mind but everything else was a waste of his and my time and caused so much upset and stress. By the time he went to secondary school the pattern was completely established - homework was a time of conflict and anxiety. At secondary school homework is necessary and important and children at that age are old enough to develop the skills to work independently. That was made much more difficult because of having to unpick the established pattern of me ‘making’ him reluctantly engage with the work.

My DS always preferred me to read to him at bedtime than do it himself. What worked was for us to read alternate pages. Me, him, me, him......

It’s really hard when they’re very young because bedtime is early.
I was a single parent and worked full time. There was no time before school because the rush to get us both up and ready for school and work then the drop off and mad race to work. My child would be in a childcare setting after school
with me collecting between 5.30 and 6 then off home and having to make tea. It’s basically bedtime then.
I can’t recall how I squeezed in spelling although reading was done as part of the bedtime routine.

I disagree. Mornings are stressful enough, especially with a toddler in the mix.
You need to conquer his ‘not in the mood’ period after school. A snack, drink, then homework should become routine, regardless of whether he fancies it or not. He’ll soon get the hang of it and don’t automatically. It sets him up well for as he gets older too, to have an established routine.

We had to get into a routine. We don't do loads but reading and times tables are important. And mine have instruments to practice.

We tried all sorts, the only thing that worked was waiting until after dinner. They need a rest and food. I'd tell them they could have pudding after homework.

This routine has worked for the past few years for us. Once it's established it's not so difficult to implement.