Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think that teachers need to teach stuff and not me.

317 replies

caroline161 · 17/10/2019 21:52

DS has just started at Grammar school. Ridiculous amount and type of homework. For example: Learn about Archimedes principle, explain what you have found. AIBU to email the school and say, " I would appreciate it if you could teach him this instead of me and what the f are you doing all day which means that I have to teach him Archimedes principle"

OP posts:
CecilyP · 19/10/2019 21:16

She would only have been out of order if she had actually done it. She asked if it would be unreasonable to do so and the obvious answer was yes. I expect your difficult parents all think they are perfectly reasonable.

How was OP supposed to know it would be covered in class? It seems really inefficient for kids and parents to spend a lot of time struggling to. get this when there is a teacher who knows it and understands it and is going to cover it anyway.

LolaSmiles · 19/10/2019 21:28

What's out of order (though sadly predictable) is the knee jerk arsey attitude of "I don't like X or don't understand X so I'll complain and rant about it".

There are loads and loads of threads of parents seeking clarification and asking questions about homework and school that don't have anywhere close to the arsey attitude in this thread.

Put it this way there's a fairly obvious difference between:

  1. DC has been set some research homework on an area but he's y7 and finding it tough. Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can support him do this well?

And

  1. I think teachers should be teaching the stuff and not me. My child is in grammar school you know and they've been set this homework that is basically teaching themselves. What the hell are teachers doing all day if I'm having to teach my child all this stuff.

Doing prep as homework is a homework as old as time. She also didn't need to be told explicitly that something would be covered in class either. She needs to facilitate her child doing his homework and stop making poorly informed judgements about the effectiveness of different approaches.

The idea that suddenly the original arseyness was just a joke is ridiculous backtracking.

Celestine70 · 19/10/2019 21:37

I imagine the teacher will actually cover this in class, they probably just want the kids to find out a bit about it first.

Original poster
caroline161 · 19/10/2019 21:38

Are you actually now claiming to know better than me how I meant it? I didn't come here for advice about researching a topic. I came here for advice about the fact that I truly believed I was having to teach and support ds to teach himself about a subject that we knew nothing about. My original post was tongue in cheek arsey like when you buy tickets for a Robbie Williams concert and he expects the crowd to sing (I have already explained this) and I now apologise for the 4th time if people took this the wrong way.

OP posts:
LolaSmiles · 19/10/2019 21:52

OP
I'm saying it seems convenient to turn up after people have pointed out YABU claiming it was just a joke. Given that the first 4 pages include you criticising the homework, arguing you're having to teach your child, how are you meant to when you don't understand it, that you think the teacher should have explained everything first and so on.

Then suddenly, oh I'm just joking.

If you're truly surprised that secondary students get given research homeworks to do then I stand by the fact that it's totally and utterly baffling anyone struggles with such a basic concept.

If you truly believed that students doing some research was you having to teach them then that's also an utterly baffling response because nothing in "student does research" remotely means "parents expected to teach their child a topic".

Original poster
caroline161 · 19/10/2019 21:58

You know best then. Smile

OP posts:
CecilyP · 19/10/2019 22:04

There are loads and loads of threads of parents seeking clarification and asking questions about homework and school that don't have anywhere close to the arsey attitude in this thread.

There are, and I often wonder how kids whose mums don’t have the benefit of Mumsnet manage to do the homework. But I got that that wasn’t the point of the thread.

My child is in grammar school you know

That’s a bit of a sly dig. I thought OP was just setting the scene, rather than boasting that her DS was at a selective school.

She also didn't need to be told explicitly that something would be covered in class either. She needs to facilitate her child doing his homework and stop making poorly informed judgements about the effectiveness of different approaches.

How is she supposed to facilitate it if he doesn’t understand it and she doesn’t understand it. And if the responsibility has been placed on her, why shouldn’t she judge.

LolaSmiles · 19/10/2019 22:09

CecilyP
But as I said earlier, their school setting is totally irrelevant.

The situation is:

  • School had set research homework
  • Student has found it tricky
  • Parent has decided to rant online about how they don't like the homework,they're basically having to teach the homework (said multiple times) and that staff should have taught it first.

Then parent comes back later and says they were just joking

There was no need for any of the really nasty comments about intelligence earlier in the thread, but it is fairly surprising that any parent with an interest in their child's education would be this confused and annoyed by "child does research homework".

eddiemairswife · 19/10/2019 22:12

All he had to do was google Archimedes' Principle, or if no computer go to the library.

LolaSmiles · 19/10/2019 22:19

Eddie
It's an entirely standard piece of homework using basic skills from primary school.

Based on hearing how impossible it is to do on this thread, I'm honestly wondering how on earth my pupils of all ages and abilities in a state comprehensive have possibly managed to complete their homework for years.

One group have to preread for a GCSE Lesson next week. It'll be carnage I tell you, carnage. Grin

Original poster
caroline161 · 19/10/2019 22:20

If only we'd thought to Google it Grin

OP posts:
Original poster
caroline161 · 19/10/2019 22:21

You are a teacher ???Confused awww bet you are lovely ( sarcastic joking for clarity)

OP posts:
LolaSmiles · 19/10/2019 22:28

OP
Being suitably amused online that an adult thinks "my child has research homework" = teachers are expecting me to teach my child and I think they should teach it first (oh but I'm only joking by page 4) absolutely nothing to do with my teaching.

As I've said since my first reply, doing some research is a fairly standard task that students have done as long as there's been resources to do it.

TheLittleDogLaughed · 20/10/2019 07:07

Caroline161 I totally get what you’re saying. Dd went to an academically selective school - she got in on an English scholarship but outside of English, art and music she was really quite below average in other subjects.

The homework she got was horrific! At least 3 bits a night. We counted 20 one week. Most nowhere near what an 11-year-old could do a night. Weekends were given up for homework frequently. And the school penalised them for not doing pastoral classes! When? Dd barely had time to wash and eat. I complained every parents evening but it still went on.

In the end, to avoid detention, me and dh took over the subjects we knew she’d be dropping - Spanish, geography, some others. We did the research homework and got her to just write it in. Absolutely rubbish but she was getting so stressed all the time.

In Y9 we moved her to our local school and never looked back.

The teachers DO expect parents to teach at home; there is no way kids can do this workload at such a young age and what a miserable existence it is to have no free time as a kid.

CecilyP · 20/10/2019 08:03

^CecilyP
But as I said earlier, their school setting is totally irrelevant.^

CecilyP · 20/10/2019 08:07

^CecilyP
But as I said earlier, their school setting is totally irrelevant.^

But you posted these words of wisdom after the OP’s original post. Now she knows this, I’m sure she’ll never make this same mistake again.

CecilyP · 20/10/2019 08:17

^I'm saying it seems convenient to turn up after people have pointed out YABU claiming it was just a joke. Given that the first 4 pages include you criticising the homework, arguing you're having to teach your child, how are you meant to when you don't understand it, that you think the teacher should have explained everything first and so on.

Then suddenly, oh I'm just joking.^

I think you have missed the point, Lola. OP is genuinely pissed off with the homework and having to teach it when she knows no more about it than her 11 year old. What she was joking about was sending a sweary email to the school.

jwpetal · 20/10/2019 09:00

He is in Grammar school and this expected work. He should be independent enough to do this work. If he is struggling, then maybe he is not in the right school or you have done too much. Time to cut the strings as the teachers need to know what he can and cannot do. He needs to be responsible as it only gets tougher from here.

sashh · 20/10/2019 09:10

9 pieces of homework is definitely too much.

That depends on what the homework actually is and the time frame to complete it. If he's on a 2 week timetable then it could be one piece per subject.

Canyousewcushions · 20/10/2019 10:07

I'd give him the biggest measuring jug you have, half filled with water, and a few things which will sink (full tin of beans, a handful of coins, a heavy ball, anything else you can find round the house). Get him to record the water volume in ml before and after putting the objects into the water. The difference is equal to the volume of the object he's put into the water.

You (and he) probably do already understand the principle- pretty much anyone who has ever had a bath will know what happens to than water level when a person gets in, you probably just didn't have a name for it.

LolaSmiles · 20/10/2019 10:21

That depends on what the homework actually is and the time frame to complete it. If he's on a 2 week timetable then it could be one piece per subject.
Exactly.
9 pieces over one weekend from Friday to Monday is too much, but 9 pieces given over the course of a week with different deadlines over the cycle would be entirely reasonable.

I always find it frustrating when I get notes from parents for pupils in my form saying they couldn't do homework as they had a lot on over the weekend. Then i sign into the homework system, look at the pupil's homework and find one was set almost a week ago, the other was a project to complete over a fortnight, another was a worksheet set on Tuesday, due the following Monday, another was set on Thursday due the following Tuesday and so there's no reason for them not to be doing their homework (and I'm a really flexible form tutor who puts support in place and advocates for parents/students when there's very real reasons why they're finding things tough)

CecilyP
I'm not missing the point. They're pissed off about about an entirely standard type of homework that is entirely reasonable and has been done for ages. Then claimed setting research homework for students is somehow them having to teach their child. Then came back acting like we've misunderstood them, they're just joking etc.

It's not an unreasonable piece of homework, nor is it them having to teach their child a topic. It's an absolute non issue.

FlyingSquid · 20/10/2019 10:24

To make the point properly he then needs to put those objects into something of comparatively negligible mass that will float - a wide yogurt pot maybe - and measure the water displacement for that. Just sinking the coins won’t get to the right conclusion.

Flatwhite32 · 20/10/2019 10:34

Have you thought about speaking to his teacher about his homework difficulties rather than posting online? If not, you need to speak to the relevant teacher first. As a teacher, it annoys me when parents continually moan about homework difficulties, but don't approach the teacher to come up with a solution. I'm more than happy to discuss homework with parents and come up with a plan to support the child.

manicmij · 20/10/2019 11:23

On the teaching children thread I am amazed at the amount of homework, project work given from P1 upwards. Do schools actually think the children produce all those castles, outfits etc and Google all the info yo go with them. Then there is the writing, reading and maths. To me I did think this was normal until a 7 year old in Scotland when asked how much homework she had asked "what's homework". Never had any and no stupid projects either! Education has totally lost the plot in primary.

slipperywhensparticus · 20/10/2019 11:25

Go to the science museum in Birmingham look in the gardens there

Swipe left for the next trending thread