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Original poster

What age did you find yourself unable to help DC with homework?

31 replies

manymoremoons · 27/01/2023 12:20

Homework, studying by going over class topics etc?

Was it by Year 4 or before that?

Grateful for any experience Halo

OP posts:
KangarooKenny · 27/01/2023 12:22

Certainly by year six I couldn’t do their maths. I still don’t get the chunking method 🤣🤣

Needmorelego · 27/01/2023 12:23

Pretty much from Year 1 when they failed to tell parents that a "number sentence" is just a sum 😂

SmileWithADimple · 27/01/2023 12:24

Mine are at secondary, I can still help with some things but not others.

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Whowhatwherewhenwhynow · 27/01/2023 12:24

My son is 8 and there are small bits I can’t do now, or I’d I do know it I don’t know the same method that they are learning at school.

I don’t neccissarily think parents need to be able to “do” the work to be able to help.

DanceToTheMusicInMyHead · 27/01/2023 12:25

I still remember being stunned at reception homework about phoneme/ grapheme correspondences

MissBattleaxe · 27/01/2023 12:26

I just discovered I can't do Year 8 Maths but most other things I can manage. Actually, I couldn't do Year 6 Maths either.

Dragonsandcats · 27/01/2023 12:28

Secondary. I could have done it once but forgotten it all now!

pointythings · 27/01/2023 12:58

I couldn't do GCSE higher maths (except probability) but everything else to A level.

Beezknees · 27/01/2023 13:03

Secondary. Luckily DS is much cleverer than me and doesn't really need my help.

ProtectorExtraordinaryOfTheCantonsOfNim · 27/01/2023 13:13

I can cope with most things up to GCSE (not Geography, Art or Drama as I've never done those). I can't necessarily answer the question myself but I can manage a "well, this is how you should probably approach it" or "look, here's a helpful resource that will explain it in more detail". If it's something I did once know then I can generally drag myself up to the right level pretty quickly (I helped with some GCSE Physics last week, 35 years after I last studied Physics).

Maths is actually more tricky to help with at primary and KS3 level as they'll have been taught a particular approach and I don't want to blunder in and confuse them. But if I can look at a couple of examples of what they've done and get them to explain how they are trying to solve the problem I can generally get the hang of the approach the teacher is using.

Once they get to A-level I can make cups of tea and sympathetic noises.

SheWoreYellow · 27/01/2023 13:14

Some bits of GSCE maths.

RachelSq · 27/01/2023 13:26

I’m fairly confident I’ll be able to help up until A levels.

We’re past a few of the alien maths/reading concepts in early years now and I’m definitely able to help with the maths side through school. Most GCSE work is either common sense or regurgitation of information from a fairly self contained are so happy with that level of help.

At A Level, the content gets so much deeper I doubt I’d be much use in anything other than my degree topic (and even then probably would need to refresh to help with).

Ponderingwindow · 27/01/2023 13:30

year 8 and still no problems assisting. The internet is wonderful if you need a term defined or need a quick refresher.

CoodleMoodle · 27/01/2023 13:37

DD is Y4 and only seems to have maths homework (and reading). My maths is terrible so I'm starting to struggle a bit. It's more the methods they teach them now, if DD explains it to me first then I can help a bit! I reckon next year I'll be useless to her. Thankfully DH is good at maths.

DS is in Reception and doesn't really get homework, but at least I can still help him when he does... for now!

ItsCalledAConversation · 27/01/2023 13:40

I have an English degree from 2003 and struggle with my y5’s English grammar work. If you can enlighten me on the subtle difference between a phoneme, a letter and a syllable that would be great.

Maths has been touch and go since she was in y4. I gave up maths after GCSE, so 1998. I couldn’t give a shit about it and believe it all largely to be pointless, but that attitude doesn’t help DD.

MissMaple82 · 27/01/2023 13:53

Needmorelego · 27/01/2023 12:23

Pretty much from Year 1 when they failed to tell parents that a "number sentence" is just a sum 😂

I agree with this 😆

losingit31 · 27/01/2023 13:56

Year 7 because I'm a primary teacher! Unless it was something I had studied for A level - but DD did Spanish (I didn't) and mostly her topics didn't overlap with mine in History etc, and she didn't study any of the Eng Lit texts I knew well, then she did maths, physics and chemistry A levels and there was definitely no hope. I did proof read her MEng dissertation on concrete cancer, but was little help apart from that.

Smartiepants79 · 27/01/2023 13:59

Currently eldest is year 8 and I can help out with most things. The maths starts to get a bit beyond me but can usually work it out if I read up on it.
The maths is the thing that’s going to cause problems!

losingit31 · 27/01/2023 14:00

@ItsCalledAConversation
Phoneme - sound (could be the igh in night or oa in boat, so often made by more than one letter)
letter - those things in the alphabet Grin
syllable - unit of sound in a word, like ti-ger, kan-ga-roo, each syllable must contain a vowel so words like 'thank', 'string' have only one syllable

MintJulia · 27/01/2023 14:01

DS is year 10. I can still help with English and Biology, occasionally Geography.

But Physics, DT, Germany, Chemistry, Maths....not a chance 😀😀

ItsCalledAConversation · 27/01/2023 14:03

losingit31 · 27/01/2023 14:00

@ItsCalledAConversation
Phoneme - sound (could be the igh in night or oa in boat, so often made by more than one letter)
letter - those things in the alphabet Grin
syllable - unit of sound in a word, like ti-ger, kan-ga-roo, each syllable must contain a vowel so words like 'thank', 'string' have only one syllable

Sorry no that’s not what a phoneme is. They’re about meaning, as in each phoneme has the potential to change the meaning of a word (E.g. the “p” in “tap”). Thanks for trying to explain tho, and how to explain that to a 9 year old. It’s slightly worrying if these complex concepts are being taught incorrectly (Yes I get what a letter is 😁)

megletthesecond · 27/01/2023 14:07

Mostly by year 7.
Although phonics and the new style of reading went over my head in reception and year 1.

postwarbulge · 27/01/2023 14:09

When our daughter was at primary school, I could do the maths problems but not the way in which she had been taught to do them

redskydelight · 27/01/2023 14:12

When they started subjects at secondary school that I've never studied.

There is lots of unfamiliar jargon at primary school, but I just googled it.

BrokenWing · 27/01/2023 14:13

You don't need to know the subject matter to help. I regularly helped ds with maths when I had no clue right through school to Advanced Highers.

Just letting them talk through what they know, what they don't know, asking questions why they did it that way, or prompting them where to find help (notes/online), looking at their notes with them etc and asking questions, can help them get past the block, find the answer themselves and learn for next time how to approach something they are stuck on.

It is not about knowing the answer it is about enabling them to work it out themselves.