Y7 - am i helping too much with homework?

Your DS just like my nephew, he spend lots of time on homework every evening. I think most of the time he just sit and not think at all.

The trouble is motivation. You have to try to get him to want to get good result in the school, and work hard himself.

Y7&Y8's homeworks generally are not so much. My DS1 normally finish his homework within an hour. But in Y9, homework increase so much, and he has to do some in Sunday now.

Y7s have to adjust to different expectations from primary school and it takes more than one half term! Get the planner, encourage him to work out what needs to be done, and by when, and that he has the tools for the task. Make sure he understands what's being asked - he can google acrostic himself for example! Be willing to answer a question half way through and if you're feeling kind, offer to read through at the end. Ignore all moaning and sighing! If there's an obvious recurring problem then jump on that but otherwise let it go. DS1 is in Y8 now and I don't do any more than check that he knows when his homework needs to be in but he was very chaotic to start with!

I agree with luxaroma, some kids don't learn tables by heart (or not all 12 tables). If your DSs stall on just a few you could try and find a way of making those memorable, e.g. by making a rhyme or by emphasizing a strategy for dealing with them. (Apparently a lot of adults who learned their tables off by heart have blind spots with certain ones, most commonly 7x8=56. One way to learn it is 56=7x8 so it's 5,6,7,8 in order. I tried this on DS2 but I had to keep reminding him of this strategy so I don't know if it was this in itself that worked or just me constantly badgering him about it!!) I think also that we forget, looking back, just how long it takes to learn all the tables really well so we can call them up in an instant!

Please stop doing the work for him!

Your job is to provide a suitably quiet environment for him to work and be interested in what he's doing. No more than that. What is the point in him going to school with a piece of work that doesn't reflect his actual skills and might even hide a specific difficulty? By all means tell the teacher he is having difficulty, but really you need to take a step back. If he gets punished for doing homework late then so be it- he may need a jolt to make him realise he's not in cosy Primary any more.

My friend tutors maths at secondary level, she says it gets to a point with some of the kids where she recognises the child cannot ever remember times tables and she has a method whereby they only learn up to 4 times and then they work out the rest using a weird method she teaches them. Of course it's not as quick but at least they can move on from times tables to concentrate on proper maths methods rather than failing dismally at remembering times tables.

Mangahigh.com has lots of good free games for practising numeracy and times tables.
I'd lay off the songs and just go for regular practice.

Times tables. Yes. You should have nailed this with them by Year 4. Not too late for your year 5 child, but getting your year 7 child to sit down might be a bit hard now! Agree with above - times tables is the one thing you should force your children to learn (I put it on a par with potty training!!!)

Homework for Year 7? Well. As others have said, it does sound a lot a night. However, by Year 7 they should be doing it (or not doing it) on their own imo. If your child knows you'll simply step it, what's the point of them taking responsibility? Let him flunk it, let him get a bollocking, let him be put in detention and let him learn for himself he should have done it.

Parents pandering to kids is not helping them. How are they ever going to learn to accept responsibility for their actions?

You are doing him no favours and the school will know because of the blatant differences in school and home work.
If he is convincing them it's all his work, you are doing him no favours and could push him up into higher sets.
Step back and let him take responsibility. He needs to learn this for himself if he has any chance at passing GCSEs

I'd use the internet for times tables practice rather than it all being on you, there are loads of websites out there with times tables games and stuff, all self-marking.

In Y7 each piece should take 20-30 mins so an hour a night sounds about right. 2 hours on a piece of English is excessive.

Checking his spelling and grammar is ok. Coming up with ideas and getting him to write them down isn't.

However, if you are constantly checking his spelling and grammar and he just applies your corrections, that won't help him in the long run. I'd highlight some errors (don't want to overwhelm him if there are lots) and get him to look them up in a dictionary or work out the error.

I'd also write a note to the teacher if extensive help is given (or hand in both versions) so the teacher doesn't get a false impression of ability.