To ask how much homework your Year 1 child gets

[mummyneedssweets]

State school, no special needs, inner city London.
I'm trying to work out if my child's school is being excessive

We moved to Germany and our daughter who had just finished year 1 in the UK started year 1 again here (as they start older) and it has been night and day. Here she has at least 3 separate tasks a night (maths, English and German) and all take at least 30 minutes each. The expectation is so much higher it has freaked me out a little.

Reading book and three texted spellings a night .

Don't do it.
We got no homework in primary school,though DM did read with my sis who took a while to get going with it.
We did fine in O levels,A levels.degrees...
My feeling is that if you have a competent child who can do it in 5 minutes you aren't gaining anything,and if you have a child who struggles ( that was my 2 for various reasons) the stress and angst involved in getting it done will not be worth the disruption to your family life.In both cases going out to look at dinosaurs /whatever will be more productive...
Having said that we did do homework and practice to help with specific problems,but weighed up all the time what the DC gained and how long it took.(school were fine with that! it was a lovely school )

Dd gets one homework task a week, subjects rotate each week. 3 to 5 spellings to practice. Spellings and home learning task should take a maximum of 20 mins a week, after this the school say ks1 students should stop and not to worry about doing anymore. They ask for 2 comments a week in her reading record, she gets 1 leveled reading book a week and may choose to take home a couple of the guided reading books. She brings home library books too for us to read together.

Each term there is one home learning project set, usually due in a couple of weeks after half term. One computer based project a year.

Outstanding school, 500 plus students.

We get bingo homework each half term - you can pick and choose which tasks you do. I advised the teacher I would never force my dc to do it but she often wants to.

Mine in year 2 now but he got either English or maths sheets to complete a list of 10 spellings and had to read 4 times a week.

Not much has changed in year 2 but he has English and maths also the spellings and reading still 4 times a week! X

We get homework on a Friday, due in Wednesday. Maths activity around 10 mins. English activity along the lines of write 3 facts about X and discuss with a parent. And a short reading book. Doesn't take more than 30 mins and we usually do it all in a Friday evening to get it over with.
I'm happy with the amount, they're still so little and I wouldn't be happy with any more. We read throughout the week ourselves too.

I feel like DDs school might be a bit OTT, she is year 1, no special needs, church state school - we find it hard to keep up with homework as she is in after school club until 6 every day. They give:

5 reading books a week
1 free choice book
3-10 spellings a week depending on ability
2 A4 pages of maths
2 A4 pages of English (full stops, plurals etc)
A creative writing exercise (usualy with a picture to draw)
School holiday homework which is usualy to build something or make a poster

All homework except the holiday stuff is set on wed and due on Monday so we have the weekend to do it.

I refused to allow my kids to do homework until Year 3. Just ridiculous kids this young are expected to so all this.

Homework is good. We get one small bit either maths or English to do over the weekend. Far too little in my opinion.

Mummyshark2019, there's nothing to stop you sorting out more home study for your children if you think they need to do it.But there's not good evidence showing homework at primary school age correlates with future achievement.
(AFAIK it's different at secondary age)

rhyader
Yours sound very similar to mine. It's way too much - my youngest is just six but many of her class will be still 5.
My eldest - year 3
Maths - Normal for the whole class (takes her 2 mins), extension (10mins), super extension (10mins) so 25 mins each, spellings (10 each) tested in class normally very complex words, full project on topic( like research and write a full survival guide for a Stone Age man over several pages). Never less than 3 hours. I am though, despite the evidence, very happy with the maths because I am really seeing her develop in that area. The project weekly I could do without

Homework is good

Homework in primary school has no benefit whatsoever

That's insane.
One reading book a week, a couple of A4 sheets - usually one writing/reading-based and one maths. That's fortnightly.

Reading books every night, spellings and 10 maths questions on a Friday. Occasionally have "projects" to make too but this seems to just be once or twice a year. Seems to be perfect for us but we have parents in DS class who moan it's too much and others that it's too little

Reading every night
Spellings to learn (6 words with an optional ‘bonus’ word) for test on friday
Letter or number formation worksheet
Online numeracy/literacy activity (education city)
Plus she has an extra extension sheet which is some form of story writing usually

One reading book a week, given Tuesday and returned on Monday.

That's it. State primary.

DS reads a bit at night in bed, he helps add up things in supermarkets, works out the change from 50p if he buys a 15p sweet etc. He runs into school happily, comes out of school happy, his reports are fine.

DS' cousin is at s private (half stste-half private) school, gets an A4 sheet each night, one side writing, other side maths. They get 48 hrs warning for projects which are too difficult - sew a hedgehog anyone? Which DSil complains about frequently, but hey you chose the school. Little girl isn't happy, is very tired, goes to sleep very late to get it all done.

I don't remember homework at primary, just small projects like draw a picture of the weather for every day of half term and describe it. I quite liked that!

Dd gets a topic every fortnight and can do whatever she likes, draw, write, make something etc.
School said they like to encourage creativity and make the children decide what they want to do.

It's linked to whatever they're learning in school, pets, space, Great fire of London etc.

Last year when DD was in year 1: 6 spellings to learn per week, daily reading (10-15 mins), and a maths activity at the weekend (taking approx 10 mins)
Now she’s in year 2, same as above with the reading and spellings, plus times tables rockstars and hit the button practice.
Until reacently all children in years 1-6 had 6 optional activities to do per term, however this has stopped due to feedback from parents saying that between doing the important bits like the reading, spellings and maths and extra-curricular activities and family time, there was no time to be worrying about the other bits.

We get (per week):

Reading each night.
10 spellings.
Learn a times table.
17 sums to practice.
10 maths problems.
One piece of topic homework (often a craft thing).

I think it is far too much.

Stompy
Sounds very similar - it's insane

Blimey. We get 3 books, and 5 spellings (these have to also be put into sentences, so 5 sentences too)

There are loads of extras we can do but we currently don't have a working laptop so can't access them for DC.

Wow. Our school seems really lax by comparison to these

DC1 is in Y1 and doesn’t really get weekly homework as such, at least not the type you have to produce. There’s one reading book each week, then a few spellings (usually 3-5) to practice at home but you don’t have to ‘evidence’ this. They tell you at the beginning of each term what they’re doing in class and how (eg with maths, science etc) and it’s up to parents if they want to practise that at home with children. They have a termly project, but it’s usually a ‘fun’ thing, like making a scrapbook on a theme.

I’m quite happy with the approach tbh. The school take the view that if your child is not keeping up in class against expected targets, then they will contact you to arrange a meeting to discuss and provide guidance/materials on how you can give additional support at home to your child.

A couple of reading books a week. That's it. Anything else is just pointers on what they're learning and what we can practice at home, if and how we wish.

Your list is ridiculous and I wouldn't be getting my child to do all that. My older children don't have that much homework (and I do ensure they do the homework they do get).

The school asks they read for 15 mins a day in ks1 and that’s it.