Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this is a little bit too much for Year 3 children?

167 replies

NoCapes · 07/09/2016 20:06

DS1 has just started Year 3, today he came home with a newsletter type thing telling us what will be happening each week, when he'll need pe kits, when his homework is due etc
I'm a bit surprised by how much work he'll have to do at home

Each week he'll have -
Homework consisting of 1 thing topic related, 1 piece of maths, 1 piece of English
2 reading books
A list of 15 spellings to learn for a test each Friday
&
He'll have a times table test each Friday so we've been asked to practice times tables too

This feels like a lot to me for 7 year olds and is quite a big jump up from what he was expected to do last year

AIBU to think this is just too much?

OP posts:
Memoires · 07/09/2016 21:57

DD learnt spellings without noticing because I wrote each word in big letters on an index card and stuck them up on the kitchen wall opposite her place. Whenever we sat down at the table, she'd see them. I'd ask her to spell some of them everyday, and she could just read them off so she never got an opportunity to get one wrong. It also helped that she read a lot, and that I read to her everyday too. I would read to her while she was in the bath, nice and relaxed. Occasionally I might ask her to spell a word if one of her words came up.

Same with tables, these need to be done everyday too. Have them up on a wall where ds can see them clearly and have him read the relevant table off. IMO it's best not to give them the chance to get it wrong so they learn it right every time.

HateSummer · 07/09/2016 21:57

My dd was in year 3 last year. The jump from year 2 to the new curriculum in year 3 was MASSIVE. It really affected her badly. She basically had a really shit year 3 because she didn't and isn't interested in learning her times tables. She went from a good sats result to crap because there were gaps in her learning.

We used to write stories on folded up pieces of paper and paint, draw, bake and read and read and read and learn maths in little groups of 3/4 when I was in year 3.

Things are shit nowz

HateSummer · 07/09/2016 22:00

Nowz? Stray Z there!

trafalgargal · 07/09/2016 22:01

"I don't want to pin him down for hours of work"

How does 20 mins of homework convert to this ?
You sound ridiculous.

DixieWishbone · 07/09/2016 22:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Scorbus · 07/09/2016 22:03

We are dned if we do and damned if we don't over homework! Personally beyond X tables and spellings I find little value in homework but if we don't set it some parents will complain.

One thing I do recommend for X tables is the lovelaughlearn videos on YouTube.

Original poster
NoCapes · 07/09/2016 22:03

trafal maybe 20 minutes for your child
Mine is absolutely not the kind of child who will merrily skip to the table, tootle through his questions and be done
There are tears, tantrums, begging, bribery, more tears...its a lot lot lot more than 20 minutes

OP posts:
delilahbucket · 07/09/2016 22:04

Ds didn't get homework in year three. Just reading (his own books) and times tables. He had more in year two where there were weekly spellings. I've yet to see what year four brings.
I don't agree with homework at primary school. Children should have time to just be children.

toastymarshmallow · 07/09/2016 22:05

Legally we as teachers have to set homework - legally, you don't have to complete it. Nothing will happen. Children who bring homework back are generally rewarded for their efforts though so they may miss out on this.

We were told in the note home that we have to speak to the teacher if the child hasn't completed the homework. I sometimes feel like I am back at school.

Sounds about the same as my P4 (Y3 equivalent) DD has. It feels like a huge step up from last year and I am struggling to know where we will fit it in. We already have two evenings out at clubs, one at her dads, and I really am not keen on the idea that the weekend should be taken up with ANY homework at 7 years of age. It is excessive.

If we can't manage it I will have to go in and "speak to the teacher" and she might wish I hadn't.

DD read The BFG by herself, is currently on Matilda, has read other novels too. The reading books that are coming home seem pointless in comparison.

MrsRyanGosling15 · 07/09/2016 22:05

I don't know if it makes a difference that we are in Ireland but mine would have had reading, spellings, a page of maths and a page of English Mon-Wed then the maths and English were swapped with religion on a Thursday. Maths and spelling tests on Friday. Homework was completed each night and sent back to school the next day. He has had nightly homework from p1. My DS would have a fit at the thoughts of not handing homework in the next day. It's just normal here. Op that doesn't sound like alot compared to here.

NotEnoughTime · 07/09/2016 22:08

strawberrybootlace

At the primary school my DC attends they would miss their playtime until they completed the homework they had been given Sad

I do not agree with homework for primary school DC (except for reading but I don't really count that as homework) but I think it is useful for secondary school pupils-but an hour a night max in non GCSE/A Level years.

fadingfast · 07/09/2016 22:15

I think it sounds a lot for Yr3. Mine (last year) had to do reading, spellings and practice times tables each week. That was about it. Plenty at that age IMO.

mycatwantstokillme1 · 07/09/2016 22:16

When my son started primary I made it clear from day 1 he wasn't going to be doing any homework until he got to year 6, to give him a year to get ready before secondary school. Nearly every teacher was fine about it. After school we were either at friends houses, or my mum and dads, or at the park. He passed 6 of his GCSE's last year (A's B's and C's) and has just passed his AS levels, now going onto A levels.
I don't think primary school children should be stressed out about homework or those bloody SATS. Academia isn't for everyone and kids shouldn't be made to feel like it is, especially from the age of 6.

Waiting4cakes · 07/09/2016 22:27

I don't think it sounds too bad in my DCs school once they start juniors they have spellings on Monday for a Friday test. 1topic related thing on Tuesday. 1 -2 maths work sheets on Wednesday. Handwriting sheet on Thursday and 1 topic related thing on Friday usually a research project or a bigger English/Welsh project like writing a story. They also get a reading book on Friday alternating Welsh and English books. (Its a Welsh medium state school)

If they don't hand it in on time they have to stay in over playtime/golden time till it's done.

Luckily my DD (year 6) settled into doing it by year 5 so it's not a battle anymore and we just get it done as soon as possible. However I am dreading DS2 going up to juniors as I struggle to get him to infants level of homework.

Sara107 · 07/09/2016 22:39

I think it's a lot, and the school day is already long here. dD goes to afterschool club most days so gets home about 5 ish, exhausted. bedtime starts at 7 ( up for bath etc). When you add in dinner, swimming once a week, phoning grandma once a week, tiny bit of relaxation there really isn't any time left. She is just starting year 2 so don't know how much homework she'll have. Last year we often ended up doing her reading in bed and often she just falls asleep. I can't imagine having homework every night tbh.

MyFriendsCallMeOh · 07/09/2016 22:50

Our school does spellings and reading only. They reckon that if it can't be completed in 30 hours or so of teaching time per week, it's probably not going to get done in a couple of hours of home time. There's no conclusive evidence that homework is beneficial anyway.

NotTheMrMenAgain · 07/09/2016 22:54

My year 3 DD is going to have homework each night that shouldn't take any more than 30 mins to complete. I assume there'll be something for over the weekend as well. Last year in Yr2 there was a library book and book report, a maths sheet, a handwriting exercise and a spelling test each week - which easily took a couple of hours most weeks.

strawberrybootlace · 07/09/2016 22:54

So parents aren't legally obliged to force their state-educated young dc to do homework, but the child might be punished at school if they don't complete it? Gosh, that seems quite harsh. I can see why private schools might approach it in a non-negotiable way.

NotTheMrMenAgain · 07/09/2016 22:58

.......that's less than at her previous school where I've heard there's 2 or 3 pieces of homework per night. If homework isn't done at DD's school they have to stay in at break to do it. I never had homework in primary school.

strawberrybootlace · 07/09/2016 22:58

To clarify re. private schools, because non-negotiable homework is part of the contract, I guess, and not doing it breaks the contract.

trafalgargal · 07/09/2016 23:14

Homework is all about setting up good habits. Most parents can handle a six year old and get them into a homework habit. How much worse would the tears and tantrums be at eleven and starting high school?

Of course if a parent transmits to their child it's a chore rather than making it a positive activity then they can hardly be surprised if the child doesn't want to do it.

Hours of the child taking control and throwing tantrums over anything sounds like a bigger problem than just homework however and perhaps the OP should be seeking some additional help.

nonicknameseemsavailable · 07/09/2016 23:22

ours is topic homework issued nearish start of term - 3 bits to do at some point by a couple of weeks before the end of term.
1 bit of maths, 1 of English each weekend.
reading - just daily reading, on chapter books so no specified number a week.
spellings - I am not sure how many yet as not given this week but usually 20 I think
and times tables/mental arithmatic tests every week

sounds the same. It is ok for us to fit in generally if we have weekends to do it - I don't like spellings issued on a monday and tested on a friday. if we have the weekend then we just do it all in one go then. usually the tasks are so short and easy they don't take very long.

wheresthel1ght · 07/09/2016 23:34

Haven't read the full thread but I have to disagree with intheair that homework is reinforcing clAssroom learning. More often than not my dsc have come home with not a clue about what is expected of them re the set homework because they have never covered it in class. When Dss was in y6 he was sent home with a massive project to cover a whole topic on a weekend because according to the note from the teacher they "hadn't had time to do it in class"

Homework at ks1 & 2 is ludicrous. It is teaching our kids to hate school. It is also one of the reasons I walked out on teaching mid way through my degree. Too many bureaucrat Chiefs running the show at the top and far too many disenfranchised Indians in the ground.

Spellings, reading and times tables practice I agree with. The rest is showboating for results and to cover the fact that the government interference means there is not time to cover the full curriculum without hours of work at home.

Day 1 of juniors and my dsd brought home 2 hours of homework, first day of y6 and again tons to hand in by Monday. Utter madness

To answer the op it sounds like the standard amount to me though

firawla · 08/09/2016 00:05

It sounds similar to what mine got in year 3 too. It felt like a big change going from year 2 in the infants where homework is pretty optional to juniors where they give all of this compulsory weekly homework for year 3! But they tend to adapt in a few weeks and I do quite like how the expectations are clear with it, you know you'll get it every week rather than the haphazard style they gave stuff out in infants - ours do say if they've done 40 mins on each topic and still not finished then just stop and get a parent to sign to say that, which is a fair compromise i suppose

MyFriendsCallMeOh · 08/09/2016 01:05

My 11 yo rarely had homework in year 6 and it doesn't look like that will change in year 7. School is asking them to research / read / prepare for lessons but is not setting homework.