A homework argument already

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

Ds has started at big school now. Year 7. Bus trip, several villages away.

They get homework every night. Nothing new there...

But the maths teacher has set homework today. Due in tomorrow. And we have spent all evening at the school "parents q&a evening"

His after-school time went roughly...

4:00 bus arrives in our village
4:15 meets me and dd in park
4:30 has ice cream with a friend
5:00 in the car to go back to school
5:30 snack before meeting
6:00 sat in hall
7:30 driving home via chippy as nobody has eaten
8:15 home and he tells me he has homework
8:30 shower as he stinks
9:00 finally gets out of shower
9:30 packing PE kit etc for tomorrow.

I know he is a boy and takes forever to do things, but a poster. For tomorrow. On parents evening night?

We all had to go and sit in the parents eve thing. As it explained how school works. It's website. Sickness procedures. Streaming. Etc...

Both me and ds need to know all this stuff, apparently.

[AmeliaNeedsHelp]

OP, the first term is tough (and tiring) for year 7s. Our school also sets all homework to be due in the next day for the first term - it gets them used to doing homework every night and (hopefully) homework time gets built in to their evening routine.

Could you have a set time each evening at which homework gets done? If he needs a rest after school, homework could start at 5 and should be done by 6 in time for dinner. Then the rest of the evening is leisure time.

[dodobookends]

My dd got several lots of 'Design a poster' homework in Y9. Ye Gods.

[FishWithABicycle]

If I have understood correctly that you only had a couple of hours notice of this parents meeting, it may be that the teacher was equally ignorant of it and wouldn't have set the homework if it was known.

[IdBuyThatForADollar]

well, stop the one of the two evening activities???

I've suggested it. She'd rather not. And it's the only activity that she does that isn't related to her primary interest/skill so I'm reluctant to stop it. We'll have to see how to this term goes, but if things get any more fraught then I may make an executive decision.

[balletgirlmum]

Must be the night for parents year 7s info evenings. Ours was last night too

Next day homework is not done in our house if it clashes with an activity. End of.

But ds's school vslues extra curricular stuff so doesn't set next day homework anyway (& gets the best results in the county)

[HeteronormativeHaybales]

In agreement with IdBuyThat. Goodness me, some of you are harsh. The boy's just started y7. And at the prim castigation of 'snacking' and speculations on the lad's weight.

Couple of maths problems for the next day, fine. Poster (or essay or something similarly substantial) for the next day, not so fine. Esp not in view of the compulsory evening event. I would be explaining that in view of that event and travel time to/from school it would be done for Monday. (And then obv make sure he does it).
School sounds slightly chaotic organisation-wise.

[00100001]

"Next day homework is not done in our house if it clashes with an activity. End of. "

surely the priority should be school work?

[MrsHathaway]

Overnight homework is stupid unless it's "you were mucking about so you didn't finish X which needs to have been done by tomorrow's lesson".

One of the skills children are supposed to pick up in secondary school is time management. You can't manage your time if the teachers don't stick to the rules.

[tbtc20]

In my experience it seems that they pile the hw on in the first few weeks of yr7. I don't know why, maybe to get them used to the idea they're at secondary school? And much of it seemed rather banal - covering books and the like.

It's not the end of the world that he didn't do it but I wouldn't be making excuses for him, he needs to learn to take the responsibility himself.

A couple of telling offs or detentions and he'll soon learn how to sort himself out, and if does still need support from you for time keeping, he'll learn to be better about doing that as well.

[balletgirlmum]

Absolutly not 001. Dd for example wants to make dance her career so ballet lessons were never skipped.

If a child has a scheduled music lesson or sports practice (& let t's of these are school ones) then why should they be expected to cancel them because if next day homework.

[tbtc20]

Oh and there have been times when h/w hasn't been done and if I felt it was for a reason outside of DS's control then I would send him in for a note. It was rare, but...I don't know, we had to collect DH from the airport once and probably other things. It's a balance.

[TheNewStatesman]

Someone "making a poster" for homework will be spending approximately 5 minutes thinking about chemistry or history (or whatever the topic is) and about 25 minutes thinking about coloring-in and bubble-writing.

It's such a silly, time wasting exercise.

[TheNewStatesman]

OMG, just read your post again and realized it was MATHS homework. Is his school a bit crap generally?

[SideOrderofChips]

Mybe he should have met you at home and done said homework before going back to the school rather than park and ice cream.

Homework takes priority in this house. It is done as soon as we get in.

[Lalsy]

OP, I agree about some of the comments being harsh. I know plenty of dc now at good universities, studying academic subjects at a high level with pleasure and dedication, who at 11 were forgetful faffers and whose parents did not impose strict rules on them. I also get him in the habit of doing it the night it is set though, in normal circumstances, whatever the deadline. That really, really helps later on and means weekends can be relaxing. Let him enjoy year 7 - it can feel like a boot camp at times, but is also very exciting if they are not too tired to enjoy it!

[balletgirlmum]

Some children especially boys also need a bit of fresh air & downtime after being cooped up at school/on the bus all day before they can start homework. I'm sure 10 mins in the park made no difference.

[HearTheThunderRoar]

Your dc needs to learn how to manage his time wisely and plan when he does his homework around extra curricular activities. DD has sport 6x per week along with about 3 hours of homework per night she still manages to get it done. Am not in the UK but DD gets homework regularly that is due the next day, such as workbook exercises etc. It's normally only the internal assessments that she a lot of notice.

Posters can be helpful learning techniques, especially if you are a visual learner so not a total waste of time IMO.

[00100001]

ego School work should be done in school. What right does a school have to say that your free time at home must be spent doing homework? And to say that it's the most important thing and has to be done tomorrow.


Well, that's going to be fun when your precious is in detention for not doing their homework, or failing their exams because they didn't do the work required.

No doubt you'll be blaming the school when that time comes

[00100001]

bllet whynot send her to ballet school then?

[00100001]

OK - well you can't complain when he gets given detention then, surely?