Fucking Primary School homework.

[YippeeKayakOtherBuckets]

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.

1st point - Home work whether at secondary school or primary school is NOT, I repeat is NOT legally enforceable. If you do not want your child to do it they do not have to. If you do NOT think it is benefitting your child then tell the school you will not completing it and they will NOT punish your child for it.

Second point. I have children in school, out of school being home educated and ranging in age from nearly 19 - 3yrs old. There really is Zero need for anything other than reading as homework at primary level and even at secondary there is no real evidence that it is of benefit - certainly up until GCSE level and beyond. There are schools around the country who have done away with homework.

churchandstate
Agreed.
What's interesting is we have / have had a number of secondary students who go on day release for high level training at sports clubs, music companies, national and international competitions, and the thing that stands out is just how many of the training providers stipulate that the students must remain on top of their studies. Many of the football academies have time set aside with the expectation that the students study and complete homework.
It seems unusual to me for parents of primary pupils to think that the wider studies for the child aren't a priority because it's a premier League football training when the high level clubs and national/international organisations working with out students actually insist on them keeping on top of their studies

I know I’m going to get flamed for this but when you have children and work full time - something has to give. I don’t see anything excessive about what your ds has been set, the fact that they are being given items like this shows how much the school want for them. If you don’t agree with that policy, take it up with the governors and also, did you review the policy before choosing that school for your son?

If a parent was able to collect DS from school and give him a snack/playtime and then spend the hour from 4-5 doing that homework, he would still have plenty of time for more fun/relaxing from 5 until bedtime.

Schools set homework on the fact that they want the best for every child. Take an honest look at your life and see where you and your DH can take advantage of flexible working to support your son.

It's no wonder more kids and adults are turning into stressed out, medicated basket cases! If primary school age children don't have downtime we're teaching them that you must be at full throttle, always on as the daily norm.

Where is the time for actual play amid the travel home, dinner, bath, enough hrs of sleep other necessities of life?
Or visiting family?
Or .. you know.. bonding and catching up with their household over the activities of the day?
Visiting the library or leaning about household chores like accompanying a parent to a shop? (Great opportunity for primary kids to practice maths, amounts, weights, currency, without the little buggers realising what you're doing)
Walking the dog?

..etc.

We are literally creating a child that will no doubt turn into a highly stressed, good little worker bee without any 9f the well-rounded attitudes or balance in their life that makes it meaningful.

It's mad.

@churchandstate @LolaSmiles the article below is an interesting read.

Regarding choosing enrichment activities, the skills that kids learn playing a sport/ instrument / scouts etc are just as important as the academics (sorry I think I'm repeating myself!). My kids do lots of extra curricular stuff, and I have many moments of questioning myself about whether it's too much. But the benefits they get from them are immense.
I have the kind of children that know that although a little homework is necessary, and that they have to read every day, school is school and home is home. Pushing them more on the academics would be detrimental, not positive.

In Spain that is average.

School 9/5. 20 mins reading before bed (which I would have made DD do anyway)

Spellings in one of 3 languages every night, in rotation and always 10 minutes of maths. Plus weekend projects.

Yes, you can tell the parents that get involved with their DC's education and encourage them.

No focus is given to after school clubs during the week here.

But everyone is at least bilingual and definitely does more at a higher level than I did in the UK at that age.

I really do not see it as 'ludicrous' or 'over the top' at all.

DD still has at least 2.5 hours to do what she wants every night. Reading before bed is downtime.

There are no half terms here either! Just 3 months off in summer

weymouthswanderingmermaid

I can’t see an article.

And I am not arguing with you about those things being important, nor about how important they are to you. It’s a simple fact, though, that to become very well-read you will have to spend more time reading than someone who is only going to be conservatively read. It’s about making choices. Some parents, though, do like to tell themselves they can have it all.

Reanimated I agree with you on the benefit of teaching DC to challenge authority.

Teenagers brought up to do their HW unquestioningly are likely to be the ones at secondary spending hours highlighting, filing their notes, making revision timetables and other such busy work. The ones with a more thoughtful approach will be the ones identifying the areas which need work, seeking out practice papers and googling resources and asking teachers for help when necessary.

The ones with non academic interests will be the ones who have already learnt to prioritise their time effectively and will also be more independent of their parents.

(I have an A in Higher Maths but whereas I can teach my DC their times tables they and their teachers would be sorely disappointed if they were relying on me for help with differential calculus).

Mine is Yr4 primary. I nicely explain to her teacher that she reads every night and apart from that we don’t have time to do lots of other homework. We do activities, she is sometimes with my parents due to my work, she needs down time. They did not explain that she’s end up behind / would struggle with her Sats. I gave them the eyebrow and said I’d deal with that when we got to it.

She is 8 and she needs to do Lego and baking and to play Barbies whilst she is still small!

Just one of that lot of maths and spellings a week would be more than enough, plus some reading.

I'd just get him doing that, that's what most kids in his year across the country will be doing. Homework given out on Thursday to be in by Tuesday or Wednesday. Write to his teacher and say that's what he can manage, and what he will be doing.

Teenagers brought up to do their HW unquestioningly are likely to be the ones at secondary spending hours highlighting, filing their notes, making revision timetables and other such busy work. The ones with a more thoughtful approach will be the ones identifying the areas which need work, seeking out practice papers and googling resources and asking teachers for help when necessary.

The ones brought up to lie to their teachers will more than likely be doing sod all.

@churchandstate oops!

www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/38383428

They did not explain that she’s end up behind / would struggle with her Sats. I gave them the eyebrow and said I’d deal with that when we got to it.

And they will be aware that it is far more likely that it won’t be dealt with.

weymouthswanderingmermaid
You seem to have missed my replies up thread where I've said as a teacher I'm vocally against pointless homework, and that I'd happily see all primary homework scrapped other than some sensible homework for core subjects in KS2.

My question lies in some of the anti homework arguments that don't really stack up, or claims that it's impossible to do reasonable homework.

By secondary, we see the impact of the "make excuses for the child... Lie to the teacher..." approaches.

If there's a concern about homework then it needs raising between the teacher and the parent as adults. Not telling and showing the child you'll lie about homework.
If there is a problem with whole school policy then it needs challenging and raising with the head and/or appropriate senior leaders.

Equally, both of those need to go had in hand with some reflection about expectations on school e.g. if someone has opted for a highly academic school and then they've chosen to allow their child to do after school clubs plus evening enrichment clubs then it's a bit unreasonable to then not play their part in the academic side of the school, which they in part selected the school for

Research clearly shows the only homework that benefits primary dc is reading. Your ds will not be behind as a result of incomplete homework.

weymouthswanderingmermaid

In fairness, I have read many similar articles so I am very familiar with the arguments.

That is ridiculous, I would refuse to do it and see where it takes you.

This is making everyone in your family miserable, and it just isn't worth it.

I would talk to the other parents, maybe start up a group on social media to try and see how the other parents are coping with this.

There is absolutely no way my 7 year old daughter would be doing anything more than 20 mins homework three times a week. That's what we aim for. She is a child at infant school ; she's not doing an accountancy degree.

@LolaSmiles regarding elite sports ar secondary, absolutely the clubs should he reinforcing the importance of academics, it's part of their duty of care. I was a bit at the poster who said their child didn't have time to read every day as they were playing academy football 5 times a week.

We turned down an academy place for my DS as we feel he's too young at the moment. At secondary, should he chose to do it, it will only happen if he demonstrates he can do both the sport and academic commitment, and also have some social life.
My children won't be doing an hour of homework every night whilst at primary, but they'll be doing a acceptable and beneficial amount to additional academics to what they do in school.

MyDcAreMarvel

Link?

My understanding is very different, and it is that the research is inconclusive. It’s too complex an area to boil down to one yes or no answer. What does seem clear to me is that homework will very often be perceived to be useless because - as is clear from this thread - lots of parents aren’t ensuring it’s done properly. Then when it’s reported to be useless they pat themselves on the back.

And we wonder why kids are so stressed out these days with self harm rates and mental health issues through the roof.

I would raise it with the school, and get as many parents on board as possible. My issue with this level of homework is its completely reliant on parents being able to assist them, if little jonnys parents can't or won't help, then its of no benefit to him - quite the opposite. Not every parent can help, especially as the homework gets harder as they get older. Teachers are trained to teach, parents aren't.

Depending on your child would depend on your tactic, mine wouldn't accept me lying in their book, and also would get really upset by being punished for doing the right thing (and occasionally missing it). So we would always have to perceiver, even through the upset and the tears of getting it done.

There should be time for kids to be kids, and do things like Beavers, Piano etc - they are so beneficial to kids. We want well rounded happy individuals, not droves of robot school leavers who have shit hot maths skills but little else to add to themselves or society.

And we wonder why kids are so stressed out these days with self harm rates and mental health issues through the roof.

Phones? Constant extra curricular activities? Too many exams? Bad diets? Too much time on the X box and not enough playing outside? Poverty? Family breakdown?

@breathless 10 minutes of actual reading every day, rather than setting the bar too high and having people like the OP and her DS get overwhelmed and end up doing none.

Schools set homework on the fact that they want the best for every child. Take an honest look at your life and see where you and your DH can take advantage of flexible working to support your son.

Yeah, because it's the OP's fault for working full time that the school are setting a completely excessive amount of homework for an eight year old. What an antediluvian response.

10 minutes of actual reading every day, rather than setting the bar too high

But a height-challenged toadstool could scale that bar. Ten minutes is woefully inadequate. I seem to remember it was only put back to 20 minutes because people thought 30 was unrealistic. I used to read for at least an hour every day and 10 hours if I could manage it. 😂

Equally, both of those need to go had in hand with some reflection about expectations on school e.g. if someone has opted for a highly academic school and then they've chosen to allow their child to do after school clubs plus evening enrichment clubs then it's a bit unreasonable to then not play their part in the academic side of the school, which they in part selected the school for

Choice of school being something of an illusion in most cases.