To think this is too much homework for year 2?

[Givinguph0pe]

Ds has not long turned six - he's a young year 2 - and this year the homework load suddenly seems a lot.

He has:

4 books a week at approx 40-50 pages each
Two pieces of maths
15 spellings
And a long piece of comprehension. It usually involves reading the text, answering ten or so questions in full sentences, answering another ten and copying them out choosing the correct word and then at the end there's something about rewriting the story or changing the characters / setting / ending.

It's a real battle. It's taking ages partly I suppose because ds hates reading and writing even though he can do it. Three nights a week he isn't back until 5.30 as he goes to the childminders and the other two week nights he has clubs and sports to go to.
We do have a day free at the weekend but I can't push all that onto one day.
It just seems a lot.

Is it comparable to what other people's children have?

The maths, spellings and RC sound okay to me. But are you really saying he has 200pp to read a week? That sounds an awful lot.

That's rediculous.

DS is year 1 and DN year 2 at the same school. They get their books changed as they finish it so it can be 5 a week or 1 a week or anything inbetween.

They get homework once a week which is basically a sheet with some ideas of suggested activities of maths to support what they are doing - as much or as little as you want to do. Then a sheet with the phonics and words they are doing to practise (not for a test)

Every so often they will get a bit of topic based homework (once so far this year)

Oh, it's so silly isn't it? I really hate this homework business and it makes no difference. Is it possible that he'd be interested in reading if it was a topic he enjoyed?

We've got parent's evening next week and o didn't know whether to mention that we're finding it a lot to fit in.

Yes he does get a lot of books to read. It just seems never ending! The writing usually amounts to two or three pages of a4.

That seems loads to me.

At that age we had 6-8 spellings plus either a piece of Maths or a writing task. Reading books were changed as and when they were finished.

Is the school worried about its SATS results perhaps?

It's to much. My DS is in year 4. They have spellings (this year they have to do a sentence with each word as well as learn them) and maths each week and bring work home to finish if not done in class. They also have reading but are never really told how much. We are asked to do 10 mins a day. DS is now a free reader so reads for pleasure and we do less with him than we used to. Each half term they are given a choice of homework pieces (they did this in year 3 too) these range from drawing a picture to making a 3d model to writing a review of somewhere they have been. These are based around a topic being covered which helps to engage the kids and gives them chance to choose what interests them. I think they have it about right.

Should add in year 2 they had spellings and sums each week to learn for a test plus reading books (10 mins per day). Rarely anything more.

Sounds loads.

DD is in Year2 and she gets a big homework project once a term with about 3 weeks to do it. This term it was to keep an exercise diary for a week, build a superhero vehicle and design a superhero costume. She gets a reading book as often as she returns it but no more frequently than once a week. Last year she had about 10 spellings a week to learn but they've stopped that this year as the kids learn the spellings then forget them by the next week. They now have mental maths homework every week.

So weekly it's just the maths and reading.

There's rewards for doing the weekly homework and bringing it in but no punishment if you don't. DD will do anything for a certificate or sticker so she's easy to motivate

Personally I'd chat to the teacher and focus on little and often. There's no point having a battle about it when they're 6yo.

That is ridiculous we had something similar with DD at that age as her teacher suspected she had dyslexia and thought all that reading would help. She would barely have all of that reading done now 4 years later. The teacher is misguided in her approach IMHO.

Crazy amount, and makes no difference in the long run at that age.

Definitely worth raising with the teacher (many quite frankly admit that a lot of the homework is set because of parent pressure). Perhaps suggest what you think will benefit DS and encourage an interest in learning. Maybe 10 minutes reading and 10 minutes 'other educational activity' - which would include any extra-curricular things he does such as sport, clubs, cubs, playing board games, weighing and measuring while he helps cook supper - or could include some of the set homework.

DD at 8 is beginning to be interested in doing homework (she has always loved reading so we never called that 'homework' even when it was set by the teacher ). She isn't so tired at the end of the day, and can appreciate the link between effort and achievement, and wants to do better for her own satisfaction. She doesn't do it everyday, but 10 minutes of willing engagement is worth more than hours of battling and meltdowns.

Every child develops at different rates for different skills. If your child is not ready for so much formal learning, then he's not ready.

If you get hassle fro the teacher ask how they differentiate homework and how they decide what homework is appropriate for each child. Just as it makes no sense to give the same classwork to each child, no matter what skill level they have, it makes no sense to give the same homework to each child.

That's way too much, IMO.

DS2 is Y2 but in Australia, so has been 7 for all of it (they start later here). His homework consists of 10 minutes reading every day, if they want to - we started with readers that they could bring home from school, and most of this year it has been reading own books (or library books). But books of that length would take him all week to read, if there was a lot on the pages (and books that length, there usually is a lot on the pages IME).

Now he has 20 spellings to do each day, a few grammar points (very simple to do) and a sheet of maths which can be anything from 10 - 20 sums depending on what they're covering and the complexity.

He's also had a couple of projects to do through the year, and a speech to prepare.

The reading comprehension with questions - no, haven't seen anything like that and wouldn't expect it at this level tbh.

Sounds too much.
We have eight spellings to learn per week.
Then reading - book changed as and when they finish rather than a set target per week.
Then one other piece of homework per week. Might be some maths questions, or a little piece of research, or a piece of writing.

Like you we are are often in late, or doing a club, and you don't want their whole weekend to be taken up with worries and stresses over homework. I'd talk to the teacher.

That's loads. When I worked in year 2 we used to have spellings, maths, literacy & reading. The spellings were around 5-6 words that we were already doing in class, a maths worksheet that connected to what we had learnt that week and normally a creative literacy piece so which could be a picture or writing and only about a page worth. The reading we expected daily but they are not big books and even 10 mins a day is so helpful at that age.

Ours felt like a lot so sometimes we would give maths one week and literacy the other if they were bigger pieces that we thought would take longer than 30 mins.

That's ridiculous.

My dc have a reading book, spellings and maths that's supposed to be done every night. Then they have optional hw over the term. Yours sound completely ott.

Sounds too much. Poor teacher having to mark it all as well! I wonder what their motivation is for setting so much.

In my school we set 6-12 spellings depending on ability (we hate spelling tests but our parents expect them...), reading books are changed when finished although we do badger children who don't read most nights, and one further piece of homework which is sent home in a pack at the beginning of the half term so they choose what order they do then in. There's usually a choice of arty/practical/maths puzzle/literacy poster type thing and so on. It's actually quite fun!

Sounds way too much!

We have usually 2 books a week (free reader so can choose herself), 6 spellings and a piece of Maths homework - usually takes 15 mins - plus writing usually 4 sentences about something they did at school - could be about a book character, about what they built or read.

This is per week. Takes about 1 hour total plus the reading.

We do some extra Maths (Mathsfactor) because I feel times tables should be practised regulary. DD2 does it whenever she wants, usually 2-3 30 min slots per week, plus time for games.