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 detest it because DD is dyslexic, so everyone else's twenty minutes rattling through reading, spellings and project work is our hour of her being unhappy and telling me how she hates homework and how stupid she feels. I work full time so this is a big chunk of my time with her in the day. She'd get much more out of an hour of free reading or working on her dyslexia software on the pc. The school is good about the fact that some weeks it's not worth putting her through the misery, but I'd much rather

Sorry, pressed post by accident. I'd much rather she didn't have to worry about it or be the odd one out and work on something that would help her but be totally different from the stuff that makes her unhappy in school.

That study looked at kids who had homework in secondary school as well as primary (see how even the newspaper article mentions it's tracking children up to age 14). If you look at the actual study you'll see their finding that 2hrs plus per night was correlated with better results was for children aged 11 -14. Studies that look at homework in secondary school have been much more mixed with a general correlation with higher academic achievement. However, see how the title of this thread is specifically about homework in primary school?

Studies that looks only at primary tend to find little to no correlation with improved performance, with some studies that look at infants finding a negative correlation (it is associated with developing negative attitudes towards school leading to a lack of engagement with learning).

Washediris - which oxford uni study is that?

Twinkle, believe and practice what you like-more power to you. If you are suggesting that Alfie Kohn is my "guru", come on over and look at my bookshelf. I have a broad variety of books on educational theory and practice. The idea of having a guru is repulsive to me.

We decided to homeschool our kids precisely to avoid the dogmatism of publicly-funded education, that of the system, and the participants (parents and students).

I think that homework has little value until the university setting, you disagree. That's how it is.

I think it would be fine if it was limited to handwriting practice, spelling and sums/times-tables. What I object to is the interminable 'do a project on...' homeworks that we NEVER get back in order to see comments etc, and the busy work such as 'make a model firework'

Little kids get home from school at maybe 3.30, and go to bed maybe 7.30, thats 4 hours in between. But you have to fit in dinner, bath, etc. in that time. So they don't really get all that much time to relax or do what they want to do, and they're usually very tired too. An older child goes to bed later so has more free time after school, so fair enough if they have more homework.
Ì'm happy to read with my 4 year old ds, I do every day but not for long. Occasionally we do a bit of writing and talk about numbers quite a bit. But extended projects... I don't see the point at this age, no time to do it and they're learning all the time anyway. Playing with lego or his marble run is improving his spatial awareness, crafts or colouring are improving his coordination. I see no reason to enforce homework projects just for the sake of it.

Ours finish school later than that, and home about 3 hrs later on average.

Like other many parents, we work. Kids are on school premises 0800-1730/1800. One goes to bed 1930 and the other 2030. They need to eat in that time also .

They do reading and spellings every night and the older has HW at the weekends. Often I have to help him because it's "research life in Spain" or whatever where we need the computer, though I make him use the encyclopedia where possible. It's a battle but better it's at the weekend .

DCs whose parents both work are disadvantaged. If the child is in after school provision until 6.30 they're not going to have time for much afterwards.

My kids get home at 4, they go to bed at 6.30 and 7. The only time to do homework is before bed.

Ds has spellings and reading homework every night. I love reading and we're more than happy to settle down in bed at 7pm with Ds' school book, dd's school book and a couple of story books. We ignore other homework unless it's reading comprehension or maths. We practise maths at home, one of them has an activity most nights and other nights I let them invite friends round/go to friends houses. On these nights I get the arts and crafts out in case they want to be crafty. I'm teaching them how to cook, chop veg, prepare dinners, make desserts, keep their rooms tidy and put their clothes in the wash. I think that's enough for a 6&4yr old. When the weather warms up we will be going outside more.

What about that strange thing called 'playing'?

By the time I've finished at work and collected DD (aged 8) it's just past 4pm. Supper, bath, bed routine starts at about 7pm (for her, I start cooking at 6.30ish, though sometimes she cooks - proper meals, not beans on toast).

Ballet class twice a week and Brownies once a week, which (including transport) take up the 4pm-6pm slot.

The rest of the time she plays with friends, sometimes we go swimming or to the library or need to do some mid-week grocery shopping.

She doesn't watch TV during the week (and very little at weekends, sometimes a DVD in the evening) - she's having too much fun taking exercise, working on her social, communication, problem solving and cognitive skills, exploring different roles, and learning about the environment. In other words, playing.

I know I might get flamed for this but at my DDs school it's the SAHMs who complain the most about homework when WOHM have the least time to help.

Thats interesting Loopsylala and there must be endless reasons as to why that is

DD1 gets home from school around 3.50pm, and goes to bed at 8pm. She is P1, so her homework is one or two short reading primers every night, and a spelling/writing exercise once a week.

I think that's entirely appropriate and she really enjoys it, and we can see progress in her learning. DP and I both work (DP part-time) and we make time at the end of the day to help her.

My yr 8 gets home under his own steam at about 4pm and often does his homework before I get home with my yr 5 at 5:45pm / 6:15 pm. So my older DS has plenty of time to relax , do homework and attend clubs some days. It's so much less stressful than for my yr 5. I cook dinner straightaway and we have usually finished by 6:45 / 7 pm. But my yr 5 goes to bed at 7:45pm, and we have homework battles 2 or 3 times a week. It is improving, as she is increasingly independent, and her teacher this year is setting work that she is able to do ( not the case every year ) but it demoralises her and me and seems pointless. DD goes to a childminders after school but it is very busy there and no chance to do homework. I really can't wait for her to finish primary. For our family primary homework is stressful. Secondary has lots of after school homework help sessions too, and DS goes to these sometimes if he is stuck and gets help. These are not available at primary, which makes it hard for a full time parent who can't make it home til her DC is tired.