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.

If you did it at the start of term how do you know the new teacher's methods don't work as well as the old ones? You can't have given them much of a shot

Because they are the method the last class used to want us to use - we have tried them. Thoroughly. Like i said, if it is that much of an issue then no problem at all, she will do them that way (and i suspect the spoken way too). That isn't the problem. the problem is she didn't communicate and singled out my daughter who has been feeling alone and sad because all her friends are allowed to play outside when she isn't. When she learns her spelling, she has all week to learn them and she has never got any wrong anyway!

In most European countries a child of 7 would be just starting formal learning.

We have an insane system in the UK that is totally out of sync with most other education systems.

A 7 year old who has been doing formal learning for hours in the day at school needs to unwind switch off and PLAY

Children b learn and develop by playing - outdoors and indoors. With their friends and alone. Play is a vital part of brain development in children as well as well being.

Please let us resist this! As parents we need to push back and tell schools that our children need to have a childhood as well as school time.

thank you waterrat - my feelings exactly. She doesn't get time to unwind or just be a child. everything has to have such a purpose!

I think that's an awful lot.

Year 3 my daughter had 2 reading books a week, Monday to be in Thursday & Thursday to be in Monday. 10 spellings Monday to test Friday & 2 pages of Maths or English book Friday to be in Monday!

Year 4:
Monday - 20 spellings to be written twice
Tuesday - spelling test & reading book out
Friday - reading book in & last week 5 pathetically easy maths questions that I think mid year 2 students could do, week before 5 sentences about Romans'.

I think we're going backwards, maybe your school is making up the shortfall for ours!

ha it does seem so civic!

That sounds like loads.

My ds’s are 8 & 9 (year 3 & year 4)

They get spellings each week. The 8 year old has set spellings with a test on a Friday, the 9 year old chooses his own spellings from a list but they don’t have spelling tests.

They are encouraged to do 3x 15 minutes a week on Maths Whizz but are also told not to worry about it if they have after school clubs or are busy.

Neither of them use the schools reading scheme so they take their own books from home/library for SSR. Although my 8 year old and his friends have been using SSR time to write their own stories which the teacher is happy with.

Why do it 🤷‍♀️. Homework isn't compulsory in primary, they are encouraged to do it to prepare them for later life. So, we don't do it in our house. My girls have after school activities every night except Tuesdays, so that's our night. We read because we choose to read, and I write that in their reading books. But if they don't want to read, we don't. Homework is done if they want to. So my youngest loves maths and is always eager to crack on. My eldest likes arts, crafts etc so does the topic type stuff. It's very hit and miss which they do, and which they don't.

As they've moved into every new year group I have the same arguments with their teachers when homework isn't in. When challenged on whether its compulsory, they fail in their argument. Children have enough on without feeling pressurised into doing more, so mine do it through choice, as and when they please. But both understand this will change in secondary.

My Dc 7 year 3 has to do every week

• 10 spellings
• worksheet based on the types of words the spellings are on
• comprehension - page of text then questions
• maths worksheet
• sometimes times table practice although I think they are supposed to refresh themselves anyway
• reading every day

My dd is also in year 3, age 7, birthday in February.

She gets 10 spellings a week, this weeks include sculpture, fracture and creature which are easy compared with last weeks which included synonym, pyramid and gymnastics although dd loves spelling so tends to get them right as practices every night.

Homework is two sets per week, both maths and learning a times table.
Reading every night and recording any books read at home too.

We have started to bring out her spellings in the car when we go anywhere which makes it a bit less pressured and homework is done on the two separate nights she receives it, doesn't take longer than ten minutes.

Dd said that the whole class receive the same work except for the "bottom table" who receive easier work.
Think it's wrong that they know what the bottom table is at 7/8. One of dd's best friends is on it so knows how very different the homework is.

When my ds was in year 3 in the same school ( he's now 15 ) he hardly got any homework at all. The pressure is very much on now.

that does seem a lot.

my ds (end of august born) just started year 4, but in year 3 he had to
read 4x per week
10 word weekly spelling test
online mathletics each week (supposed to be compulsory but we didn't always do it)
plus an optional project each half term (usually creative)

now in year 4 they have dropped the weekly spelling test in favour of an online spelling app & have tt rock stars times tables app to use too.

He has less homework now than he did in reception & I for one am pleased with the school's change in approach. Kids need to unwind and play outside of school.

Could you raise the point that the homework is taking more than the expected half an hour a night?

At various stages my DC were set unreasonable amounts of homework, so on each occasion I checked the school’s homework policy to see how long it was supposed to take, met with the teacher and agreed to support that but no more. It worked every time. Most times it resulted in the whole class getting less homework because the teacher realised they were setting too much. But on one occasion the teacher carried on setting too much homework and my child routinely only did about half of it. The other children in his table were very envious...

In Ireland and my DD is in year 3 and she gets, 16 spellings a week with a test on Friday, reading, written English homework, maths, Irish spellings, Irish written homework once or twice a week. So far no tables this year. No homework or projects at the weekend. It takes about an hour, sometimes less. My DD is very slow doing her work though and very distractable, so her peers probably get it done quicker. She is 9 though, most of her class are 8.5 or 9, I think 7 is too young for all that. Ime if you tell the teacher it's taking a long time they will tell you to stop after an alloted time whether or not it's done.

That's a lot. Dd is in yr4 and she has one spelling test a week and has to practice these (12 words), reading and one piece of homework like a research piece, a maths sheet or some writing. This is manageable because she also has to practice the piano and ukelele and she does ballet, football and running.

My DS has just gone into year 4 and those are his exact spellings this week so your DC’s school are giving them to the year below, odd. They seem advanced for year 3.

Homework is similar here for my year 4 DS though I have to say. All DC have time tables and spelling test weekly and are expected to revise for both. All are expected to read daily which is no biggy, they read to me at bedtime. They’re set one piece of homework a week which can take them 15-20 mins, it’s usually about 15-20 questions.

Thanks everyone, it's been really helpful to hear all the different views. I think the one thing that is obvious from this thread is the complete inconsistency in homework!!
I think we will proceed, and try to get some more order involved. I will speak to the teacher and register the fact I am very unhappy with her being isolated like that and maybe think about trying to stop an activity, though I'm not sure which one!!!

Thanks again

My Y3 son doesn't get anywhere near that amount. He is supposed to learn his spellings, but they don't get tested very often and the words are not too hard. Reading for 20 minutes a day, which he likes anyway. Then they are supposed to go on BGFL365, but whether they do or not isn't enforced and we haven't been told of any tables tests at school.

I agree that the big problem is the rigidity of the homework. It sounds similar to what my DC's had here in the USA. DD struggled with the spelling and now at 16, despite being highly gifted, a fluent, comfortable reader, skipping two grades, and getting A's in college classes, she still couldn't spell any of those words. DS has dyspraxia and was in tears every week when he would get write things out 10 to learn your spelling assignments because it would take him hours. Some teachers would insist that he did it anyway even though he could spell all the words the first time he read them out loud.
I think this rigidity in education is part of what's causing all the stress and high suicide rates in the youth of today

Sofia my DD is dyspraxic too, her writing is so slow it's painful to watch. She only has to look at the spellings and she knows them too, but writing them out, pure nightmare.

Deadringer Once I realized that writing was a struggle, I got my ds typing on a computer starting when he was 5. It's not uncommon for kids who can't handwrite to be able to type perfectly well. It certainly was the case for ds. By 2nd grade he was typing all the assignments that he could. And by high school they were everything was done on computer anyway, so he was way ahead of the other kids.