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

[fedupfrida]

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?

I’m 38. I think we only had reading for FS2 and Year 1. We also had spellings for years 2 and 3. And then some actual homework for Hears 4 - 7. (Didn’t start secondary until Year 8.) The amount depended on the teacher. I remember I had less in Year 7 with a “relaxed” teacher than my Year 4 brother did who had a very strict teacher,

I think you may be considerably younger than me, Penggwn! Come to think of it, it's not long off 30 years ago that DS started PS. He got reading books home for the first 3 years, and then about 5 word to write in sentences for the next 2. The P6 teacher then told me she no longer set homework as the kids who would most benefit from doing it were the ones least likely to do it!

I teach year 4 and it's more than I set. If I had a choice I'd do away with primary homework except from reading and times tables. Sometimes it's set by the head teacher and we have no choice. I agree with sending a note to say we've spent x amount of time but couldn't get anymore completed. I would also consider telling the teacher it's too much and which piece/ pieces of hw would be most appropriate to give up. Some bits might be used in class etc so would be better to do iyswim.

If you think it is too much, ( and I think it is, although it is pretty standard ion schools these days) then tell the school. By which I mean, a letter to the head, politely but firmly stating your case.
My experience is that schools do react to parents views, and if enough parents say that they are not happy with that amount of homework, the school may well look at ways of reducing it.

However, some people ( me included) wouldn't count reading as homework. If the homework is actually the book review rather than reading the book, could you read the book to her to lighten the load a bit? And then let her read what she wants when she wants?

I hate to think of children being turned off reading by making it a chore.
And speak to the Head about lack of creativity - there are a lot of ways to get children to think about what they have read ( or prove that they have read) rather than just writing a review. The school should be able to come up with ways ( e.g. draw one of the characters; choose which character you'd like to be your friend and explain why; do a cartoon strip of a key scene etc etc). One school I worked in provided a list of about 30 options, stuck the list in the front of the homework book, and the children chose one option each week and ticked it off the list. It worked really well, the parents and children liked it, and it was very little work for the teachers - almost a whole years worth of reading homework provided in one go.
I think the school needs to be more proactive in making it child friendly, especially for children as young as yours.

People worked 30 years ago!
I am 59. My mother always worked and so did I when my DC were small. My DC were given homework from reception age 17 years ago. It's not new.
Punishing a 7 year old who's parent hasn't made them do homework is appalling.
How to encourage the love of learning

You can step in and say "no". Just last week I put a note in ds2's math book to say I'd stopped him completing his homework because he was too tired. He'd done an hour by that point which was plenty (he's 9). Generally I'm supportive of the school but my child's health and well-being is paramount.

I think homework is just as important as it has ever been

When I was at primary school homework was unheard of. Very occasionally we would be asked to practice the spelling of a word that we had been struggling to get to grips with.

I don't agree in homework for primary age children.

Oh and my parents both worked full time.

Mothers working full time isn't a new phenomenon.

It was much more normal when I was younger for one parent to be home. Our school didn’t even have an after school club. I had one friend whose mum was a working single parent and she was collected by her Nan.
And after school activities were generally straight after school and done by 4 or a youth club at the weekend. Not 6-7 midweek on multiple nights.
Our primary homework was times tables until they were learned then 10 spellings a week (that you were trusted to learn without having to produce signed evidence) and a reading book which, again, you were trusted to read and the world didn’t end if you didn’t.
Families have less free time than ever yet more and harder homework. My child is bringing stuff home that I didn’t study until well into ks3. No wonder kids are more stressed than ever.

Did primary children even get homework 30 years ago?

I was at primary school in the 90s and never had homework.

I don't like how much pressure is put on kids - they are very small for such a short time.

I guess the issue is that there are parents who just don't care and won't do anything either their kids, those that will do homework but nothing else, and those that will recognise what their child needs help with and help accordingly. So providing a broad range of home work is the best schools can do.

If you think the homework is too much, then pick a few bits that you think will help your child the most and then call it a day. No point creating a battle or hatred of learning at such a young age.

When we were children my mum (dad didn't get home til too late and my mother stayed at home with us) knew where we needed help and did lots of playing with us so that we didn't know we were learning. I loved to read and be read too, so that was easy. We did lots of playing with an old typewriter writing stories, arty things etc. Her weak point was maths, so she made sure we got that too - I can remember counting and colour games with smarties!

Time telling confused me so she would draw clock faces and make it a game.

Create a chart for this and keep track of how much she has achieved and set a time limit on how much time she should spend. Then both you and she can see what’s being achieved and how hard she has worked. You can also show the teacher.

Definitely do less but keep track so she still sees her successes instead of just that she hasn’t done “enough”

When I was at primary the only homework was reading/spellings/times tables. That is fine.

It's all the endless worksheets, writing book reviews, research and craft home works that parents' have to 'help' with that cause problems. There's no evidence that primary school homework actually does any good, is there?

I didn’t have it at primary school in the 90s either.

In any case, surely the question is whether or not it is of any benefit educationally.

As to why it wouldn’t be of value, I can think of a few reasons - the main one being that it’s completed without input, help or assistance from a teacher. As such, the children who have an adult to home to help would benefit disproportionately, I suppose. If there is any benefit to it in the first place. But it can also be used to punish, both at home and at school.

I’m pretty sure there was a report a few years back that said homework was of little benefit. Helpfully, I can’t remember what it was called or where I saw it!

Why would reading, writing and practising calculations be of no value to an early stage learner?

Of course they are of value but can be done in school, presumably by someone who trained in college to teach these things to young children. The only exception really would be listening to children read which is very labour intensive. It also wouldn't be so bad if children were just practising and consolidating things that they had previously been taught in school, but the amount of parental input often required suggests that isn't the case.

I’m in my mid forties and never had homework at primary school and my older children had very little in the 90s. Roll on 10 years and my youngest received too much in my opinion and it caused us a lot of stress too. I will say though, when parents expressed this to teachers, they did take it on board. If they didn’t I would have no qualms about writing a letter stating the homework is causing stress and saying what I am prepared to let my child do at home and making it very clear that is my decision and they are not keep my child in at breaktimes if homework above and beyond that isn’t completed. I think, as long as you are being reasonable and not refusing to do any at all then they should respect your decision as they have a duty of care to your child - ongoing stress is damaging and not something to take lightly!

Dd,also year 3, has one reading book a week and one worksheet, drawing clock hands, writing out months of the year etc. The school has been rated excellent and achieves good results. Dd will also sometimes play maths games etc on the computer but that’s all optional.

They might not be of value if they cause undue stress and pressure to a child. They might not be of value if they take away from time spent doing things which are proven to improve a child’s physical and emotional wellbeing (for example, eating as a family, early bedtimes, listening to bedtime stories, unstructured play, being outdoors, physical exercise etc etc).

I think your HW load is heavy op. I'd help her with the maths, spellings and reading.

The book reviews - I'd write very short versions of them yourself (if too much to read use Amazon reviews). Then quickly get her to write it. Should really speed that up.

I don't think sending notes to the teacher is a good plan. It's quicker and easier to help your dd get the tasks done. Science and literacy also help her substantially and make sure that she knows the motto/learning point. Eg if task is measure the length of 10 pencils and find the average of them then you should help her measure one, get her to measure the next by herself and then tell her the lengths of the other 8. There is a lot you can do to cut the volume out of the work but she can still learn from it.

Pushing back on the school or sending notes won't work. It is pointless.