Homework - do you enforce it? If not, why not?

[NC28]

Seen a recent thread RE homework in early school years, with lots of posters saying they don’t enforce it, so their child doesn’t do it.

My DC isn’t at school yet, so no experience of this. I appreciate in the latter school years there would be obvious consequences for not doing homework, but what about in the younger years?

Are there any consequences for the child if homework isn’t done, or is it seen as a parental choice, in your experience?

Mine do it because if they don't they're kept in at break/lunch until it's completed. That said, the elder ones now go to homework club after school so get it all done in one go, much easier.

My dc is in Y4 and gets 30 min of homework a day. I know for a fact that all kids in his class do it and they have a merit system. We have never had to be on his back getting him to do it. He has a routine for the week and just keeps at it. It's a private school though and the kids have been encouraged with homework for a long time. I would say though, parents in my dc class and school in general support the school in almost everything.

I do, as do most parents of kids in DSs class. There are no consequences for not doing it though, and a few have been very vocal about not 'forcing' their kids to do it, and getting annoyed the rest of the parents don't want to 'make a stand!'

My DC is in Y5. Homework is non-compulsory at the school.

We enforce the basics: maths, English, spelling, timestables, reading

We don't enforce the termly homework which is usually a selection of 6 quite long activities for which you get a bronze, silver or gold certificate depending on how many you complete.

The reason we don't enforce these: we used to. And we very quickly realised these are for parents to do. They're not really activities DC can do independently and neither of us have the time to watch him or make him do it. Eg. Cook and eat a Mayan meal. No one in our house will want to eat it. DC can't cook it alone and we don't have the money to waste on it.

We have the basics down, we're happy with that.

My DDs went to 5 primary schools between them... of those, only one set worksheet style homework before Yr6. In Yr6 there was SATs prep.

Spellings& times tables... the consequence was not doing well in tests. However, my eldest is dyslexic and even with her special spelling list, she might only get a couple right even with practice!

Reading books... I know the TA read more regularly with those who didn't read at home.

Craft style homework... it was made clear to parents it was optional.

Despite the lack of homework at Primary, both children are doing well and managed with the higher expectations of Secondary school. We do get grumbles about "pointless" homework.

I don’t, my kids have additional support needs - getting them into school is hard enough without doing additional work at home. We do read together and do lots of activities involving maths and literacy but homework is a battle I’m not prepared to have. In saying that, the school know their needs and are supportive of my stance.

Kids that don't do their homework at home are kept in at morning break to do it at my kids' school. It's only one piece of maths homework a week and usually takes no more than 15 minutes so there's no reason not to do it 🤷‍♀️

from year 5 yes, not before although they did read every day and I encouraged adherence to spelling shed from year 3. Homework before year 3 should absolutely be scrapped.

Nope. They spend long enough at school already.

Most parents will prioritise reading (in ks1) and reading and times tables/maths in ks2.

Lots won't do anything beyond that.

My ds started school “behind” due to a speech and learning delay. He hated reading and writing in Reception because he felt stupid and useless at it

So yes We do homework nearly every morning after breakfast including weekends when he has energy and our house is calm. We do not do much and if ds is not “feeling it” I won’t push too hard (he is only 6)

From experience with older dc, it’s easier to maintain a habit of homework than to introduce one later.

Nearly all state primary education is more effective if you reinforce it at home with lots of extra reading, handwriting practice, maths practice. That might not be official “homework” - it could be writing thank you letters, or sharing out portions of a pizza, or Reading instructions for a board game.

But having a homework habit becomes an “unquestioned thing” like brushing teeth, and dc will not moan and whinge later in school if they are already used to it ImE

Yes at my kids school homework is compulsory. In my opinion they're given far too much for 6 days averaging 1 long maths sheet, one smaller maths sheet, 2 page maths questions, 2 page spelling book, literally sheet or comprehension, online reading book and online maths.
They don't finish until 4pm either and I don't feel that amount is fair at all.

We have homework once a week and do it, along with reading. I dislike having it though and would prefer to spend that time on other educational activities or playing. It feels excessive in KS1 especially as they are in school for such a long time already.

We’re selective. DD is supposed to be doing things on 4 or 5 different apps and the screen time + the competitive nature of the games really affects her (suspected ADHD) so we skip them. We do reading and a spelling sheet the teacher prints off in lieu of the online spelling games

This! All English and maths homework is
enforced but most of the projects that there is no way a child can do alone are ignored

Yes I have always enforced it, as a consequence my ds doesn't think twice about doing it, he just gets on with it. I believe it also puts them in the frame of mind for when it comes to revising for GCSEs. The kids in my ds year group who were always in trouble for not doing homework, are the ones not doing any revision.

Mine are in Y6 and Y2. They get homework over the weekend, and most of the time it's fairly simple.

DS6 usually has a maths activity (last week he had to count the fruit in our kitchen and make a tally chart!) or a few questions, and some words to put into sentences. The words are also their spellings for a test on Fridays.

DD10 typically has a maths sheet (which is now beyond me!), a comprehension sheet (short story or article and about 5 questions), and some words to practise writing in cursive (also the week's spellings). They're also doing SATs prep at the moment, both with example papers and a website they can complete activities on.

It tends to be based on whatever they've been learning that week, or sometimes it's something they're going to do in the next few days (like once DS had to choose an animal and find out five facts for something they were doing in science the following week). All of it is optional, and they're mainly encouraged to read and do quizzes on the books they've read.

Most of the time we get them to do it, mainly DD because she'll be in Y7 next year and will definitely have homework then! But neither of them complain that much so it's fine for us.

We do it occasionally

I do twenty minutes of reading/workbook before bed each night, it's not always the formal homework, but workbooks I've bought that are grade appropriate

I enforce homework, I will seize phones when my teenagers failed to do their H/W. Rules are rules!

We do, and have done since reception, when it was just reading and a bit of craft.

We wanted to encourage a good work ethic. Seems to have worked - DD at 13 gets quite a lot of homework, but just cracks on with it without complaining. DS at 10 needs a bit more encouragement/support, but still gets it done.

But having a homework habit becomes an “unquestioned thing” like brushing teeth, and dc will not moan and whinge later in school if they are already used to it ImE

Exactly this. I don't think my dc knows any different. There is no battle at our house. I see the benefit of this as when there are tests, my dc is able to independently manage his studies by himself.

Same here, for the same reasons. Plus she is autistic, and too much screen time creates massive issues. Plus none of the homework is ever marked, so what’s the point? We read and study together several times a week anyway (maths, science, and history). We will see what happens come secondary school.

Yes, we enforce it - mainly to get them in the habit before secondary. There is some whinging but mostly they just get on & do it.
KS1 the homework is reading, 5mins of Numbots & spellings.
If it's not done, there's are no consequences as such, but it will be brought up at the parent consultations.
In KS2 the homework is reading, doing an Accelerated Reader test once the book is complete (each child has a target of how many points to get each term); spellings, 10mins on TT Rockstars & then there is optional topic based homework they can complete too.
If they don't do enough TT Rockstars they'll loose Golden Time or playtime to complete it.

Enough parents made a stand at our primary school that they totally scrapped homework for Reception and KS1. They're just encouraged to read instead. I was fine with the homework but in hindsight DS did seem a bit young for it and I much prefer how it is now.

We always did up to Year 3. Then it was evident that DS was significantly behind, and not being taught “at his level” in school. We struggled on with it being evident that tasks involving reading / writing ended up with us helping to the point of us doing. We asked for homework pitched to give DS a challenge but not way above his functioning but all the class were doing the same worksheets etc. In the end we told school no, we are focusing on the basics, reading, basic maths and pen grip/fine motor skills. We focused far too long on the weekly spelling list so DS wasn’t embarrassed by the tests only to find there was no learning from it - a few weeks later he couldn’t even read the words. I did always make sure school knew what we were doing instead of their “national curriculum” homework though, and why.