Fucking Primary School homework.

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Ds2 is 8, yr 3. His teacher is new this term, I’m not sure if he’s an nqt or just new to the school but he’s a keen bean.

DS is expected to do homework every evening. He needs to read for twenty minutes to an adult, do his fifteen spelling words and do twenty minutes of maths. So an hour an evening. There are also two spelling projects to complete every week, ie write them with your left hand, recite them on a tape recorder (?!), write them in squiggly letters.

I think it’s complete overkill. Not to mention we just don’t have the time. We both work FT so he’s in wraparound care most days, he also does Beavers and swimming, I have one child in college and one doing GCSEs so they also need support and it’s just all too much. I don’t want to spend what precious little downtime we all have doing (IMO) unnecessary homework. We do read together and do his spellings and maths but not every single night.

I’ve been collared this morning again to query why he hasn’t had his various diaries filled in every day to show he’s done it. I said well he hasn’t done it all. We are busy. It’s too much. The response was that I really need to make time to do it as otherwise he’ll be behind.

I kind of think if he needs that much extra work outside of school then something is going very wrong with the teaching...although I haven’t said that to the teacher.

WIBU to escalate this? I know I’m not the only parent feeling this way. Is it worth taking a stand?

I should add that DS loses playtime if we haven’t filled in his diary so obvs there’s a lot of pressure and guilt on us as parents and we do honestly try to fit it in but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

Btw, shouldn't wrap around care offer a space for homework as well?

If homework levels are too onerous the staff would have to enforce prep time, not just make space for motivated students.

I suspect the reason our school focuses on weekly rather than nightly homework (apart from reading and times tables) is that the TAs who run the after school care would rebel if they had to do enforced prep time during the club rather than providing a wide variety of activities for the kids (which they adore, and come home with all kinds of projects and plans - brilliant creative outlets for them).

Weekly homework is much more sensible as it enables families to sort the necessary home learning in a flexible way that works for their own circumstances. DS1 (also 8) is perfectly happy to do a good hour each day at the weekend and half an hour on his day not in clubs. Every night when he just needs a bit of down time would be a different story. Reading is baked into our bedtime routine and times tables we do on the way to school in the morning. Everything else gets done at a convenient time.

Our primary gives homework only on Friday to be handed in by the coming Wednesday. They only send the reading record home daily to be signed at least 3 times in the week which is easily done.

There are a few really good private schools near us.

We looked at them for Dd and Ds.

They are always near the top on GCSE and A level passes.

They all said that they didn’t set homework before they got into the senior section of the school.

They said it was their job to teach the children in the amount of time they had them each day.

There were actually more children per class than in the state primary dc ended up going to.
They even welcomed children with learning difficulties. The state schools dc went to made a point of making dc feel so unwelcome that they both left.

Jesus Christ the people saying they have 30-45mins of homework EVERY NIGHT for ages 5 onwards. WTAF?

I'd damn glad I don't live anywhere near your pointless hothouses!!

We live in wales which follows a more Scandinavian style until 7. Homework isn't compulsory. DD has just smashed her 11+ (we're on English border) with less homework in yr 5/6 than some of your kids in reception/yr1!!!

It does sound a lot for Y3!

My son is Y1 and we have:

10 words per week to learn for Thursday spelling test. I usually practise them with him each night but it only takes 5 mins.

He gets 3 reading books per fortnight and we read each night - about 15 mins.

One task (varies) on Thursday to be given in on Monday e.g. this week was to cut out some pictures and sort them into cylinder, cuboid etc. Generally takes about 15 minutes.

So, in average we do 20 mins a night.

Like others this is bloody ridiculous. I think 20 minutes of reading should be manageable but an 8 year old can just read to themselves mainly and maybe do a few minutes to parents on top.

Our school has stopped written homework on one weekday to enable the kids to get out and active. My dd is only 5, but in senior infants in Ireland. She has less homework this year than last year. Her teacher doesn't believe in homework. They get reading but and a task for the week which she completes in under 5 mins on a Monday.

It really takes the hassle out. They do all their work in class and she loves reading so will do the reading homework over and over again-but it's a tiny book/page of words.

I was a teacher-secondary- and very rarely gave homework. I gave simple things for them to do things for others etc. by the time they get in from school, they're exhausted and just want to play. They're kids.

So how many chapter books 200 or so pages do you expect to get through - weekly or monthly?

Y3 we get 10 spellings but only take about 5min a week
5 times reading
And some mathletics.
It's good as all could be done in week or weekend etc

Just say no to the school. Tell them that your primary school kids are not doing homework.

We’ve done that, and we will do it for our next child too. The school does not get to dictate one second of our home life and homework is not beneficial anyway.

Just say no.

@MrsArchchancellorRidcully a lot of posters are in the SE of England I suspect, where school choice is not really a thing as places are in such short supply. And in any case it's pretty difficult to discover details of the homework policy from the outside, even if you knew you ought to ask... It didn't even occur to me as an issue before DD started. I had no idea what primary homework was like these days.

@OnlyAGirlsHorse it's not just the bloody costumes (and don't get me started on the fact you'll never have your kid win a prize unless the costume is laboriously home made) it's the pop into the classroom, the plays, the shows, the see our learning days. I'm sure my mum never had so many school related events. To say nothing of the encouragement to help on school trips (but so and so's mummy comes...) walk them to and from sporting activities and the many, many emails for parent help.

It's not the school's fault they are underfunded but as a working parent it's breathless. I now loathe the end of Nov and December for all the bloody Christmas events.

The thing with a lot of homework is it isn’t really for the child to do.

I think a lot of people mistake it for being child related when it is to test to see how involved the parents are.

Years ago Ds came home with a piece of paper to colour in, cut out and fold origami style to make a Viking long boat.

Ds cant colour in the lines to save his life and the straw we had to push through the sail was a virtually impossible task. No way would he be able to do it on his own

The winner was a child (teachers own Dd) who had made one from a diy kit that was in Tesco.

Just realised it is probably worth mentioning that my DD's class is 40% EAL. She is learning so much about loads of different languages and cultures just by natural osmosis. In return eg she took in her book about identifying native trees and birds today along with Asterix who is her current obsession. The HW policy in the Op would not work in her class and would be deeply divisive and damaging.

Way too much! Homework doesn't help primary age children (except reading).

I like my DD's school's approach to homework. Every 2 weeks they get sent a sheet home with different sections 'let's talk', 'let's inspire', 'let's write' etc. None of it is compulsory - they reccomend they read at home 3x per week and they have a reading diary. At the end of the 2 week period the teacher will go around and talk to each individual child about anything they've done at home. Sometimes children bring in something to show to the class. I think it works really well and is very inclusive.

I have to say I am surprised at PPs saying learning spellings is pointless as it's gets forgotten. My DS learns them over a week, is then tested and still remembers them a year later (because this year's teacher has included words from last year in some lists and DS knows them).

My DS is one of the ones with an hour homework every night. It is too much however a lot of it is on French grammar lessons. Conjugating verbs, punctuation, how to split a word if you reach the end of the line, spelling rules (recent one is the "s" and "z" sounds - lots of rules about when to write "ss", when to use "s", when to use"ti" etc.),...

That’s way too much. Your DS is being penalised for having working parents and that’s really really unfair. Definitely if you don’t get any joy approaching the teacher take it to the head.

That’s crazy amounts.
My youngest left primary a year ago, so both mine were there when Gove implemented the tough curriculum, and even then we only had spellings and reading till year 6. Plus something creative over the holidays that would be doable even without any parental input..
That is plenty.

I would go and see the head and explain how their school policy really can’t work In you’re family set up. There just aren’t enough hours between you getting home and bedtime.

Croissant DC who "remember their spellings" tend to be like my DD1 and 3. They memorise them on sight and file with the ever expanding list. HW is unnecessary.

Otoh you have my DD2 who did spellings every night and still was none the wiser by the end of the week. Spelling list for HW did not help.

It's only when you have one of each type that you really realise this.

Howabout - you're probably right. However it doesn't mean spelling lists are pointless. DC need to know how to spell

There are better ways to learn to spell than lists.

Yanbu. That would tip me over the edge