Opinions please - is this an appropriate amount of homework for a 7 year old?

[Orlandointhewilderness]

My DD is 7, in year 3. Her birthday is on the 31st of august which means she is the very youngest in her year. She has just moved into year 3 and frankly we have been shocked by the homework increase this year. would you mind casting your experienced eyes over this and let me know your thoughts?! Apologies - my caps lock sometimes doesn't work btw!!

ok spelling test every friday. 12 spellings. this weeks include inaccurate, immortal, illegible, immature, irrelevant. easy ones this week!
times table test fridays. currently 3 x.

reading - children are expected to do this every day.

Monday - write out spellings. 4 times each word.

tuesday - write a well constructed sentence for every spelling word using it in the correct context, grammar

wesnesday - practice spellings. practice times tables, mixing up and writing down in homework book.

thursday - maths work sheet. normally takes 40 mins to complete.

friday and over weekend - a thorough homework diary OR rewrite a poem or limerick.

homework is supposed to be 1/2 hour a night but adding in spellings, reading and times tables it is usually an hour plus.

DD has afterschool club on monday, swimming tues, brownies thursday and riding sat.

It’s a reasonable amount if you want children to achieve well. Most prep schools and outstanding primaries would have that much plus possibly some French and instrumental practice too.

My DD also August born, so I sympathise (though, believe me, by secondary school it doesn't matter a jot).

I'm usually against a lot of homework in primary, but I think your situation is okay, except for the weekend stuff (which imo should be free of homework). It's focused solely on core skills, such as spelling and times tables. This type of homework is just nitty gritty stuff, consolidating learning in the classroom and setting your child up to achieve.

I honestly wish my DD's state primary had taken that approach, rather than constant "creative" (i.e. useless) homework. By Y5, I had to take the matter in hand myself, as I realised she didn't know basic maths skills (such as times tables) and couldn't spell at all.

Could I suggest that, if possible, your DD does some of this in the morning? She could easily do her spellings over a bowl of cereal for instance. (I don't mean that literally!)

Yes we do some of it in the morning. Mornings tend to be busy though as I have to leave the house at half seven and her grandad takes her to school.
Oh she also has piano as well!

Thanks again for your thoughts - we are managing it but she is so tired sometimes bless her and I just wondered if it was standard!

Too much, I'd say.

DD is 7 and y3:
12 spellings each week, tested Friday, not yet that hard but they dont know all the meanings of them (but list may only be stuck into the book on Wednesday...)
Maths worksheet and English activity, usually between around Wednesday and Monday. English activity is often 10-15 sentences containing particular elements of grammar and based heavily on description.
Reading as often as possible
In addition to reading book, a book we are supposed to read aloud to get through in a week with an additional comprehension sheet in it (not to be written, just discussed)
3 homeworks related to the topics in class (arty, geography etc) in a half term, from a list of 10 or so (not usually possible to do 100 percent independently).

...And, exactly; it's draining. We work on spellings every morning on the way to school.

I guessed prep school too. We're down the road from a lovely prep school, good reputation for not being OTT etc and they get a totally different league of homework from our academic, very middle class state school.

If your school sold itself to you as being unpushy, they should have no problems winding back on some of the expectations for a child who just isn't ready yet. One thing I've learned from years of having children in primary school is that there's a huge amount of scope for adapting rules for those who need it, if you only ask. It's just you never get to know that Jasmine is excused from assemblies, Ella gets her own special maths homework and Teddy comes out of class for speech therapy or emotional literacy support. That's between the school and those children's parents only. I suspect some private schools may be a lot less accommodating, but hopefully yours is not one of those.

It does seem a lot to me and a bit boring maybe? My 6 year old (7 in December) gets six new words to learn every week. He writes them out 3 times each per night, maybe a bit more if he is struggling. All the words from each week go into a folder and we run through them once a week and i’ll ask him to write some out.

The week generally looks like this:

Monday - words, read story, Spell Well (picks one fun activity to learn his words - write in chalk, flour, air writing etc).

Tuesday - words, read first half of the story and parent asks questions, word bingo and Sum Dog (maths app on tablet)

Wednesday - words, read second half of the story and child asks parents questions, maths worksheet

Thursday - make sure they know words for the spelling test on Friday.

Friday - no homework, spelling book comes home for parent to check

We read every night before bed and at the weekend we do some worksheets but we just keep it quite relaxed. Homework generally doesn’t take more than half an hour unless he’s struggling with something. When he was in P1 I felt the homework was far too much. I put a note in his homework folder and it turned out most parents felt the same so the homework was reduced.

I have made an appointment to speak to her teacher next week fish. About the homework but more really about the fact that she has been keeping her in at lunch time without trying to address the issue with me. All her friends have been going to play and no one else has been kept in at all which has made her very sad.

How awful that they are keeping her in. I would only expect children to be kept in for really bad behaviour, not for issues with spelling words! I hope you get things sorted at your appointment.

We get spellings, sentences to write (DS has taken it upon himself to write as few sentences as possible, so tries to get a couple in each sentence....), tables test, and 3 books a week. Also tasks on mangahigh. Crazy amount this week, but with really long due dates. Hopefully more isnt to follow shortly!
btw, apparently we are a homework free school......

That's ridiculous! My ds in yr4 doesn't even get that much. Given spellings on a Monday to be tested on the Friday. English or maths homework given out on Friday to be in the following Wednesday and we have to hear him read at least 3 times a week

I'd be really upset if one of my DC was being punished by being kept in for reasons other than misbehaviour. I absolutely think you're right to be raising that with the teacher.

About the same as my 3DC had, but I agree with you about the specific words, which seem a bit advanced for that age. Meanings are everything and although this should be covered in school, parental involvement is very important as well.
She seems to be doing an awful lot out of school - are you sure it isn't too much?
I second what a previous poster said about dropping down a year, and do not agree that age in the year makes no difference at secondary school. We did this with our 2DC (early Aug and both prem) but not till later on in school - they had been struggling but following dropping down did not look back. For what it is worth, lots of research has shown that summer borns do worse academically and acheive less throughout their lives and this is due to being in a cohort one full year older.

But really its only thereadin spellings and times tables (which every school does and come on, 3x table?) and 1 maths worksheet

to be be honest if you are payin all that money for a prep school and she doesn't know her 3x times table you are bein ripped off. The state school kids are way ahead of her!

Re the keeping in, I think that's as much about communication as anything else. It should go: child doesn't complete homework, gets given "gentle" sanction of having to complete it in school, then either learns lesson or tells parent, who learns lesson and helps child to complete work. Except your 7 year old (and mine in Y3 too) wasn't able to complete the loop and no lessons were learned. Which renders the punishment pointless.

It's quite possible that others do kept in for other homework left undone, or to finish off their class work. It's certainly been a normal part of school for my slow writer.

The thing that I find most difficult in your OP is the way they have only 1 night to complete tasks. Our homework has always had at least 5 days between setting and handing in. Some children have no time some nights with serious sports training or just long hours of after school childcare. It's not so much the volume as the rigidity. Maybe homework is deemed to come first and activities are expected to fit round it?

It's too much. Last week my DC who is 7 had spellings, reading and two pieces of homework. Homework is given on a. Friday and due Saturday. As there were two pieces, we did one that took ten mins and I wrote a note in the book saying two pieces was far too much and he wouldn't be doing it.
Just don't do it. They can't make you.

to be be honest if you are payin all that money for a prep school and she doesn't know her 3x times table you are bein ripped off. The state school kids are way ahead of her!

I beg your pardon!? My DD DOES know her tables thank you very much, it just happened that those were the ones being revisited on the example week! There is no need to be rude, I was just asking opinions. She is doing very well, she isn't struggling with the work academically at all - if anything she is exceeding every expectation and is enjoying her work. It has just come as a shock that's all because I have never had a child go through school before!

I certainly agree with a PP - it isn't so much the volume that is the problem, it is the rigidity. Having only an evening to do it sometimes doesn't work.

With regards after school activities, yes were agreed with her she could do them for a half term and see how she got along. The Monday afterschool club is due to childcare reasons, I personally think it is vital she learns to swim so that will remain on Tuesdays. I was very reluctant with Brownies, and TBH I really wish I'd said no as it is alot of work in itself but every single one of her friends does it. Riding is none negotiable, she loves it and has her own pony etc.

Again with dropping her down a year, I'm not sure this would be good. I know it would make her very unhappy to have to go into the year below when all her friends moved class and year and it seems a bit daft when she isn't struggling with the work at all and is near the top of the class. it isn't that she is not capable of the work - more we struggle to fit it all in but I think we need to rejig things a bit.

Re the keeping her in - I am NOT happy with this. There was no communication (which should be between a teacher and a parent, not reliant on a 7 year old) and had there been any it should have been BEFORE this measure was taken to give us a chance to rectify the situation. No other children have been kept in at lunch in her class and I know that for certain.

My DD is July birthday in yr 3 now. She doesn't have that much homework but it's still too much. I hate the way the schools are forced by the government and SATS to treat little children like this. At age 7 they should be developing a love of reading, an interest in literature and a rounded, holistic approach to problem solving. Also getting to try a broad range of activities including lots of physical, creative and outdoor activities. Sitting in a classroom learning spellings and times tables at this age is unnatural and unnecessary. I wouldn't make my child do that much homework. I encourage her to do enough to keep up but allow her to make choices about how and when she does it.

child doesn't complete homework Ah - this was another thing. She does do the homework. We have never, ever missed the homework. We just don't do the spellings the way the teacher wants her too as it doesn't work as well as the way we do it, which the teacher in the last class was fine with us using. She always gets every spelling correct. If it was that vital to have them done the teachers way, all it would've taken is a word in my shell like and it would've been done like that. Instead for the last half term she has been kept in by herself to re do them.

I feel awful actually - on Monday night we were late back (oddly enough at school for a maths workshop!!) and I told her not too worry about them and we would catch up on Tuesday evening (when she is exhausted there isn't any point - it just won't go in!). Then she was kept in for it Tuesday.

I think it might have been easier for you to proactively drop a quick note in your daughter's spelling book as to why you were doing things differently though.

Expecting the teacher to somehow discern that your DD wasn't not doing the homework but rather was doing it verbally (I.e. leaving no written evidence for the teacher to mark), and speak to you about it seems a pretty big ask.

We had a similar issue (amongst others) with DD's previous prep school, but she was getting that amount in year 2.

We found another school for year 3, gave notice and then said that it was far too much for a 7 year old and we weren't doing it any more and they just said okay!

We've moved to another prep school now and just have the usual spellings, reading book and times tables to do.

As a teacher I would argue that that is far too much. There is no academic benefit to kids doing homework, yes it is important for organisation purposes as well as reading on a regular basis to improve vocabulary and read fluently etc but that is overboard. Kids need to have switch off time and do their hobbies!! What's the school policy on homework?

Prep schools tend to give more homework in general from my experience, with year 3 being a massive jump. Honestly, I got far more when I was there over 15 years ago (French, History, Geography, Art and RE every week in addition to all the English, Maths and Science) and it made moving to secondary school quite easy in comparison. Hard, but you do get used to it and I think it helped in the long run.

Jean - we did at the start of term.

disney homework is supposed to be low key - they are all about a no pressure approach.