Why is homework in primary seen as "bad"

[Iamwaiting]

Inspired by a few other threads. I'm not a teacher or in education so I'm genuinely interested in perspectives, plus those with older children who have been through/ going through primary.

Why is homework viewed so negatively?

Context... I have a DD in reception. She finishes school at 3. We come home (5 min walk) and do her homework (set by me.) 15/20 mins of reading, 5 mins of writing (tricky words / practicing writing words with "igh" sounds for instance / following wibbly lines for pen holding) and 5 mins of simple maths.

Finished by just after 3.30 leaving 4 hours to play / go to clubs / see her friends before bed. Same thing at the weekend but we do it in the morning.

But so many threads on here seem to imply homework is awful in primary, certainly reception. But I genuinely don't understand why. Surely it's just getting her used to a concept that will become increasingly important as she gets older?

For context she can ride a bike, swim well, climb a tree etc etc. Not boasting but just to show she is still enjoying lots of activities despite the "evil" homework!

I prefer learning through play at that age worksheets were never popular with my kids it was a bit of a battle so I stopped with it didn't need the drama after being at work all day.
We would do things like eye spy or guess what animal I'm thinking of memory games like i went to shop and bought these were great to play in the car.
We'd find sticks on a walk and put them in order long to short and at one point he had a thing for measuring stuff so we had a tape measure and measured random items. We put a pop bottle outside and measured the rain. This was all before tablets and phones were so popular btw.

You see, my daughter turned 5 only 3 days before she started Year 1. She had an entire academic year at 4 years old. There's such a huge difference between 4-5 and then an even bigger difference in 5-6. She will obviously be 5 for the entirety of her year 1 academic year.

Not everyone is like your daughter or even the same age as your daughter.

Because my children have a minimum of 1 hour after school activity each night. Mostly at the school and run by teachers, sports, music, languages, they are up early for Breakfast Club because I work, so eat at 6pm in bed by 7pm
Because they have travel time of a minim of 30 minutes home from school per day.

So on average they are home by 5, have 1 hour of free time before dinner during which they need to do their homework. Then bed. Fitting homework into that hour makes them stressed and tired as they need some down time.

Homework set for them is 10 minutes of each daily reading, times table practice, weekly spellings, math's challenges from an online program and worksheets based on their current topics in various areas of education. If each piece of recommended homework is done per day at 10 minutes per item that's 50 minutes homework per day. IF I can keep them focused. Plus music practice. School sports competitions etc. The expectations to do it ALL is massive and having a detrimental effect on their mental wellbeing.

How are you working full time and still picking up at 3 everyday and doing homework
when do you actually work?
or do you work Pt as it's not entirely comparable to a 40 hour week working anywhere out of the home .
i do think to assume everyone has a nice slot from 3-3.0 to do homework daily with a single, compliant child is a bit narrow minded from your current experience
mine resists and we have tears after school
we do it before school but does need an early start and when I'm on site it doesn't happen it's that simple

Personally, I HATED my DCs being given homework and even more so crafting tasks. It felt more like homework for me than them. I did work full time so that was extra irritating, but even if I wasn’t I think I would have felt the same.

Finland. I wrote "1st grade" in my first post so I assumed it was obvious I'm not talking about the UK but I didn't say it in the other posts, but the bit about resitting the school year should also make it quite clear its not the UK, you proceed no matter how far behind you are in the UK which I think is not good, as then children that struggle might never get a chance to catch up.

Reading was never actually set as homework except for the yearly reading diploma where they have to read a variety of books and do a small task like describe favourite scene or write a review of the book so no time was taken up with reading. In 1st grade it would be rarely more than one subject a day for homework so not huge amounts, now in 6th grade its a lot more of course but not ridiculous amounts.

My son, now 17 and studying for 4 A-levels, hated the early years of primary school. He was slow to read and we gave up with him reading to us as it just made him miserable. Not doing homework work could have reinforced his like for a school work and low confidence. Fortunately there wasn't any pressure from school.

Some children are ready to learn and like it, others aren't/don't. Letting parents decide what their child needs outside of school seems the best approach to me.

OP obviously just has the one kid and doesn't work full time. Kids have already had 5-6 hours of schooling why on earth do they need 30 minutes more at that age? Let them play, relax, socialise, go to activities.

My opinion is that we start formal education far too young in this country. Research demonstrates that play and child-led exploration is extremely important for young children's educational development, and yet after 6 hours of school they are then expected to come home and do more adult-led activities. This leads to many children losing interest in the concept of "learning" early on, as it's not something that they themselves get to lead based on their interests but something adults control and they just have to do because they are told to.

Research also shows very little benefit to homework, especially as it's usually generic, not tailored to a specific child and doesn't even get much feedback after submission.

There are 24 hours in a day, when we consider that 6 are at school, at least 1 is spent getting ready for and to and from school, and a 4 year old should sleep at least 10 hours a day, we are left with 7 hours a day to eat, attend any extracurricular activities, exercise, go outside and spend time with family. Frankly, as a parent, I'm not willing to sacrifice another half an hour to homework just so a box can be ticked by OFSTED, and if I was 4 I wouldn't want to either.

I'm not going to read anyone else's comments on this as I know they're going to be polar opposite to me, BUT. When I was growing up, my parents set me homework if I didn't get any. I'd be told to ask for homework over the holidays (which I did, and often I was set homework for the summer but it was just for me). I'd do a little bit in the evenings, on weekends and on holiday. I was further along than a lot of the kids in my year (and above), I had a reading age of 16 when I was 9, and I then went on to do really well in high school. Was I thrilled about it when I was a kid? Nah not at all, I didn't want to do it! But I did, and I went on to get 13 GCSEs, 4 A levels, a first class degree and an excellent job upon graduating and make very good money for my age. I just know this thread is going to be lots of grumpy people telling you that homework is awful and kids do enough etc etc, but please don't feel bad for enforcing it if that's the route you want to take. I'm glad my Mum and Dad made me work harder when I was younger and lay in solid groundwork for my future early on and yes I kicked up a fuss when I was little, because I was little, I wanted to be playing imaginary ponies! But it paid off in the long run. Best of luck :)

On the other hand my parents did not enforce homework and certainly not insist on extra but did encourage me to follow my interests, be they catching tadpoles or learning about the solar system. Creativity, fun, play and unfailing support were of the most importance. I became a creative, learned what I needed to support my passion and am now a millionaire entrepreneur employing dozens of people with a legacy to leave to my children. I was not academic, extra homework would have crushed my confidence and I would likely not be where I am now.

Ok, so I'm not actually this person but it is a common story.

Knowing children and how to encourage them best in important and one fits all homework is not that.

That's great it worked out for you, and luckily it paid off. It may very well not have done though.
My cousin had the same experience, above in all of her subjects, flew though GCSEs with all A*'s. She started Uni and dropped out with stress, had a huge breakdown, developed an eating disorder. She said it was because of all of the expectations put on her throughout her life.

I also think homework every single day iis absolutely wrong, life is too damn short!

@Hoolahoophop completely agree, and that is the same way I parent my dcs.

When I had one child in Reception and I was a SAHM I also thought a little bit of homework was great.

Come back and talk to me when you have 4 children in years 6, 4, 3 and 1 and they all get maths, English, spellings and times tables homework every week. And then on Friday one of your kids walks out with a book review they have to complete by Monday and another walks out with an additional PowerPoint presentation they have to make after researching their favourite Russian composer. And even though you’ve have had a busy 40 hour week at work, you have to spend 4 hours on a Saturday helping your kids do their homework (because the work that is set is impossible for them to do without parental input).

I’m a primary school teacher, we set really relaxed ‘homework’ to do over a whole half term. Stuff like draw a picture from your favourite book, find out about a famous artist (I teach Y1). There’s no pressure to complete it.

My son is Y2 at a different school and they set homework every week, 10 minute jobs that recap learning that week. I really like the concept. Still struggle to get him to do it. 🙄😄

@MrsSunshine2b that's the key isn't it :generic and not tailored to each child.

One child may need handwriting practise, another doesn't.

Quay really helped my dc come along during lock down was stuff like homophones, their /they're etc what the ' is there for. What it means etc.

That really helped her along with other basics like that.

I’m a primary school teacher, we set really relaxed ‘homework’ to do over a whole half term. Stuff like draw a picture from your favourite book, find out about a famous artist (I teach Y1). There’s no pressure to complete it.
Really I found that sort of homework a real pain even without pressure to complete it.
Dd1 would spend hours every night trying to make it as perfect as possible. You'd have had a mini book from her which would have been the result, and it would have looked so wonderful.
Dd2 would have not wanted to do it... until the day before and then had a mad panic.
Ds would never have done it. And then when given homework he had to do would have not understood why it was okay not to do it and then it had to be done.

Sure, if you happen to be a teacher you can tailor homework to your child and it's going to have a lot more impact than the whole class bringing home identical worksheets which some will fly through and some will cry over. We used to do a lot of extra work with my stepdaughter because she struggled to keep up in Primary School, on top of endless, pointless busy work sent home by school.

It turned out that the problem was undiagnosed ADHD (now treated) and I also strongly suspect autism, which is why the one subject she's not caught up in is English as she really struggles to read between the lines and to communicate in any format really, including writing. With hindsight, yes, it got her through Primary School and if she hadn't been "average" in Y6, would she have been able to shoot into top set maths and science in Y7? Maybe, maybe not. But if I could go back, I'd probably just focus on spending that time doing something which made her feel good about herself, instead of pushing her into what felt important for her future at the time.

I'm taking a very different tack with DD (4), she's a very different personality and I don't think will struggle academically as SD did, but beyond a couple of English and Maths games, which stop the moment she says she's bored, we do no schoolwork at home and I don't intend to ever make learning a chore, especially not in Primary School. If she doesn't want to do homework, she won't.

What parent sets their own homework for their kid? 😶

@RhiannonTheRed exactly the same experience I had growing up and what I'm wanting to replicate.

@Koalasparkles the sort of parent who wants to support their child and acknowledges that there is only so much her fantastic teacher can do with 30 children and a vacant TA position.

You’re lucky don’t have a full time job. Rushing around, collecting kids ag 6pm then having to work out what to cook, get kids sorted for bed, see the kids, take them to clubs, spend some time with them is enough. Trying to make them do homework too, which 9 times out of 10 they need help with, is too much.

Children should not have homework until they’re at an age they’re able to do on their own, without needing parents to do it with them or keep track of what is due when.

Firstly, at that age they can’t do it by themselves and believe it or not some household have both parents at work until gone 5pm! Get in after a days work, feed them, bath, sort stuff for the next day etc.. oh look it’s bed time! Secondly; not all kids just sit and do homework. Some, like my son are SEN and do not need any more pressure or stress once they are free from 6 hours of it. It maybe easy in a home where mum is at home and the child enjoys school, but that is not the real world I’m afraid

”practising”. Not “practicing”. Practice is the noun; practise is the verb 😬

Not being funny, but you sound like a ridiculously pushy parent. Yes, I support my kid's learning and we're always discussing things. But would I set extra homework? No, because kids don't need more pressure