To think that homework should be to practise something learned in class not to learn something new?

[deaconblue]

Ds is 5. His summer homework is to learn his 2,5 and 10 times tables. He has no idea what they are and has clearly not done anything before. So I'm supposed to teach him his tables from scratch. I'm not vaguely anti-homework but I have no idea where to start with this and it seems a bit unreasonable to me.

He's just finished reception. His report says he is working on number bonds. I may find when I get out the Lego blocks that he can do it but when I asked him what 1x2 was he hadn't got a clue so clearly had never heard it expressed like that before

I agree. It's a bit off to send home a homework sheet on, for example, means, medians and modes. Only to discover your child has no idea what these are, has not been given a book or anything to refer to, so you end up on BBC bitesize boning up,cause you forgot all that 20 years ago. What someone does if they don't have internet and the library's closed I don't know.

As for times tables for a five year old, well I suppose you could have a bash, you could make it fun.

But I still don't think little children should have homework set over the holidays.

Having said that dd3 has just stated learning to count in 2's and 5's (she can already count in 10's - self taught after listening to her sisters) which I guess is the foundations of learning times tables.