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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To opt out of this World Book Day homework?

63 replies

TuscanMum · 27/02/2018 20:38

School have set a whole school, World Book Day homework of making a potato into your favourite book character.

I then have to pay the school a £1 for the fact I did the homework.

My son is 4 and will not be able to do this!

I’ve decided to opt out of homework for parents and only do the actual homework for the children.

AIBU

Only a few months in and I’m fed up with the endless dress up days, requests for money, sponsorship requests, fundraising,

OP posts:
FlouncyDoves · 27/02/2018 21:22

Humpty. Bloody autocorrect

MiaowTheCat · 27/02/2018 21:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Haudyerwheesht · 27/02/2018 21:46

Are you in NE England OP or is this now ‘a thing’ amongst various schools

Hippee · 27/02/2018 21:49

A lot of the Mister Men are sort of potato shaped. My son painted one orange, we stuck orange pipe cleaner arms on and it was Mr Tickle.

Differentcorner · 27/02/2018 21:52

Bloody stupid and a waste of potatoes! Who comes up with this crap?

AgnesBrownsCat · 27/02/2018 22:00

Let your child draw on the potato. He might enjoy it and if he doesn’t well it’s a lesson that sometimes you have to do things you don’t enjoy or are particularly good at .
And of course school will ask for donations for a variety of things or so you expect your child’s education to be entirely government funded .

Blondephantom · 28/02/2018 03:38

I’d get ds to draw on a face and say it is mr potato head from toy story.

kungpopanda · 28/02/2018 03:46

@AgnesBrownsCat
you expect your child’s education to be entirely government funded

Well, that's the idea, yes. I haven't had the circular yet about it not being.

Turning class activities in school time into fundraisers is not a terribly inclusive thing, Neither is roping in parents for increasingly extravagant and peripheral shit like potato-gnurgling.

DalekDalekDalek · 28/02/2018 03:47

And of course school will ask for donations for a variety of things or so you expect your child’s education to be entirely government funded

If OP has worked then they've paid for their child's education through taxes. It's not like they are expecting the government to pay out of the goodness of their own heart, are they?

Just tell them you have moral objections to wasting food when children across the country go to school hungry!

Coyoacan · 28/02/2018 05:09

And of course school will ask for donations for a variety of things or so you expect your child’s education to be entirely government funded

This is so insidious, isn't it?

Soubriquet · 28/02/2018 05:25

Mr potato from Peppa pig

Give him a hat, draw on his face and stick on some pipe cleaner arms and legs. Done

NotAgainYoda · 28/02/2018 05:39

I deplore the waste of potatoes and am tempted to utter my mother's words about people in other countries starving etc. etc. etc.

Have you go a Mr Potato Head

Mummyoflittledragon · 28/02/2018 05:43

Dds School did this but it was not homework. It was a choice and the deadline is now passed. Dd didn’t do it. Are you sure it’s homework? Just don’t do it if you don’t want to. Your ds doesn’t even legally have to be at school.

anxious2017 · 28/02/2018 07:33

My son is 4 and will not be able to do this!

I'd be concerned if a 4 year old couldn't draw a face on a potato.

daffodildelight · 28/02/2018 07:41

OP the "endless donations" are because schools are underfunded. You are in effect giving the money directly to your child - if your child attends the school they benefit from the money. If the money is for charity then people in real need benefit.

Do you tithe? Can you alter the amount you give to other causes to allow you to give more generously to the school?

What can your son not do the homework? If your have no pens/paint at home could you ask to borrow some from school?

00100001 · 28/02/2018 10:01

Anxious OP is being dramatic and assuming that the parents are doing this and all going to be sending in marvelllous creations... it seems OP hasn't even considered letting the child have a go.
Hmm

AgnesBrownsCat · 28/02/2018 10:09

Dalek, that’s a rather big if . I doubt many will pay enough tax to cover the full cost of education.
And decorating a potato and paying a quid - extravagant? Ok then .

Enb76 · 28/02/2018 10:13

send him in with a crisp as Flat Stanley or a new potato for The Borrowers, muddy potato = Stig of the Dump

RabbityMcRabbit · 28/02/2018 10:20

OP the "endless donations" are because schools are underfunded. You are in effect giving the money directly to your child - if your child attends the school they benefit from the money. If the money is for charity then people in real need benefit.
This. Schools are underfunded under this government. Heads are actually resigning because of lack of funding and every school is feeling it. Please don't blame schools for this, blame the government

CheerfulMuddler · 28/02/2018 11:01

send him in with a crisp as Flat Stanley

That's genius! Please do this.

ForgivenessIsDivine · 28/02/2018 11:06

This is likely to be the first in a long line of parent homework tasks. Our school has introduced project based homework this year in all years. It is a nightmare and the children quite simply cannot do this without a significant amount of parental input. I hate it and I don't mind crafty stuff or helping my children.

noblegiraffe · 28/02/2018 11:10

Kids have much lower standards than adults, if you’re saying that your kid couldn’t do it, you’re thinking that they couldn’t produce a Pinterest potato. They don’t need to. It’s amazing how proud they can be of a potato with a face that looks pants but they did themselves.

KanyeWesticle · 28/02/2018 12:03

I second the minion suggestion. Super simple.

00100001 · 28/02/2018 12:19

You say it's all "parental homework" - BOLLOCKS. Just let the kid do the best they can and send them in... it's only because parents are doing it that the bar is raised. No teacher expects you to do the work. They KNOW what a 6 year old is capable of.

anxious2017 · 28/02/2018 12:21

No teacher expects you to do the work. They KNOW what a 6 year old is capable of

Most of us actually don't want the parents to do the work. I know in my school when there's a competition that involves making or drawing, prizes are given to the ones that show least parental input.

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