To wonder why people are against homework in Primary school?

[EmGee]

I'm intrigued by this after reading some responses on another thread about homework in primary school. A good number of responses were against homework.

My 6yo is in her first year of primary school (in France though, not UK). In France, this is the year kids are taught to read and write (in cursive). She has reading homework every night, often words to practise writing. Once every month or so, she has a 'dictée' (kind of like a spelling test) on words and sounds learnt during this time. In addition to this, she has English homework twice a week (she is in a French school with a bi-lingual section, so she has two hours a week of English with a native English-speaking teacher with the other bi-lingual kids) - this consists of a two-sided worksheet to complete, and eight words to learn for a spelling test every week (4 x phonetic words, 4 x sight words).

Homework is given right up until the last day of term and then you are given holiday homework. For the Christmas holidays, there was (for French) 5 sheets with exercises to do (not particularly difficult, mainly revision of sounds, words, basic grammar rules), review all the words learnt that term, and to aim for 15 mins reading a day. Luckily no English homework to do.

It sounds a lot, doesn't it? I've been told it gets worse and next year, she will have 16 words of English to learn plus story-telling as well as reading and of course, the French homework increases with a heavier emphasis on the dreaded dictées.

I felt very stressed and rebellious at the beginning of this school year although now we are getting into a routine but it means being very organised especially evenings where there is an after-school activity. I should add that on Wednesdays there is no school but the other days are long (9-5).

AIBU to suggest that homework is not such a bad thing? We are told 20-30 minutes an evening is enough at 6 years.

I wonder if the research shows whether hwk helps to form good working habits though? From my own (v v limited experience) I believe it does and is quite important.

We are on the continent and during primaire, there was a lot of emphasis on methodology, and organising yourself and your books, sources of references and papers etc.

Yes, hwk is stressful and a hassle, but the transition from practicing something in class to being able to understand and study it at home on your own is an important one I think (obviously, this only fully happens in the latter yrs of primary though). And I think it is important to be on top of this by the time you reach secondary school.

Quite a lot of hwk is handed out here. Unlike the op though, dd does not receive a lot of hwk in the holidays and that is a good balance I think. Short terms where the intensity of work is quite high (but have Wed afternoons off for sport and artistic/musical extra curric activities ie a helpful pause in the week) and long holidays where you can flop and forget about school for a bit.

I agree with others that this system does favour more privileged families though. And it's absolutely ridiculous imo to set hwk on topics that dc haven't studied yet! By all means "explore" a topic when dc are at a higher level, but absolutely pointless and counter-productive to set dc this task when they are not yet on top of the most basic of facts about a subject!

I just think there is so much more to life that school. There are so many things that we should be teaching our children. Everything from how to cook real food, prepare meals, washing, cleaning, reading things other than school reading books, how to play games, interacting with other children, siblings, family, adults, how to shop, hobbies, crafts, how to ride a bike, swim, exercise, sports clubs, how to fix things (rather than just buying a replacement), recycling, upcycling, caring for pets, volunteerings, social groups....there is just so much that will benefit our children whole lives so much that I feel that the formal learning from the classroom should be able to be achieved during the 6 hours at school. I don't actually have a problem with homework but I don't like the attitude that school and homework set at primary school is more important than parent's time with their children after school. I want to be able to choose what I do with my own children's time after school. They decide how and what they do with my children during the school hours and I decide out side of those hours.
I also don't think that it allows for the different styles of learning that children have. My DD struggles with homework and is not at all academic and it is not easy for her at all. She gets a little bit of knowledge from it but it causes more upset than anything. She's a practical girl who would rather be using her hands. My other DS is happy to do homework completely independently and will just bring it home, finish it quickly and won't have any issues. He's very much a pen to paper boy. My other child struggles to sit down and focus on getting things on paper but loves to learn and will learn lots of useful information outside of school which he reels off to anyone who will listen but the homework has no benefit to him at all.

I didn't drive every day after school from reception but I was mysteriously able to do it at 18 - you can for a home work habit in children very easily in years 7,8,9 ready for GCSEs

I have no issue with it at Junior school. In fact I welcome it as I want to know what they are doing and support their learning. It gives me an opportunity to look in their books, see what the teachers have said and how they are working. I don't like it when it's all done online and there's no teacher feedback.

It's the bloody parents who whinge about it but ignore the fact that it's not compulsory so if their little darlings don't do it or they don't want to that is fine too. Many a time I've asked for no homework or said DCs haven't done it for whatever reason. But largely I think it good practice for them, it allows them to use resources from home and think for themselves about how they are working. Whether or not it helps at GCSE isn't the be all and end all.

Because they're little kids and they're already in school all day. Evenings should be playing, dinner, bath, TV, book, bed.

Agree with those saying that there is no persuasive evidence that homework is beneficial for primary school children. That said, I'm prepared to concede that some carefully chosen homework can serve to reinforce learning done at school - but only the sort of thing where practice yields improvement. Make model of a motte and bailey castle from cardboard boxes and milk bottles does nothing to reinforce anything useful.

Because most of it is pointless and a box ticking exercise.

example of y2 homework;

Find out what animals offspring have weird names

Complete this cross word (based on animals offspring)

Bring in a bottle cut in half

Load the homework up on mathletics fine at least it's maths homework based on times tables or something but a 6year old googling random crap to tick a box is pointless.

Mine do. So far this year ds1 (10) has done a project on WWII weaponry (his choice), made a scrapbook in the role of a British evacuee child and is now inventing a rainforest animal and putting together a fact file for it. He's learnt loads - mostly about planning, working independently, researching and presenting than content it's true, but also with a sprinkling of interesting facts and figures. His creative writing also got a workout which was no bad thing.

I' annoyed that my 4 yr old DS in reception comes home on a Friday with homework for the weekend. He never wants tk the activity they have set and its frustrates everyone involved trying tk coax him into it. We are both working parents and we cherish our weekends together and it's upsetting him tk do a forced activity he clearly isn't enjoying. He's 4. Maybe when he's older and it's actual homework of some importance. For now we're enjoying learning through play and reading books

I became convinced that homework is counterproductive after reading this book, which reviewed every study done to date on homework.

www.amazon.co.uk/Homework-Myth-Kids-Thing-Children/dp/0738211117/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453817878&sr=8-1&keywords=the+homework+myth

My eldest had homework in nursery (finding/identifying letters etc. Unfortunately I was a bit too clueless to understand how ridiculous this was and so.... he did it.

*which reviews

I don't hate it in the slightest, my DD is in Y4 and they barely have any really, reading every night, maths and spelling once a week, and projects every term.
Not all children are tired after school - my daughter has never been, not even in reception.
Neither husband or I get home until after 6.30 and there's plenty of time every evening for homework if she had it (she goes to bed c 9). I don't get the angst. But my daughter is very able academically, and I want her to be pushed, in and out of school. I don't care if she moans about it either [old skool] .

Each year our primary school sends out a parents' questionnaire.

For the 'how do you feel about homework?' question, 50% say they want more and 50% say they want less. Every year.

So we leave it about the same...

That sounds like my ds's school king

I didn't have any homework when I was at infants' school in the UK, and I felt it hindered me rather, because it didn't get me into the habit of doing it. Homework in Junior school was more sporadic than it is now, and that didn't help much either. So when I hit senior school and had 2-3 subjects to do homework for most nights, it was horrifying! I was never particularly good at doing it, either.

DS1 is just going into "junior" school now (Australia, different school year) and he has had some form of homework to do since he started in kindy. Not much - initially it was just home readers, which was entirely up to us how much or little he did, but the more he did, the better of course and they give certificates for how many nights reading is completed. In Year 1, he started to get basic maths problems and spellings as well as his reading; this was given at the start of the week, to be handed in on Fridays.
Last year, Y2, this increased a little in terms of quantity and complexity, as you'd expect. I encouraged Ds1 to do it every week, again, no compulsion but I want him to get into the habit of it, as I never did. He's pretty good - he does do it, not necessarily every night but he does it and doesn't complain.

So in short - I'm not against it. But other mums of children in Ds1's class are, and don't encourage their children to complete it.

What I DON'T like so much are the big productions that have to be done at home, which are nearly always parent-led. The dioramas and the powerpoint talks - yes, the child will start off the process, but they need help with it or it won't happen. I don't see the point of these, really.

It eats into the limited free time that we have.

Slightly confused at the idea that homework should be down to a pole of what parents 'want' rather than what is shown by extensive research to be actually helpful and productive for children. I personally think ditch primary home work which just encourages web surfing, copy and paying and wasteful printing and get kids moving and involved in sports after school. Physical and social involvemt is way more important after 6 hours of sit down and listen time than building a Saxon hill fort or similar !

My daughter gets 3 sheets of maths, 4 books, 3 sheets of writing once a week and spellings to do every night.

I think it is a bit much but I am a single parent with a 14 year old who has substantial projects to do at home as well so juggling both is quite hard. Especially as neither of them like doing it.

My kids' school did a survey that also found an equal split for and against.

Personally, I think there's no evidence it benefits them and I'd rather the time be used for non school things that are already squeezed into the few hours they're not at school during the week. Being in a ballet show, learning to swim, riding a bike etc - all really good experiences I don't want to curtail in order to fit in more of what they already do for most of the day.

I do see some value in learning to sit down, grit your teeth and focus on getting through a tiresome chore - but once a week is quite enough for that.

Homework for yr2 dc is reading (4x week), maths workbook section, english workbook section (both weekly), weekly spellings of 12-15 words and a termly project. It gets done when given. Takes no more than 15 mins a night. From this work I know my child's capabilities and where support is needed. It's not that time consuming and it will benefit

I see lots of posts on Facebook that are anti homework. These posts are along the lines of "it's the teachers job" or "I can't be arsed" rather than its too much.

It makes me sad for these children as their future careers are pretty much predictable when with more interest and support from their parents they could reach their full potential and do something more fulfilling rather than low paid, dead end jobs like their parents.

We enjoy homework time, all of us, DD loves to learn and get her smiley faces on her jotters. We get to see how she is progressing at school and what she enjoys best.

I've had to stop myself from responding to these lazy parents on FB. They don't take their kids to the (free) afterschool language/gym/maths clubs the school offer yet moan online about lack of activities for their kids, lack of after school childcare and wonder why their kid needs extra homework.

Because it interferes with being able to follow their own interests. Once you've done school, bath, dinner, homework - you then inevitably don't have energy for music/sport/therapy/craft - whatever is particularly important to that child. It all become just a sausage factory churning out worker drones.

I don't mind reading, spellings and maths homework. What I object to are the projects they are set. My dd doesn't have the organisational skills to arrange her work yet (she is 6) so it becomes something you have to pretty much do for her. I really can't see the point in it, whereas practising fundamental stuff like reading etc makes sense to me.

I don't think apart from reading it has a major benefit for children who come from supportive families and who don't need extra help in any particular areas.
I know several families that opted out of homework except reading, their children don't appear to have suffered as a result.