Teachers - do you expect that parents do a lot of teaching at home?

[Gemma191]

Please be honest!

Am specifically thinking of P1/early years teachers.

My son started school in September and from what I gather he seems really behind.

He wasn't taught to write a nursery and as far I'm aware, this is normal.

He is now expected to write his name on every piece of work, but I'm not sure how to get him to do this. I thought at school it would be a gradual build up focusing on a letter or sound at a time.

His homework in the first week was to learn to write his name. 6 weeks in and we still haven't got past the first letter, he has 8 letters in his name! Does his sound like a problem.

The homework in general is causing severe distress, he really hates it. He doesn't get home until 6 and by the time we get dinner and have story he's really tired.

I've asked if we could please have the homework at the weekend but the teacher said no. I just thought I'd have time to work with him more on Saturday and Sundays, I have other children so, like everyone else, it's hard to fit things in.

We've tried writing on the ground with chalk, using markers on a big page and even painting but his attention and concentration is v v short.

Apparently there ar children in the class who can read 100+ words.

I've printed the numbers 1-10 outnand stuck them on the fridge, he can say the number when I point to them but he can't write them.

What can I do to help him? We read lots at home (well dad and I read to him) and he seems to have a good understanding of what is happening in the books but I still feel he is behind.

First child at school so I don't know if I'm worrying too much.

It’s a while away now but mine didn’t do any homework during primary years. We didn’t get back from after school club until 6.30pm, so then it’s was dinner, bath and bed. When they were slightly older they did sports activities after school so no time for homework. Plenty of time for that when they get to senior school.

We’ve always read to them but left school to teach them how to read, write, numbers etc.

Other than reading, our reception class don't do homework. A weekly homework task is introduced in year 1.

DS2 has just started school. He can recognise his name and knows some letters but can't write it. (Unfortunately he's known by the full version of quite a long name). He's not quite 4.5 and has spent a good balance of time with me and nursery. He just hasn't been particularly inclined to try much reading and writing and I see no benefit in pushing prematurely.

DS1 was similar. He's taken a while for reading and writing to really click, over halfway through y1 really (and he was the older end of the school year). He's still doing well and understands the lessons, he just needed a bit more time.

I worked long days when DS1 was in reception and it was more than enough to have a little down time, dinner, bedtime routine and reading. He was often too tired to read. I'm not working now, but even coming home straight from school, DS2 has still done plenty for the day. Trying to "teach" them at the end of a long day is too much and can be counterproductive by blowing it into an issue.

It sounds like a seriously pushy school. Is it private or in one of these extremely affluent areas?

I'd ignore the 'children who can read 100+ words'. For a start I've seen children in y1 and even y2 who would struggle to do that; 2ndly they shouldn't be reading 'words', they should be learning to decode them.