why the f do they set "make a model" homework when they know it's the parents that end up having to do it!? grrrrr!!!

[RedOnHerHedd]

Just that really!!!
Make a model of a

Why????
Just why???

They know the kids version will be a pile of crap, and they know that that one kids parent spends a grand on hobbycraft items and makes a scale version of the Taj Mahal.

And your kid's attempt is 2 yogurt pots and a butter carton glued to a box of coco pops.

Why don't they just tell your kids "ok, so your parents homework this weekend is to make a working model of the international space station, complete with the ability to self orbit around the globe".

Guess what I'll be doing tonight!?
Making a fucking model.
Yet again.

At our school they had a parents' meeting about homework at the beginning of year two. The teachers explained that they knew that the tasks would require some parental support and input and that they hoped we could use it as an opportunity to share in our children's learning experience collaboratively. It was irritating as they clearly assume we have nothing to do with our spare time other than sit around twiddling our thumbs but we didn't want to buck the system.

So the homework was set and we had 6 weeks to make a model X and it was a complex thing that clearly no 6 year old could do alone. But we took the teachers at their word and approached it as a team making sure DS did as much as possible - he did the planning for what features the thing could have, which we used as a lesson in research methods using Internet, books etc, made plans for what each thing could be made from and designed what he wanted to achieve. There were a lot of tricky bits in the manufacture which an adult had to do. The finished product was pretty good.

On the homework hand in day I felt ashamed of handing in something good because so many classmates were handing in something made of 3 yoghurt pots and had clearly had no parental support at all. However we had followed the instructions the school gave in not leaving him to his own devices.

I feel in future we have to refuse to help him even though the school are clear that parental help is expected because so many kids in his class have no support and I don't want him to be the odd one out.

Maybe schools should set a two-tier homework task where you can choose to do option a if you have parental help or option b if you are going it alone?

I remember we once had a homework set in Science I think, in yr 7, to measure all the water our family used in a day. FFS! how unrealistic. I did to but obviously I had to get a lot of help from my mum in terms of measuring how much was in the kettle, calculating how much water came out of the shower head per minute. And there were only two of us in the house! Anyone who came from a big family or had parents who didn't have bloody time to calibrate the iron wouldn't have a hope in hell.

It works both ways. I remember an Easter Bonnet competition where it was completely obvious that that the winner had been constructed by a professional florist (or the six year old was amazingly adept with florist's wire and oasis). In a subsequent year my dd genuinely spent weeks constructing a model of the mad hatter's tea party which got nothing because "she obviously didn't do it herself". I once judged a competition for 11 year olds to build a tower. One came with a complex cable stayed construction and was about 12 feet tall. Another was a pile of cereal boxes roughly stapled together. The good thing was they had been working in teams and had to give a presentation on how they built their towers. Quite difficult to string, "my dad, who is a structural engineer, told us what to do, and did all the construction" to five minutes! The pile of boxes talked about how they had fallen out with each other and struggled to produce anything but had learned a lot in the process. Neither won but the second lot actually gained much more from the exercise than the first.

I have spent the whole of half term avoiding the set model task and will be assembling something with my DD this evening. Even when we make the models they just come home after a week to be binned. I was mightily disheartened when we made a castle with moat one holiday only for it to be sent home a few days later! I am not at all arty so i struggle. DD is fairly creative but still needs some practical help.
YANBU

OP - DS has to make a model of something from WWII, so I'm going to suggest an air raid shelter (thinking toilet roll and Earth/moss etc.

make an air raid shelter from a tin can! Take off label. Glue to cardboard sheet. Stick corrugated card over it in an upside-down U shape, and cut out shapes for door and end. Draw an allotment (or use tissue paper to make potatoes, flowers, turnips etc) and glue on to cardboard. Job done!!

not stealing idea from ds's WW2 school project, oh no

But I agree with nocakes - ask the teacher what learning objectives she hopes to achieve with this piece of homework. Then refuse to do it. Pointless imo.

I'm not a fan of homework anyway, but this is just homework for the sake of it. It's pointless, and it's unfair because it's not a level playing field - some kids don't have the space or the resources to do this stuff at home. I am very relieved that my kids' HT doesn't have any time for this kind of box ticking shit. If you get this sort of crap on a regular basis, I'd be complaining tbh.

I was the child with the parents who took over only allowing me to do token colouring or painting.
I won loads of things but really it felt like I had cheated and I just wanted to do it myself. When my DC have to make things I play only a minor role, thankfully DC's school are good at recognising and rewarding the children's efforts over the parents.

Dont do it.

I utterly refuse to do craft homework. Here you are DC, do it yourself.

And loudly coo all over the ridiculous things made by the parents. I say 'gosh isn't X clever to make that all by herself' then ask the kid how they did it. Loudly. In front of everyone. And tell your own DC 'well lots of the mummies and daddies like to do homework too so they've helped their DC'

Their parents need to get a life instead of scoring small victories through a 5 year olds fucking build an igloo homework.

i am naturally uber competitive and cannot help myself ( well could but its a battle :)) and also want to try and encourage dd2 to think creatively about these projects.
but got so p**sed off with workload recently spoke to her teacher yr 6 and said it was not on, to keep giving a project and telling kids they had to come up with something amazing (her actual words) to present it, no more power points...I asked her who exactly she thought did all the work ??

after that...no more projects !

I think it would be better if there was no competition made of things made at home. I'm thinking Easter bonnet comp, Best model in class, ect.

It's not a level playing field and it's not fair. There are always a number of kids who get NO help and support at all. No glue, no paint at home, no help. I always feel very sad for them when this whole make it at home and we'll judge you stuff goes on and they've not nothing.

I've sat making last minute models with them at school during registration so they could join in. It felt so wrong. Just don't make homework into a competition FFS and take away a bit of stigma.

Oh god leave the kids to it.

If they require any sort of unusual amount of support to fulfil the homework requirement, then the homework set was obviously way too hard and it's all the teachers fault

I'm actually a bit that this kind of 'homework' is seemingly so commonplace.

Brilliant idea CocktailQueen I'll give him everything he needs and see what he comes up with.

Can any teacher round here tell us what the educational value in these things is supposed to be? If the child is genuinely going to make it themselves it is highly unlikely to be accurate as there's a limit to how accurate you can be with a cereal box and a few yoghurt cartons, and if the parent makes it the child learns sod all.

My dd2 had to make something from WWII - she covered a cereal box in brown paper, tied some string round it and it was a gas mask box. All her own work and 10 mins tops

My P7 is making a model of the Titanic this week but it's all being done in school in groups - she had to bring in a roll of tinfoil this morning as her contribution. Last week she was making up a haiku about the Famine - happy times in school at the minute.

I would love to help DD research a particular theme (funnily enough we're on WWII this term too) and write about it, maybe create a presentation with pictures etc. But making bloody models - I don't know how, she doesn't know how, and I can't see what she will learn about WWII by making the model - it is a lot of pain for us for very little result. Can't bear it.

Thanks Cocktail Queen for the air raid shelter idea. We will do that!

Air raid shelter - shoe box, green paint, felt tips and a bit of moss on the lid.

Bob's yer mother's brother

I distinctly remember us having a project in Year 4 where we had to design and make a tea cosy. My mum is a dressmaker who works at home, so I've grown up around it. I learnt to use a sewing machine when I was 3, so I was able to make quite an elaborate tea cosy myself by the time I was 8. My mum was actually out of action with the flu when I was making this thing, so I did the whole thing myself with very little help (I was able to ask her some questions, but she wasn't physically able to help me). I was so distraught when my teacher told me off saying that my mum made it for me rather than me doing it myself! I'm 26 now, and remember it vividly like it was yesterday. My mum still has it and uses it regularly!

My dad's a mechanic and loved making models for my homework, but we used to get in a lot of arguments about it as he just wanted it done his way.

I'm now a Brownie leader and remember these things when we are working on stuff for badges etc. I very rarely give them anything to do at home, and if I do, it is normally easy stuff that the girls can do at home without help. It is also always stuff where the only consequence is that they don't earn whatever badge we are doing. One example is they need to write/draw a short diary to earn their Brownie Holiday badge. They can do entries while we are away, but need to take it home to do the last one. We had 14 Brownies come away with us in January, and only 3 brought their diary in to get their badge. It's disappointing when they don't do it, but it doesn't affect me; they're the ones that don't get a badge!

Plus doll's house furniture inside for the win

WigglesRock the gas mask box sounds good too and I have a roll of brown paper and a coco pops box here.

Urgh we have one of these at the moment. Our school actually send a note asking us to resist the temptation to do it for them! But still, people do and you can tell which things it is. (Real wooden Roman shield with leather strap attached with real industrial rivets, I'm looking at you.)

I actually think in a very political way these things are - perhaps not consciously - a test of your "worth" as a family and that means your ability to provide time, materials and cash for new materials. It is a test of how middle class and affluent you are and if you have a SAHP or parents who aren't too busy working or too poor to provide the stuff. Kids who don't have that support or affluence get to look bad. I hate it (even though we're in the middle class category, we both work and I really resent having to jump through that kind of hoop for the sake of my DC standing at school).

a gas mask box.

a label on an evacuee.

we get things that require printing and programmes we do not have on the computer.

Haven't encountered this yet as DD is only in reception but as a very uncreative person I won't be entertaining this. DD will be provided with what she needs and given minimal help. I simply haven't got the imagination or skills to make amazing models.

I also won't hesitate to let her know that little Max's fantastic model was actually made by his parents.

I have stopped helping DC with projects. I make sure they do it, and that I have the materials.

It has worked out surprisingly well.

The teachers can totally tell the DC did it all by themselves and they ended up getting praise for genuine effort. And also better grades.

You can't fool teachers, and kids don't like to take credit for something they did not actually do themselves.

Wish I had figured this out sooner

I leave my kids to it. Ww2 would be a kitchen roll tube turned into a torpedo. I don't do their homework for them, why would I? ?