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AIBU?

to wish homework would just be simple so you can just get on with it?

43 replies

TunipTheVegedude · 21/04/2013 18:28

Instead of it demanding you find loads of things that you haven't got.

This week, ds1's maths homework requires 10 1p coins and 10 10p coins. We have scoured the house but only have 9 1ps and 4 10ps.
It also requires a grocery shopping receipt which we threw away after our weekly shop.

Shall we empty everything out of the bin to try and find it? Knock on the neighbours' doors and ask if they have one and if they can change a pound coin? We suggested making up a shopping receipt but he got stressed and said he would get in trouble if he didn't do exactly what it said.

In previous weeks we have had to spend 20 minutes cutting out counters before being able to play the maths game. Or the instructions say to glue things onto card, which clearly isn't important for a maths game but tends to result in a row with the kids if you refuse to do it.

Can't we just go back to learning times tables?

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moondog · 21/04/2013 20:49

I'll be waiting Crazy.....

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pinkyredrose · 21/04/2013 20:59

Why do parents have to help with homework? Genuine question. Shouldn't the child be doing it themselves, isn't that the point?

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moondog · 21/04/2013 21:13

Children need guidance with learning.
You may as well ask why we employ teachers.
Shouldn't they just turn up and er.... learn it themselves.

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GeorgianMumto5 · 21/04/2013 21:25

This week, dd's maths homework posed the question, 'There are 63 tentacles at the octopus ball. How many octopuses are there?'

Dd wrote, '7 octopuses plus one injured one.'

I think it was probably a typo as the rest of the sheet was about the eight times table, but it made us laugh.

Generally speaking, I cannot really see the point of homework in primary. I find it sucks the joy out of weekends as we have to go through the same old battles over it, every weekend. It also takes time away from learning at home; instead they spend their time trying to remember what they learned at school. I don't mind the, 'Find out about...and present your findings however you choose ones,' but ds rails against the, 'Underline all the words with the oa sound' sheets.

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Smudging · 21/04/2013 21:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Smudging · 21/04/2013 21:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

pinkyredrose · 21/04/2013 21:29

moondog that's a ridiculous answer. Surely the point of homework is to underline what the children have learned that day and to make sure they understood. The parents doing the homework for/with them should be unnecessary.

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propertyNIGHTmareBEFOREXMAS · 21/04/2013 21:33

Yanbu.

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treas · 21/04/2013 22:17

TunipTheVegedude - you don't happen to have children in a village school in a s-w county beginning with S?

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moondog · 21/04/2013 22:25

It's not about doing it for them.
It's about supervising them to do it.

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Dancergirl · 21/04/2013 22:26

YANBU!

I hate with a passion homework that requires a lot of parental input. Plus I think a lot of primary homework is given just for the sake of it so schools are seen to be giving homework.

I do wonder about the long term educational implications if we refuse to do ANY primary school homework. None probably....but I'm not brave enough to do that.

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TunipTheVegedude · 21/04/2013 22:34

Treas - no, a N county beginning with E Y.
Is your teacher using the same worksheets?

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MidniteScribbler · 22/04/2013 00:22

I hate homework. I hate having to argue with parents about it. I hate having to spend half an hour every morning gathering it up, working out who has done what, who is missing what, who has forgotten what, who doesn't have a printer, who doesn't have a pencil. I hate spending half an hour in the afternoon trying to make sure everyone has everything they need, understands what to do. I hate spending an hour at night marking it. I really hate the amount of time on weekends I have to spend coming up with tasks, making up worksheets, printing them off. I very quickly in my teaching career decided it was all a great big pile of shit and that I wasn't interested, aside from home readers. To get around it and the school requirements for us to set homework, I came up with a very elaborate system stolen from the guides of 'homework badges' which all the kids (and their parents) seem to love because they can pick and choose what they want to do based on their interests. Saves me a lot of classroom (and home!) time too!

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deeplybaffled · 22/04/2013 00:37

Georgianmumto5 - thank you! It's not been the best weekend but the injured octopus made me laugh quite a lot!

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GeorgianMumto5 · 24/04/2013 22:10

deeplybaffled, you are very welcome.

MidniteScribbler, what an excellent idea!

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Dancergirl · 24/04/2013 22:14

midnite sounds great, tell us more. How does it work?

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Ruprekt · 24/04/2013 22:30

Bump

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SlumberingDormouse · 24/04/2013 22:33

Ugh, I teach and I can't stand the attitude that 'everything must be made into a game'. It takes up a huge amount of time that could be better spent just learning things like times tables. It's possible to make things engaging without over-complicating them. Also, don't get me started on mistakes in homework instructions etc... It's shocking.

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