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AIBU?

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Original poster

To be thrilled DDs school have ditched homework

72 replies

MeAgainSparkle · 23/09/2018 11:29

DDs in primary school. This academic year the school have decided to stop setting homework for children as they agree with studies showing it has no academic benefit. AIBU to be absolutely delighted? It used to annoy me so much sitting over them on a Saturday or Sunday morning nagging them to practice cursive writing etc. Not to mention eating into our weekends. For the record school still expect books to be read every night and support specific online learning portals that children are encouraged to login to (maths and phonics games)

OP posts:
UndertheCedartree · 23/09/2018 11:35

That's great. My DD school has a very relaxed attitude to homework. Reading is reccomended 3 times a week and they have Bug club and My maths they can log onto if they want. They get a homework sheet once a fortnight with ideas of things to do based around what they are learning in class in 4 sections 'talk', 'literacy', 'numeracy' and 'creative' - on Fridays they can bring in something they have done to show the class but there is no compulsion whatsoever Smile

smallchanceofrain · 23/09/2018 11:37

Oh you lucky, lucky thing! In DS2's last year at primary they decided to stop sending spellings home - citing research that said it wasn't a good way for children to learn. Shame they hadn't seen that research when he was in Year 1. Bastards!
I hate homework with a passion, especially the design a poster / create a piece of textile art / use mixed media to craft a representation of the galaxy crap. If teachers want things to decorate the classroom with they should do it at school.
So no, YANBU to be thrilled. I'd be over the moon!

Littlefish · 23/09/2018 11:40

The school I work at did the same last year, but unfortunately, in spite of us reminding parents at every opportunity that we provide many homework activities via our school website, and still expect children to read every day, do times tables etc, some parents are still complaining that we are not providing homework.

Original poster
MeAgainSparkle · 23/09/2018 11:42

I am thrilled ladies. Some of the parents are acting like the school is failing it’s pupils because of it Hmm Personally, I see no pleasure in my children being reduced to tears because they couldn’t write a cursive P in reception

OP posts:
Lazypuppy · 23/09/2018 11:45

I would worry about the shock to the kids when they start secondary school and get homework

ladylunchalot · 23/09/2018 11:47

They did the same a few years ago at our primary school. Only problem is that dd has just started high school and it's a bit of a shock to the system to be getting homework again every night. Dd used to do the suggested activities they would be given and loves reading anyway and it's still a shock.

I'm a bit on the fence with no homework, great because it used to eat up so much time in the evenings when we had sports clubs on and it was a rush but on the other hand if they'd kept going with homework it wouldn't be such a huge change at high school.

mammmamia · 23/09/2018 11:47

I would hate this. I work full time and would not have time to figure out stuff to do to support them based on a sheet sent home once a fortnight. Homework provides a structure that works ok for us once we’re in the routine and otherwise I would have no way of knowing if they’re struggling with something or even how they’re getting on generally.
I also don’t believe online games are a substitute for practising times tables etc with pencil and paper.
Might be old fashioned but that’s how I see it and I have two Dc in primary school.

WomanOfTime · 23/09/2018 11:48

YANBU. I'm a postgrad student who recently had to summarise research findings on homework - there are definitely no academic benefits at primary level. I'd be thrilled too. I used to work in a primary school and thought the idea of homework for 5-year-olds was daft. Some of them were still getting sleepy in the afternoons, they didn't need more schoolwork to do at home!

SleepFreeZone · 23/09/2018 11:49

My son’s school has done the same. We get ‘talk homework’ where we discuss a topic the children will be covering that week and they have Active Maths which consists of one task per week that’s usually quite fun and again it backs up stuff they are covering in the syllabus.

UnderHerEye · 23/09/2018 11:49

An enthusiastic YANBU from me!

Homework for primary school children has no particular benefit in terms of underpinning knowledge.
And kids would be better off having a walk or playing a board game etc.

fudlite · 23/09/2018 11:49

YANBU.

I’m a teacher. I hate it.

PristineCondition · 23/09/2018 11:49

My sons in year 11 in a bog standard school and doesn’t do homework, they do it all at school, as do most of the secondary’s around

My year 3 boy has weekly
Spelling
Maths
Reading (has to be every night)
2 work sheets
And a homework grid for every term. Its silly

mammmamia · 23/09/2018 11:50

Ok. I agree for 5 year olds.
Year 2 upwards, stand by what I said.

JustARandomBloke · 23/09/2018 11:50

My year 7 ds got homework like spellings, vocab and grammar up to the end of year 3. The school then ditched homework as it was "of no benefit". Fast forward and my now year 3 ds2 at the same school has a much poorer grasp of spellings and grammar.

Common sense tells me that if you practise towards a defined goal you improve. If that's not the case, why do musicians practise? Why do sports people practise?

I am now working with ds2 to get him up to where I think he should be. The school assure me that he is not below average on anything academic, but his inability to spell or use punctuation is worrying to me.

I have no problem working with him on this stuff, but surely it is more beneficial if the teacher is directing things through setting homework.

Maybe I'm just old fashioned though.

Original poster
MeAgainSparkle · 23/09/2018 11:51

I would worry about the shock to the kids when they start secondary school and get homework

Really? I never had a lick of homework at primary school and managed just fine at secondary; A Levels, university etc.

OP posts:
MadameButterface · 23/09/2018 11:52

yanbu at all

homework in primary serves no purpose whatsoever

as for the 'shock to the system when they start secondary' theory, well maybe we should charge infant age children rent so that it's not a shock to the system when they leave home

guess what, children are pretty adaptable and learn that different rules exist in different contexts fairly easily (or maybe mine are just freakishly intelligent Wink)

Comfortandjoy · 23/09/2018 11:53

That’s good . DD’s Y3 teacher mentioned how it was optional and I was relieved to hear that for same reasons as OP. Wish I’d known a few years ago, as sometimes felt guilty.

kaytee87 · 23/09/2018 11:54

Yanbu. Homework is pointless for small children. Reading books they enjoy and learning through experiences with their family are worth so much more.
No wonder children are becoming depressed with the amount of pressure that's on them from such a young age.

JustARandomBloke · 23/09/2018 11:55

For those who say it is of no benefit, would you also suggest that those learning musical instruments stop practising at home? If not, why is it different?

JustARandomBloke · 23/09/2018 11:58

Kaytee, I disagree with you there. Kids love learning. They are keen, interested and curious. They love the achievement of cracking something. In my experience it's the teachers and parents who don't like homework.

kaytee87 · 23/09/2018 11:58

@JustARandomBloke it's completely different. Presumably the child is learning the instrument for the joy of it (school is compulsory). You may also only have 1 or 2 hours of music practice a week, kids are in school 30 hours a week!

Thesmallthings · 23/09/2018 11:59

I don't believe in home work, they already learn so much in school, what benefit does it give to have to force a child to do work at home when all they want to do is chill.

Da never did homework in primary, went into secorandary school and given home work, and did it no problem because he didn't want a detention for not doing it. No shock to the system and has not scared for life over it.

kaytee87 · 23/09/2018 11:59

They don't need set homework to learn though. There are plenty of opportunities in the real world for learning and would arguably give a greater width of knowledge than just doing the same things at home that you do at school.

BillywigSting · 23/09/2018 12:00

I'm I two minds about this.

On the one hand, ds has just started reception and has been given four sheets of homework (practising letters) to complete, plus an online maths activity and two reading books to complete, which I think is beyond madness.

We get snotty letters home of its not all completed too.

On the other hand, I had no homework at all in primary and the sheer volume of it was a huge shock to the system in secondary and not something I ever really managed to get my head around, even into GCSE and a levels, because in childhood it had never been a thing, school stayed at school and the thought of it invading home was quite an abhorrent one to my teenage mind.

I think if I'd been given a couple of peices a week, working up to the level expected in year 7 slowly by the end of year 6 it would have been so much easier to cope with.

MadameButterface · 23/09/2018 12:00

the musical instrument thing is a terrible analogy

unless your children already spend 6 hours a day compulsorily learning musical instruments

like they do with school

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