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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

...... to be fed up with the amount of homework my 7YO gets?

271 replies

fedupfrida · 10/12/2017 09:41

My Year 3 child gets what i think is a LOT of homework and it's starting to cause more and more family stress, especially at weekends.

It doesn't help that she hates doing homework and would rather be playing (which 7YO wouldn't?) but here's a list for a normal week;

Times tables,
2 or 3 pages from a Maths workbook,
10 spellings
2 (yes 2) book reviews per week,
Literacy/Science homework (usually a piece of writing, reading comp etc)
Reading every night.

How much does your Y3 child get and am i BU to be fed up of the sheer amount of time it takes and eats into our precious family time at weekends?

OP posts:
Doubletrouble42 · 10/12/2017 09:49

I'm afraid I set an amount of time I thought was appropriate to spend doing homework daily and what wasn't done wasn't done. I would pop a note to the teacher saying " dd spent x amount of time on this homework but struggled" etc and I didn't stress or allow her to. I wanted her to also relax/ have hobbies/ spend time doing family things. I will add she went on to get great gcses and a levels and is now at uni. Primary school homework is unnecessary and sucks in my opinion.

Hermagsjesty · 10/12/2017 10:02

YANBU. Personally, I really don’t think Primary school children should have so much homework. They need time for relaxing, I structured play, hobbies etc.

grasspigeons · 10/12/2017 10:05

my DS gets
times tables
read out loud to a parent
10 spellings

Then a learning grid which has 9 bits of homework on it. 3 literacy, 3 maths and 3 topic. The child is meant to pick one from each area and they normally have 3 weeks to do it in.

So a lot less that yours and we don't always do all the learning grid.

the book reviews seems particularly onerous as my DS can spend ages reading a book, so wouldn't be able to read 2 books a week to review in the first place.

Original poster
fedupfrida · 10/12/2017 10:13

Thanks for the replies ladies.

Its' really stressed me out this weekend and I know for sure it stresses dd out:( I like your idea DoubleTrouble42 of the note. I think i will do that. I know i'm not the only parent stressed out by it. Other parents have voiced their annoyance to me too. Trouble is the school have this culture of pushing the pupils and take the target setting and 'outstanding' s*e to another level. I never knew it's be this much pressure before she started there.

OP posts:
Steeley113 · 10/12/2017 10:22

Mines only in year 1 and we get reading every night, 10 difficult spellings every week and 2 homework sheets to complete a week! It’s way too much and all the parents agree but no one seems to do anything about it. I stopped attempting to complete it all and just spend 10 minutes a day on it and was told I’m not trying hard enough at parents evening Hmm

CecilyP · 10/12/2017 10:28

You're not trying hard enough!!!??? The obvious answer is, 'whose homework is it?' Followed by, 'I've already been to school; I tried hard with my homework then!'

chickenowner · 10/12/2017 10:28

If it's causing your dc stress and upset then don't do it.

Primary teacher speaking!!

TheFaerieQueene · 10/12/2017 10:34

How to turn a child off education.
This is all about the school’s performance rating, not about the child’s needs. I would boycott all homework until it is more reasonable.

happyelf · 10/12/2017 10:35

Our local authority states guidelines of how long each year group should spent on homework. My youngest is primary 3 (7yo) and it's something like 45 minutes spread over the week not including daily reading. If we go over 45 minutes and she still has lots to do then family life takes priority and I write a note. Your homework sounds excessive

roobrr · 10/12/2017 10:37

That does sound a lot!
My 7 YO (year 3) gets reading every night and one task a week, like making a poster on their current topic..

Pengggwn · 10/12/2017 10:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

clippityclock · 10/12/2017 10:40

That is a ridiculous amount of homework. I’d stick to the spellings, times tables and reading and leave the rest. There is so much research that states homework in Primary school is of no benefit whatsoever and if I’d been forced to do that amount I’d have gone off learning. As it is I have a diploma, degree and trying to find a masters that appeals to me

Original poster
fedupfrida · 10/12/2017 10:43

happyelf - we've already done 45 minutes (and more) just this morning!

TheFaerieQueen - this is what's worrying me, it's putting her off. Couldn't agree more about the school's performance. I'm going to put my big girl knickers on and say something.

Chickenowner - thanks, i know you're right.

Steeley - 'not trying hard enough'??!! Schools have lost the plot. I'm starting to feel really uncomfortable with the pressure on my children. DS1 is only in YR so the pressure isn't apparent yet. I know how it's going to go though....

OP posts:
Kokeshi123 · 10/12/2017 10:48

Excessive book reviews really worry me. They push children towards a) thinking of reading as a chore and b) picking easy, short, quick-to-read low-content books and shying away from anything long or challenging.

I think that if you removed the book reviews, that list is probably (?) OK. Depends on the length of each task, though, obviously.

I would be tempted to go and have a word with the school about the heavy-handed book review stuff, and even just refuse to do them outright.

Auvergne · 10/12/2017 10:50

I didn’t have homework at primary. I don’t support it.

Steeley113 · 10/12/2017 10:53

@Pengggwn I’d say considering my child has only just turned 5, I’m doing more then enough. 10 minutes of homework and reading a night is plenty. He is 5 for goodness sake! Not to mention he has parents who work full time, does swimming and football out of school and I’m pregnant with a high risk pregnancy which has involved me being hospitalised most of it. I’d say I’m trying my damn well hardest to support his education.

DailyMailReadersAreThick · 10/12/2017 10:54

YANBU. I would certainly make sure she's reading every day, but screw the rest.

NaughtToThreeSadOnions · 10/12/2017 10:55

My god children and nephew and nieces are in Ireland where home work every night (Monday to Thursday they never get homework at the weekend in primary school) is not unusual, it seems much more rare here. However I've just looked at all of their schools websites and they all have a homework policy. And they all have similar guidelines in terms of time that daily homework should take. They may very by 5 minutes either away so one school says infants should only be doing 10 minutes each day another says up to 20, which does seem a lot for a 4/5/6 year old.

Junior and senior Infants Up to 15 minutes (reception and year 1)
1st & 2nd 20 to 30 minutes (year 2 -3)
3rd & 4th 30 to 40 minutes (year 4-5)
5th & 6th 40 to 50 minutes (year 6-7)

I know year 7 isn't primary school in the uk but.

Maybe this would help when thinking about the time limit, so in your case anything that wasn't done in 30/35 minutes. You could write a polite note of "sorry home work attempted but child struggled"

Also then your child knows that it's only half an hour, they don't have to fight you about it. But if even half an hour is causing stress then turn it back too 25 minutes or something. Or indeed don't do it and keep expressing to the teacher how much stress it's causing.

ofmenandmice · 10/12/2017 10:58

Just Say No.
I had this years ago with DC2 in infants. The pressure not only put him off school but sucked the joy out of after school times and weekends. I informed the teacher that he would read every day but that was all.
It was a huge relief to us both. Me for not having to make a tired reluctant child do more work after school and DS who went back to enjoying school.
He went on to get A*s in his GCSEs and A levels so I didn't ruin his life Grin.

Parker231 · 10/12/2017 10:59

Other than encouraging an interest in reading (enjoyment rather than forced) mine didn’t do any homework in primary. By the time there were home from after school club, any clubs/hobbies, evening meal, bath and downtime watching TV etc, there was no time for extra school work. Both DC’s got 4A’s in their A levels and are now at Uni, so they don’t seem to have suffered from not doing primary homework.

Pengggwn · 10/12/2017 11:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cloudyweewee · 10/12/2017 11:01

I teach Y2 and only set homework because it is school policy. If left up to me I wouldn't bother. My class are given 10 spellings and a sheet of Maths and English each week. I think the only homework a primary aged child should have is daily reading and even then I don't think anything should have to be recorded. If I had to write a review of the books I read, I'd probably stop reading!

Parker231 · 10/12/2017 11:09

Cloudyweewee - how would you handle a situation where parents decide that their DC’s aren’t going to do primary homework?

Original poster
fedupfrida · 10/12/2017 11:31

This is what worries me. Last week she forgot her book review book and got kept in at playtime to do it again. I could cry for her.

OP posts:
cloudyweewee · 10/12/2017 11:33

If a parent told me that their child wasn't going to do homework I would have to refer then to the Head unfortunately. I keep making my feelings known at staff meetings but it falls on deaf ears.