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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

In thinking 5 homework tasks/week is way too much for 5-6yr olds?

55 replies

hex · 15/05/2007 18:40

dd has been given yet another homework task to do by her (state) primary school...she's just turned 6 and is in year 1 and currently gets given:

a) Two reading books/week (each 32 pages long)

b) 6 words to memorise for a spelling test on Fridays

c) handwriting practice for over the weekend

d) maths homework for the weekend

After a hard day at school, I would much prefer her to be out playing/doing sthg else..to say nothing of the pressure it places on family life to have to squeeze this stuff in.

Just wondering what other dcs have to do?

OP posts:

Mercy · 15/05/2007 21:23

Haven't read the whole thread but ...

dd (Yr 1) gets one new shared reader pretty much every day (quite long these days) and occasionaly an extra but much shorter book. And one library book (her choice) on Fridays. That's it. Her reading level is very, very good.

BUT she's not at all good at spelling, handwriting is awful and cannot do anything beyond basic addition and subtraction.

Come Y2 I would be worried re the above (less so maths tbh)

Nightynight · 15/05/2007 21:24

blimey, wigwam, how time flies, I didnt realise your dd was doing her GCSEs this year!!

my 7 year old gets 2 or 3 tasks per day, I HAAAATE homework for all primary school children, it disrupts family life which we have precious little of at the best of times.

WigWamBam · 15/05/2007 21:46

You'd think she was, wouldn't you

I think one of her teachers is actually a frustrated secondary school teacher ...

Three tasks a day at 7 is awful. There's no time for anything else other than schoolwork.

katelyle · 15/05/2007 22:09

My year 1 ds gets a reading book to read at home and which I have the responsibility for changing when he's finished - sometimes it takes a day - sometimes a week It depends onhow he's feeling and whatever else is on. 6 spellings a week. That's all - and quite enough too. I would refuse to allow him to do any more, merit points or no merit points. He is 6 - he needs to be out playing or flopped in front of Lazytown when he's not at school, not "researching Shakespeare"ffs!!!!! And there is absolutely no academic evidence to prove that homework has any impact at all on long term learning outcomes.
And in most other European countries, they don't even start formal education til 7, and they manage to leave primary school educated to a higher level that in this country. And no one expects them to wear polyester trousers!

nooka · 15/05/2007 22:22

dd (6.5 and in yr1) gets 5 simple spellings on Friday for Thursday, and some simple maths/science type task for the weekend. Her homework is a pleasure. The spelling involves her reading the list and a couple of tests on the morning before the test (one of the two days I get to drop them off) and we do the maths at at the weekend - usually takes about 15mins or so.

ds (just turned 8 and in yr3) gets 10 quite hard spellings on Mondy for Thursday, and a maths and a project/literacy type task for the weekend. Homework with him is a nightmare. He hates spellings, and will go into complete meltdown about it. we're lucky to get to even look at the list before Wednesday, and then it takes about an hour of cajoling/bribery/reassurance etc to get him to learn them. We all dislike the project stuff too, especially if it involves reading or writing. Maths on the other hand so long as it doesn't involve too much writing/graphs etc is no problem at all, and usually takes a few minutes, often on the day it is set or the next day.

They both get books which we ignore. ds is dyslexic and it is very counterproductive to try and push him too much, and then it doesn't seem fair to make dd do it. aslo the school books are so dire! ds's teacher is OK with this, and dd's teacher thinks she is a star, so we don't get into trouble there either.

I think it all depends on the child's interests and abilities as to whether it is a pain or a pleasure, but as a working parent I find it very stressful. I don't want to spend my only early evening with the children coping with ds throwing himself all over the place and weeping because he is "no good at all" (having said that it was great to see his face when he got all his spellings right the next day!).

singersgirl · 15/05/2007 22:36

I am at the amounts of homework some of your children get. DS2 (5 and in Y1) gets reading as and when (books of his own choice) and, from the start of this term, 10 spellings a week for a test on Tuesdays. They are grouped into 4 ability groups for spellings ("Some of the children just had letters to write, not words, Mummy"), but DS2 just fills in his sheet and doesn't look at them again until the test.

Researching Shakespeare seems a bit much. I mean, DS2 is a very able reader, but Shakespearean language is, shall we say, rather opaque?

Aloha · 15/05/2007 22:38

God, what a nightmare. Too much too young. I never did homework at primary school. Children need time to just be IMO.

tinkerbellie · 15/05/2007 22:38

jesus my ds is in reception and all we have to do is read there book and do a selection of words (that changes once a week)

how do you find the time?

BHANNAE · 16/05/2007 10:02

My dd is 6 and also gets a similar level of homework as wwb dd.
The last hw set had several tasks within the one piece including finding out what an iambic pentameter was, making notes on the predictive language, marking down alliteration and then writing the final part of the poem she was studying herself.
I was appalled and rang my mum to discuss whether or not I should write a letter/ask for an appointment to say I thought it innapropriate.She spoke to my dd and asked her what each part of the hw meant and she understood it so my Mum said best to let her do it.
She also had several other pieces including a french text to translate, which she did and enjoyed it.I don't do it with her as I think that defeats the object and I leave it to her to decide when to do it.
This is the second school she has attended and the difference is immense between the two.Whereas at the last school they insisted on making her read up through the levels at the new school they tested her reading age and gave her appropriate material.
I know she is very clever and wants to do the work atm but I still think there is time enough to have to spend all your evenings doing homework and that children should be children for a while.

stleger · 16/05/2007 10:05

Words fail me.

MissGolightly · 16/05/2007 10:08

I don't agree with homework for under 10s at all. DS is fortunately too young for school at the moment and I am hoping that current policies will have changed by the time he gets there. A school day is long enough for a little one, they shouldn't have to work at home as well .

Does anyone know if you can decline homework for your child or is it completely compulsory?

EnidTheInvisible · 16/05/2007 10:09

dd1's outstanding state primary doesnt give ANY homework until class 4 (the last two years)

she gets a book to read - keeps it until she has finished it. She is 7.

I think that is brilliant.

EnidTheInvisible · 16/05/2007 10:10

bhannea and wwb are they state schools?

I'd be pissed off I was PAYING to stress my kids out

puddle · 16/05/2007 10:12

DS is in year 2 and never gets homework. When he was on the reading scheme he had one book a week, now he is off it he can choose a book to bring home from the library.

All of them can bring a book from the classroom shelves home a night if they want.

BHANNAE · 16/05/2007 10:17

Yep, just a bog standard free school.

TenaLady · 16/05/2007 10:19

Reading this lot, I am beginning to think that our school is not performing.
Ds in reception gets a book each night to read. No maths and no spellings.

A lot of kids in reception dont even know their letters properly, so what chance of spelling tests other than to frustrate them and deterr.

BHANNAE · 16/05/2007 10:22

She has been moved up into class 3 with the year 3 pupils though so some others in her class are 8.
There are 3 more who are 7 this time with her though and she joins with yr2 to do sats this week.She will turn 7 in July.
I was concerned that she had been moved but I dont want to hold her back and she is very happy.

BHANNAE · 16/05/2007 10:24

I wouldn't be worried if she got no homework at all at this age. When I was at primary we only got homework in the last year to prepare us for secondary which worked for me!

crunchie · 16/05/2007 20:51

tbh wwb and brahhne dd2 would love all that and she is only 6 I do think it is down to the child though. DD1 in yr 3 will barely do her homework and although they say they should I go in at every parents evening and tell them I disagree with homework, especially for the infants, therefore if my child 'dedcides' to do their homework, great, if not then I am NOT going to force them.

katelyle · 16/05/2007 21:29

TenaLady - don't worry. There is absolutely no evidence to indicate that homework at primary age has any impact al all on longer term learning. I don't think primary children should have homework at all - except perhaps reading books.

Nightynight · 16/05/2007 22:24

It really pisses me off, that homework was trumpeted as raising standards.
In my childrens school (German), they have copious homework, and dd1 is actually at a lower standard of maths than I was, at a homework free, English primary school in the 70s.
She hasnt done any adding or multiplying of fractions, and she is only just doing long division, and it is still only dividing by small numbers less than 10.
They are not making it up in other subjects either, they do very little science for example.

nooka · 16/05/2007 23:01

Well ds got a time out for not handing in three pieces of maths homework yesterday. Dh wrote a fairly stinky note (I didn't see it, but he can be a little OTT) and we got a stinky one back, along with a copy of the homework policy. (This may also be because it co-incided with us telling the sdchool that we were taking the the children out of school for three days during term time, which they are not happy about). I think that there is some mistake, because the maths homework always gets done, but apparently the children aren't so good at writing their names on the sheets, and ds has been known to repudiate his work (I think he is embarrassed about the way it looks).

According to the homework policy, homework is an opportunity for parents to "co-educate" children I think I do that all the time without school needing to help me... Government guidance is that yr 1 and 2 children should have 1 hour per week, yr3&4 1.5 hrs, and yr 5&6 30 mins per day. The reading can apparently be included in that time (or not, the inference is, I think). I wonder if I can say to the school that as it takes over an hour to get ds from the crying stage to the learning stage for his spellings he should therefore not have to do any more homework?

There is some great stuff in this policy! Apparently homework set for holidays or weekends should be set so that there are two school day evenings so "families can enjoy their recreation time fully".

There is also this great line: "we expect children to submit their homework on time as part of the development of their self discipline as part of their development of job worthiness" This is from a primary school FGS! Do they think homework might help you with a paper round or something?

I suspect I find the whole thing annoying because I think that work life balance is imprant, I tell my team at work not to take work home with them, and then have to force my children to do tasks neither I nor they wish to do. I don't think it helps our relationship much!

butterflymum · 16/05/2007 23:40

Our youngest, aged 4yrs, is in P1 (equivalent, I think, to Reception in England). He gets homework on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Each night, his homework, at the moment, consists of Reading (usually about 7 pages of Oxford Reading Tree stage 2 or 3 book), recognising two words (for test on Friday), writing one word out three times, learning two sums and doing a worksheet (worksheet varies each night, for example, pictures with accompanying sentence and two possible words to complete same, with correct one to be circled).

ChiTownLady · 17/05/2007 00:06

ds age 4 is in nursery and will be in reception september - gets: 1 phonetics worksheet on friday to be in following friday - that is learning letter and sound, writing it and comin up with other works with same sound ( and ideally writing them and doing anything else associated - like picyures/cut and paste ect) he is also gets at ORT book each tuesday and thursday (stage 1 first words) with a parental comments book to fill in each night (my homework!)and a school library book on a thursday but no pressure when to give it back...

Sixofone · 17/05/2007 07:35

Whatever happened to kids being allowed to enjoy school? I remember that we rarely had any homework at primary school 'back in the day' (I'm 32 ) and I've still managed a Masters so hardly educationally subnormal.

Are private schools worse or better than state schools for homework?

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