Help me decide what to say to school re 6 yr old homework

[Aviana]

DD (6) has come home today with her homework diary in which she has drawn a picture of a tree, some leaves and a nut. Her homework, according to her, is to go to the forest to collect nuts. For Friday.

I double checked it wasn't a "we're going to the forest to collect nuts on Friday, please wear appropriate clothing." type message. She is adamant "mummy had to take us."

I've checked with another mum. Who didn't know they had homework 😂 She said she'd let me know if she found out anything from her DD. Not heard back.

There is no way we can do this before Friday. Over the weekend, yes. Or I could go next Thursday after school. But I can't exactly cancel my other child's therapy appointments, nor am I going to cancel previously made arrangements for homework.

Don't know if I should call the teacher in the morning or write a message to a) check DD has understood correctly and b) say DD can not complete it through no fault of her own and she is not to be punished for it.

Any trees with pine cones or acorns near you? We get pine cones in the garden from trees behind our fence

Or collect some leaves and get her to take them instead. Wonder if it's an autumn topic

I doubt they will be punishing a 6 year old for not completing homework. Some kids never did any at our school in Y1.

Wil you walk along a road in the next couple of days that has a tree on it? We have conkers, sweet chestnut, beech I think without needing to go to a forest. If not, write a note saying you have been unable to go to a forest at this notice and don't worry any more about it.

I suppose it is an autumn topic. We have leaves that she can pick up on her way to school, but she said she didn't need leaves, she needs nuts. No trees with pine cones or acorns, only a couple of birch trees, one cherry tree and a sycamore (sp?).

They do fish Even if it's not the child's fault. One of the mums was furious as her Dd had been punished because she had forgotten to sign a form. The homework was to show parents the form and bring it back signed. Mum was shown, put it on the side, forgot to sign it, child punished for not bringing in the completed homework the following day.

We looked in town today, but all the conkers are gone from around the horse chestnut trees.

Worth a quick Google to see if sycamore thingies are nuts (my bet would be that they are) and if birch trees do anything nutty this time of year.

That's ridiculous. What's the punishment?

Just wrote in her homework diary that this was not possible due to appointments etc. And tell the teacher that, in future, homework which requires an outing needs to be issued over a weekend with at least 1 weeks notice.

The homework was to show parents the form and bring it back signed. Mum was shown, put it on the side, forgot to sign it, child punished for not bringing in the completed homework the following day.

FFS.

The forest/nut thing is a peculiarly demanding request at short non-weekend notice, so fingers crossed it is a misunderstanding of your DD's. Although your example above suggests the school might have a habit of being peculiarly demanding! Heavy use of homework for children this young makes me so cross for exactly these reasons - it unfairly penalises children for what their parents don't do, even though they have absolutely no control over the matter. Horrible.

Absolutely write a note, take the angle that you assume dd has misinterpreted the instructions as it is clearly not going to be possible for many parents to take their child to a forest mid week (when we lived in U.K. I didn’t pick my dc up from childminder until 6 and there’s no way we would have started on expeditions at that point), ask for clarification on what she actually has to do and make it clear that if it is indeed the nut collection task you will go for a walk on Saturday but this will not be possible before.

They each get two marbles at the beginning of the week. If they don't do homework, late coming in from break, talking after a warning etc. they lose a marble.
On Monday morning they do a marble check.
If they have two marbles they can choose a sticker to put in their book and get the chance to trade with each other.
One marble, they don't get a sticker.
No marbles merits a call home and are given duties classroom duties that week (which, if no one has no marbles, are given out as an honour )
All the marbles then get put in a jar and when the jar is full the class gets a treat of "kids' time" when they can choose what to do for a double lesson.
Then each child gets given two marbles again to start the week.

I’m sure if you absolutely can’t get to a park due to therapy appointments etc before Fri you could write and explain but I also don’t think the teacher is being unreasonable to expect children to generally have some outdoor time during the week!
If you’re worried about your dd getting into trouble could you get her to research and draw some nuts then at least she will have shown willing to do the work.

Run out and buy an Xmas garland/ pot pourri and drop some bits for her to find. Discreetly pass a note to the teacher explaining about appointments.

Crikey. Marble checks and shaming 6 year olds, what a ridiculous system. Please tell me this isn't a state school? 6 year olds don't need to be shamed into helping out, they're a lovely bunch happy to do their bit on the whole.

I would be inclined to complain about this homework. Visiting a forest between 3pm Weds and 9am Fri is surely not reasonable and therapy appts are one of the many valid reasons why it's just not possible for all.

Sounds way too strict for the age group.

God that marble shite would have me looking at alternative schools.

Just buy a bag of mixed nuts or something. Those stupid, time-consuming 'family' activities for homework make me wild 

The marble thing sounds completely ridiculous.

Schools cannot legally enforce homework in primary schools, it’s about the only good thing Gove did. So you pull them up sharpish if they try any nonsense like that.

And the marble thing sounds shit.

Just buy a bag of mixed nuts or something.

How about a bag of nuts & screws, instead?

Bolts not screws.

Do you have any nuts in the kitchen cupboard?

Marbles in a jar is a well recognised reward system, but the way this school is using it is far too complex. Much easier to put a marble in a jar for recognition of any good work, behaviour or anything that merits it. When the jar is full, there’s a whole class reward.

The marbles system sounds bonkers.... far too complicated for year 1 children. The homework also sounds ott for a week activity (nice enough over a weekend or half term) I'd be contacting the teacher and saying "I'm sure this is a mistake"

Is it just me that's thinking nuts in school (even if they're not the edible kind) wtf? I'm clutching my pearls at the very thought
Have you got any Xmas decorations in the attic that would have pine cones, preferably the really strongly scented ones that make you sneeze, covered in glitter that will shed all over the classroom?

Go buy a bag of marbles exactly like the ones used. Whenever DD loses a marble for missed h/w give her one of yours. End of the week tell her to look innocent as she shows her 2 marbles 

My daughter (a primary school teacher) told me this week that the school can do nothing if your child doesn't do homework. Children are not required by the gov to work outside of school. They simply aren't expected to do the same hours as a working adult. She never sets any other than 'read a book with mummy/daddy/big brother etc' or 'ask if you can go to the park and if you do swing 20 times'. She thinks that children spend long enough working hard at school and many childrens home lives aren't Enid Blytonesque.