To be Shocked that preschoolers get homework

[pigletmania]

My friend whose ds is 3, told me that he gets homework from his preschool. I am , this is far too young imo and puts too much pressure on those still so young and not even at school yet. The type of homework includes: writing practice, learning alphabet, colours etc. My dd 3.11 goes to a different pre school attatched to the local primary school, I asked her teacher if I should be teaching her the alphabet, and to write, and she looked shocked and said no, they will teach her that once she starts school, and just to mabey do some informal phonics with her if I wish.

The emphasis on dd preschool is learning through play, and there is no homework despite being part of the primary school.

Pre-school my dc's 2+3 used to bring a book home for writing practise...I never bothered [slattern emoticon]. They have now changed leader and dc4 never gets any. TBH I hate homework for those under 11 as it always means extra work for the parent and is IMO too much to ask of a tired child at such a young age.

We have home link stuff. No pressure just do what you want with them when you can, some of it might be to put together some pictures of family, or find pics of things that start with their initial letter.

3 year old preschooler here (no not me)

No homework, not a sniff

Dont get me wrong, I do try and teach dd things at home, always have done but just feel its too much pressure at such young age. If dd pre school started to do homework, depending on what it is, if it was fun and non pressured I might, but writing practise!

This week we were given a letter from school about online learning resources type info, I just put it in the bin, she is only 3 and not of school age yet!

Def wouldn't expect writing practice at home, we have some that can write their name so we extend that, but we do that.

Its not about teaching at this stage its about giving them opportunities to learn while playing and exploring resources, games, toys and other experiences.

What a crock. If my pre-schoolers got homework I would send a note back with it, succinctly but diplomatically explaining the situation.

They never have - it is a great pre-school.

My friend said that she felt under pressure to do writing practise with her ds. I have never felt any pressure from dd pre school. Dd does have a bit of a dev delay so cannot even hold a pen, or write her name let alone do writing practice. The more i forced her the more distressed she would become.

DS has homework, sort of. This week they sent home a few pieces of pink and red construction paper and asked us to make something Valentines-y for the hallway display. I think it's just meant to start a strong home-school connection.

I would not obect Cheerful to that, but writing practice

Some pre-schools still have a very outdated idea of what preparing for school means.
It's about being ready to learn, about learning to share, to concentrate and to follow instructions. it's not about being able to read and write before you go to school.
A quote from an article in nursery world puts it very plainly - "'We see children coming here who know their alphabet and can count but cannot wipe their noses, cannot wipe their bottoms and cannot play socially together."

full article here

Yes, writing practice is a bit much! I can see sending home sheets to work on if you want to, for extra practice, but expecting you to do it and bring it back is silly at this age.

I think we're a bit more lax here though...kids here don't do kindergarten til 5 or 6, and that's when they start writing, reading, etc.

Homework for preschoolers is very, very silly (I don't see the need for any homework until secondary school, personally). But I'd save being 'shocked' for something that really is shocking, op.

Well cheerful not so, in many other countries the school starting age isent until 6-7 years, so that children are much older and more settled to learn. I think that the school starting age here is a bit young. Great article purepurple, though my dd 3.11 has social problems, then again she does have social communication difficulties and slight dev delay, but that does not stop us from trying to improve her social skills, independence and manners.

Ours get homework, usually just one worksheet a week, entirely optional

School starts at 6/7 here too. DD 4 yrs goes to pre-school, and as others have said it's all about table manners, learning to play with others etc.

she doesn't get homework

I just thought that because whenever people have threads about the difference between US and UK schools, someone usually says that in the US they're doing work at 6 that they'd be doing in reception in the UK.

DS is 3 and he brings homework back from his private nursery. He actually loves it as it's in a bag similar to DD's school book bag so can't wait to do his 'homework' which is usually a game, learning a nursery rhyme, putting pictures in order or shapes/colours exercise or something.

It's no big deal at all and the leader of the pre-school room explained what she was planning to do and asked if we wanted DS to take part, so there was an 'opt-out'. It only takes about 5-10 mins to do and they get 1 a week so no big deal really.

DD on the other hand is 7 and gets a homework pack on a Friday for handing in Tuesday with 3 sheets of activities - literacy, numeracy and handwriting. This is on top of the daily spelling lists and reading they need to do. I think this may be a tad excessive but it's not bothering DD really so we just go with it.