to only want people on this thread who agree that school setting research topics for a 6 year old

[activate]

is lazy teaching

as a teacher you do not set homework for children that they cannot acheive without parents doing it for them - you set homework for them that they can acheive with parental support

it is two different things

and this time I am going to say something

and I really can't dislike yours - and I say this as someone who values long-term education

let me make this clear stoatsrevenge

DO NOT SET ME HOMEWORK! I RESENT IT!

YANBU. I have 3 dc, one in Secondary, one in the juniors and one in the infants. My youngest dc (DS2) has just turned 7yo, is in Y2, and has a muscle problem that means that his handwriting is at the level of a reception age childs'. Yet the school are sending him home with worksheets that aren't differentiated from the other Y2's. We talk about the topics on the worksheet, but TBH, As this is the first year that the school have given out any homework to the infants (why now??) I won't fight him to actually fill in the worksheets.

DS1 is in Y4, and has had regular homework since the start of Y3. No problems with that, it's an important skill, and he's perfectly capable of motivating himself and dealing with it himself, with a small amount of guidance if he needs to use t'internet.

DD is in Y8, has learning ifficulties, and requires a LOT of aditional support with her H/wk, a h/wk that is meant to take 20-30 minutes will take her up to an hour even with support.

How the heck am I meant to do a bloody research project with a non-writing 7yo when I have a 12yo that needs that time more?? FFS, I'll happily sit and force him to do homework with him when he's in the juniors, but not blooming before!

YADNBU!

What is so bad about being asked to have a discussion with your child about something that s/he is learnign at school? Something they can use to contribute to class discussion? Something they may be required to share in class work?

It is not setting the parent homework. It is setting the child homework, and most of it is an opportunity to discuss the subject 1:1 with an adult. Information gathered this way makes the child enthusiastic (as it is being shared at home), it helps parents keep in touch with what the child is learning and it enables the child NOT to feel left out when the homework is being shared as a class activity.

We're not talking bloody Encyclopaedia Britannica here. We're talking three facts about penguins!

Activate I'm totally with you. And this in no way reflects on my interest in my child's education. I am very interested and am involved in other way with my children. I just don't think it's necesssary to have a set " you must do this amount of homework" sheet every week just for teachers to tick the homework box.
SE13mummy, I feel you have it right with the less pressured optional approach.

you need to plan your lessons better if you rely on 6 year olds doing specific work at home - it is not up to you to determine how a young KS1 child spends their family / home time - you have no idea what is going on at home

you say it takes 10 minutes - what a lie - I have yet to see a homework set that takes 10 minutes.

some of the children I work with have grown up in neglected circumstances

sometimes due to medical treatment I can barely stand up let alone do work with a child - so now you're telling me that as a teacher the child would be left out due to your lesson planning demanding it - well done you - every child matters?

There are parent/school agreements that you presumably sign 'to support the school'.

Are you not understanding my message that the children are proud of information they get from home? They like to share. If we are in a classroom, we are getting limited info, usually coming from me, as a source. If I ask them to go home to research things, they come back with loads of extra information we would never have known otherwise. It is expanding their knowledge, not me being lazy (I will have already done my bit in the classroom with my limited information.)

Last year, we were doing a Paddington Bear project and sent homework to find a few facts about Peru. It turned out that one of the mums had been on honeymoon in Peru, and she came in to show pictures and to tell the children about what she'd seen. We would NEVER have known that had we not sent the 'research' homework.

You must have a blinkered idea of education.

Activate, I'm with you and I'm a former ps teacher, one of the schools policies I totally disagreed with was the setting of homework, my feeling was, go home,chat,play a game, read, cook etc with your parents, you'll learn so much more!!

Also, I got sick of marking parents homework!!

Also! Homework for ps children is not compulsory, it's individual school policies.

stoatsrevenge, it is the parent/school agreements that I so loathe. We want and do support our children but enforcing homework is not going to always be the best option. Optional less pressured yes. It's interesting to get a teachers perspective, but i've also spoken to teachers who oppose homework for primary children just the same as me.

step in christmasrocks as an example

you are blinkered stoats

may I ask whether you have children yourself and how old they may be? I wonder whether your perspective may change dependent on age of your child

don't know what your home-school agreement specifies about KS1 and early KS2 homework but tbh it should be as SE13 says below and that should be the teacher's attitude

I agree with you op im astonished with the amount of homework ds recieves from school at age 6 years. I often wonder what on earth he is being taught in class if this is what he is bringing home as it seems like separate work!

Ds is falling behind in school and getting extra support so I am happy to support him at home but half the time I have a child who is tired and fed up with learning and reading and just wants to play.Sometimes I wonder with school work, the extra help he has from the TA, SALT and homework and extra homework is he just being over loaded with information

My son, who is 6, loves the termly projects!

Our school gives the same broad topic to every child, but how they interpret it is up to them. Some parents get very competitive (which is always obvious and the rest of us just laugh at them) while some do v little, which is a shame. But the good thing is that, with parental support, each child can do what stretches them, regardless of their abilities.

They start this in year 1, and get a topic every 1/2 term hol, to be taken in during the last week of term.

We talk about the topic and my DCs chose what they'll focus on. We use the internet a lot. I do some pre-Googling and bookmark lots of suitable sites. We also visit the local library. They do what they can best do themselves. I do NOT do it for them.

9yo DD likes to print pictures, write captions and stick it all onto big card sheets, or build models. 6yo DS likes to chose photos that we put into Powerpoint (he can click Insert > Picture > from file ...) then he types simple captions, for which I help with spelling. Both have to stand in front of class to present their findings.

It's been brilliant. They learn useful research and presentation skills which will last them for life.

Blimey this has kicked off a bit! Will come back and read later.

:o

It is interesting that you consistently avoid telling us what the topic is.Part of research can be 'interveiw' or just talking about subject.A pre literate child shoud be able to draw pictures or cut out and label[with help].By your own account you are a super academic family-do none of you see the value in sitting down with a child and helping them to find information to share with the group,in a teacher led session?I am a retired teacher,an English graduate,a mother of 5 and grandmother of 9.I have helped with and set numerous projects and never found it saved me any work-just added an extra dimension to some lessons.You go in and complain.......

interview of course

Actually pranma that is a point - activate why does it have to be you who helps? I know my eldest niece likes to help her younger sis with stuff (and vice versa tbh). My sis encourages this not least because she's a primary teacher and has to plan activities like this for her own pupils

... and I should add ... my 6yo DS who loves Powerpoint hates writing. He really struggles to write, but happily types. It's helped his spelling and reading no end, without the trials of struggling with a pencil.

I resent the assumption that all parents know how to do powerpoint presentations. We don't even have it on our computers (we are a Mac based household!), have never had to use it for work and have no desire to buy it.

Once I sent my three to their Grannies for the weekend and announced as I dropped them off that DS1 had a report to write on a Famous Scottish person for Monday. A bit evil of me but my sanity was at stake.

Surely all homework that a six year old does needs parental help/assistance/supervision.

I am aghast that someone has said they refuse to help their child.

I worked 12 hour office days and bought work home when my children were six, but I was still there to help them do their homework.

Let me totally explain myself, activate:

Homework should be relevant to the work in class. IF a school insists in sending worksheets home, they should be reinforcing the week's work and parents should annotate the work if the child has any problems. No teacher should have to mark parents' work.
Personally, I hate homework by worksheet and rarely give it. I prefer to suggest games or websites.

I loathe spelling lists and only give them because it's school policy to keep the mummies and daddies happy on this one.

However, the only type of homework that I feel has any value (apart from reading and tables) is research homework. Pranma hit the nail on the head when she said that it gives an 'extra dimension' to lessons. The learning of the children is enriched because the learning/information base is expanded x30 (or in your child's case x 29). I don't know how you can say this is a bad thing.

wigglybeezer - I do, my ds1 taught me when he was 5 We have a Mac too, and use OpenOffice, then his stuff is compatible with school software.

there is limited evidence to prove that homework in primary schools has a positive affect on childrens education in the long run. I hear what you are saying about learning at home building on school learning but there's no evidence to say that if they do not do it in primary school this will have a detrimental effect. If the child is interested then yes brilliant, but if you have worked all day and your child is tired anfter 6+ hrs at school and irritable, compulsary homework (as enforced by my schools homework agreement) is a waste of time and causes more problems for the family unit. It's usually rushed through for the sake of having to rather than wanting to.