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Original poster

how involved do you get in homework? esp interested in early years of secondary

57 replies

Hatwoman · 09/09/2011 13:32

dd has just started y7. So far (all of 3 days Grin) I have asked her if she has any and asked if she's done it; and, in one case looked at it, because it was a picture and she was pleased with it and showed me. tbh even this has hardly been necessary - she's so excited about the whole secondary school thing she's told me unbidded and she's sat down to do it at the kitchen table while I cook. "Have you finished?" has been more of a conversational thing - not a checking up thing iyswim. (I'm sure that will change.) My only other contribution has been to suggest that leaving work due in on Wednesday til next week would be a bad idea as she has after school activites.

am I ok in thinking I don't need to manage the timetable for her, sit down with her, look closely at what she's been asked to do, help her and check the finished product? I don't want to do all that - it's her work and managing it and doing it is part of growing up and being independent; secondly I want teachers to see the original product - not something that's been tweaked by me - so that they can get a proper picture of her.

OP posts:
Ormirian · 09/09/2011 15:56

Yr 7 - about 50% of the hw I had some input. Yr 8 - none. Most of it gets done in school anyway, either at lunchtime or in hw club.

Original poster
Hatwoman · 09/09/2011 15:53

I'm glad I'm not being neglectful! I (from my vast experience Hmm) feel like all you lot and was a bit suprised when rl friend implied hw was a bit of a joint enterprise. I really do feel secondary school is a time to encourage them to strike out on their own.

OP posts:
SecretSquirrels · 09/09/2011 15:09

Exactly as Bonsoir says.
You may find the novelty wears off after a while and you need to check a little closer.

AMumInScotland · 09/09/2011 14:20

What you're doing sounds fine - her doing it at the kitchen table is good, because you can see that she is doing it and hasn't got distracted, and you can answer any questions, be encouraging if she's struggling with something, etc.

I never checked the content by that age, unless DS asked me to look over something (and that was rare), or managed his timetable. So long as she seems to be keeping up with it, let her find her own ways of managing her time - if she's struggling then talk about how she could plan, but you still would need to let her implement that in her own way.

sparks · 09/09/2011 13:54

We often have a convo about what homework she has and when she plans to do it. This is usually in the context of talking about all of our plans for the week/weekend.

I will of course help if asked, but that doesn't happen too often.

I agree that it's her work and learning to manage it is part of growing up and being independent.

Bonsoir · 09/09/2011 13:39

We observe from a distance and (a) intervene if too much homework is done on any single day and try to help them spread it out over the week better (b) help with homework when requested (c) drop into the conversation regularly that we are always willing and able to help with homework if they feel the need.

DSS1 sometimes needs long one-on-one sessions with DP for difficult maths/physics homework (but they both enjoy this!). DSS2 is more likely to get stuck on something small and ask for help to get out of a hole.

mo3d · 09/09/2011 13:35

My opinion is unless i'm asked for help, i stay out of it (i have tried helping in the past and been told they're ok). I now figure it's their h/w if they don't do it, they will get a detention and learn from it.