Downsizing to educate privately - any pearls?

Why on earth are you so hung up on homework? We've been through three education systems due to international moves and the policies have been radically different in each country. In the UK it was all projects (horrible in my experience, make work for parents and little more) in the US it was two hours a night (totally excessive, but at least predictable) and now we are in Canada there is no homework at all except if you don't finish your work in class, and this will be the case right until high school (13 here). The country with the best results in international tests is Canada . As seeker says research has shown that homework at primary age brings no advantage. In my experience it is often quite counterproductive, plus being very difficult for families with two working parents, several children or that pursue other interests.

I'm not sure why you think that homework at primary is about self discipline. In my experience many younger children only do homework when a parent pretty much forces them to do so. ds got into trouble for not handing in some homework in the UK and we were told that this was very bad because homework was about preparing children for the world of work, which I thought was the most ridiculous thing to say of a six year old with ten or more years of education ahead before workign was even a possibility!

I can understand your worry that perhaps your children are missing things. I think that's always a concern for parents, because you don't know what's going on at school and of course it really matters, but the amount of homework isn't a judge of how good or bad a school is. For secondaries I would go and visit, and really research your options, and then consider if you can realistically spare enough money to send two children to a private school for at least five years each and live a non stressed life at he same time.

My son is still lazy in year 11, but will still come out with pretty good GCSEs, and has a good chance of going to a good university. (Actually he is highly motivated, just not to do school work.)
Doing homework at primary doesn't motivate them to do it at secondary, personally I think not doing it at Primary makes it more novel and motivating at secondary. However not much homework is actually helping you as it gives your children time and energy to be tutored (there really is a limit to how much "learning" time children can put in).
Go and look at the secondaries before even thinking about your decision, reputation really doesn't tell the whole story.

Homework really really doesn't matter- there's research to say that it makes absolutely no difference in primary school. Why is it so important to you?

The environment in a good secondary school ( and obviously some aren't good) is very different- there will setting, for example and your children should be challenged more. Look really carefully at the school- nothing wrong with lots of sport (ironically, that's what a lot of private parents pay for!)

If the school you're thinking of is non selective, remember that it may not be very academic, which seems to be what you're looking for. Don't be distracted by smart uniforms and facilities- dig deep into the results.

And if you do downsize to pay for private, be very clear about how you will feel if your children do not excel academically despite the sacrifice. Knowing that you have disappointed your parents and cost them a lot of money is a big burden to carry into adult life.

MY DS1 now yr 10 went to a prep until yr 8 he has been privately educated since yr 1 he had homework every night of the week (he boarded) and the school considered itself to be very academic preparing children for CE. In yr 9 he moved to out excellent local comp. At the prep he probably would have easily met the description of lazy he certainly never pulled his finger out doing literally the bear essentials. He is young for his age and never seemed to take work very seriously I used to despair. At the comp. away from this pushy environment he have never done better.
DS2 (yr 9) on the other hand was and is still in private ed. and is thriving and doing really well. In hindsight I regret not moving DS1 to the comp at 11 and saving myself two years of fees.
It is not cut and dry.

Wow glad we don't go to you schol cece. DD does a lot of stuff out of school and would struggle to fit in an actual 30 mins of homework some nights. She is in yr 6 btw. SHe has homework once a week btw.

I don't think OP you should get too hung up on amount of homework set as a barometer of a school's suitability for your child. I would go and have a good look round your catchment school - ask any questions you have and try to speak to the students as well as the teachers.

There is no way anyone here can help you as much as you can help yourself IYSWIM - only you know the details of your school options and your economic situation, and how much of a downsize you could stand.

I think it depends on the school. My DC go to a state junior school and they get detention if their homework is not handed in on time.

They have to do a certain amount of work every day. For instance Year 3 do 15 mins every day. Year 6 do 30 mins of homework per day. It is checked when it is returned and if it isn't done the children get into trouble. There is also very strict monitoring of reading at home.

So my DD is in Year 6. Every week she has spellings (x15) to learn, times tables test to prepare for, a maths sheet, some literacy homework and either topic or science as well. She also has to read everyday too.

My DS1 is in Year 3. He has a maths sheet, literacy homework and spellings, times tables and daily reading to do.

In fact I think they have too much! We have trouble fitting it all in.

What are the secondary schools like near you? Which state school would be the option for your DC and what are they like? Have you actually been to look at the secondary schools options in your area - state and private?

I do wonder about this thinking of because I pay for it it must be better.