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.

Oh it's only 15 spellings a week?

FGS, 2/3 words a day, a bit of reading before bed and a maths app?

Really? What is the problem?

And does anybody seriously expect their 7 year old to love reading if it’s positioned as a chore that they have to allocate 10 minutes to every day? They probably spend longer doing a poo.

My Yr3 DD has reading every day, TT Rockstars and MyMaths weekly, spellings weekly and 1 piece of homework. We get given all of the half term’s homework on a challenge sheet so each task can be chosen to fit in. That’s more than enough for us!

Kind of perplexed at the notion that there are 8 year olds who don't lie to their teachers and parents all the time.

All the ones I know are also well aware that parents and teachers lie to each other and children all the time.

howabout

What does that have to do with their being taught to lie?

I didn't have any target for reading so many minutes a day in the 80s and sometimes I was up all night reading a book.

If I was formally told to read for 20 minutes a day and write in a reading diary, it would have taken all the joy out of it. But then, maybe I'd have got some sleep.

I can’t accept that your children wouldn’t learn more if they did more work,

but I think they are learning more, and better, but doing other things than strict homework, that's the point.

I don't understand how people consider "reading" as a chore, all my kids have always read in bed to be fair, but learning to play an instrument, sport teaches them a lot they also need to learn.

I can also see that young adults are a lot more attractive to employers when they have a more attractive CV, and can successfully demonstrate top grades AND outside activities.

hi, that is a massive amount of homework. Our school did a survey re homework a year or 2 back - do you want daily homework/weekly/termly etc etc. Came back as weekly. So we get homework issued ona monday, due back following Monday (they rotate 2 books). DS3 is in P3 (scotland) and nealry 7. he gets 2 reading books, 4 or five common words, a few phonemes and then maybe another task - maths worksheet, or something to complement a project. We can then spread it out over the week as it suits us, as we are both working FT, and the kids do a ton of activities.
Expectation of daily homework is INSANE and presumes that there is some 1950s parent at home who doesn't work, and that the kids do nothing else. I can't imange doing an hour a night at primary school.
I would be livid, and complain extensively.

good luck.

but I think they are learning more, and better, but doing other things than strict homework, that's the point.

Yes, you are choosing one form of learning over another. Just as I would be if I chose to spend my time learning to knit rather than to kickbox. That’s fine. My only point is that I won’t be as good a kick-boxer at the end as I would have been if I had attended the kickboxing lessons.

hat there are 8 year olds who don't lie to their teachers and parents all the time. shock

All the ones I know are also well aware that parents and teachers lie to each other and children all the time.

In what kind of school are your kids going?
There's nothing like a war between parents and teachers at mine, and no one feels the need to lie to anyone else, what a very strange way to act.
It's not a "them" vs "us". What on earth do you need to lie to a teacher about?!?

One thing is very clear from this, expectations in France, Germany, Spain and Italy are FAR, FAR higher than the UK.

That’s fine. My only point is that I won’t be as good a kick-boxer at the end as I would have been if I had attended the kickboxing lessons.

whilst I believe that by learning music, and sports even, they are learning "deeper" in their limited curriculum and can apply most things...

Writing a report for the club about a competition for example, will encourage them more to be spot on their spelling than mindlessly learning a few random words.

Really? What is the problem?

What would be the problems with doing all the school work at school and leaving home free for family life and down time?

That's what I had between the ages of 5 and 10 (started getting homework in the final year of primary school, boo, hiss) and I went on to get good GCSEs, A Levels, a law degree and post graduate qualification. I watched shed loads of television, played computer games endlessly and played out on roller skates, I had absolutely acres of free time and hardly ever any homework at primary school.

One thing is very clear from this, expectations in France, Germany, Spain and Italy are FAR, FAR higher than the UK.

really? I have friends and families on the continent, they have much less homework than my kids in an English school

We have said we aren’t doing it. Not because we are lazy but because most of It is totally useless activities which tear my children away from their own completely self generated life learning activities within the home. it hosts ally created arguments and certainly didn't instil a love of learning - quite the opposite in fact.

I do all the wrap around and spend hours talking to them about life, answering their questions, reading with and to them, taking them to activities, and most importantly, doing absolutely fuck all. learning to be bored and finding something to do. Watching tv, playing Lego, playing in the garden, the park or with friends. being a child rather than an automaton.

we told the school my views, I said we weren’t doing it and the children were not to experience any repercussions. teachers agreed it was largely pointless, which says it all really. Both operate at greater expectations across the board. That’s because of our engagement with them as people, in relation to life, not homework. They learn so much more from general discussions around lots of family time than a rushed 20 minutes arguing about how to do long division. It’s a total no brainer for us.

I’d agree that reading is key too, to expression, writing, spelling, language acquisition, the lot. exposing children to books from birth, having age appropriate books readily accessible at all times, and having reading time every day without exception. every day should end on a good story. We take a page in turn so it’s not just their job and then I finish off. Reading is then a joy then, rather than a curse.

Hosts ally = historically

That seems an awful lot for an 8 year-old.

Does the teacher put as much effort into marking/checking progress etc as he's expecting little kids to put in doing all of this.

#betheisn't

I have friends and families on the continent, they have much less homework than my kids in an English school

And don't they start later? Age 7 or something?

One thing is very clear from this, expectations in France, Germany, Spain and Italy are FAR, FAR higher than the UK

I'd rather emulate Finland.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37716005

And let's not go the way of South Korea.

Hosts ally = historically

I love it when the autocarrot gets creative!

whilst I believe that by learning music, and sports even, they are learning "deeper" in their limited curriculum and can apply most things...

I don’t know what you mean. You are of course entitled to believe what you like, but I have to say I don’t think we agree. I believe a child gets better at History by learning more about what happened in the past, who said what about it, and by applying the skills of historical analysis, not by kicking a ball.

Writing a report for the club about a competition for example, will encourage them more to be spot on their spelling than mindlessly learning a few random words

It might. Learning how to spell well is a complex process involving lots of time reading new words, encountering them in new and familiar contexts, using them and correcting them. It takes time, and I don’t believe playing the trumpet helps with it.

An hour a night would be over the top here too. I'd sign to say he's been doing it too.

@shearwater - knew I’d get flamed. It’s not outdated at all, you’d have to be naive to think that you can send your child to school and both parents working full time and expect no challenges in terms of trying to fit in everything that both the child and the parents and the family life need.

Look at the school’s policy on things like this before you make your choice where to send them.

Dontbeababs

The school day is much longer
There are no 'half terms' just longer summer holidays
All countries set homework every night 40 mins min.
Reading is an expected norm, not a 'chore' or seen as homework
No 'after school clubs' as such, or certainly much less emphasis, only after school clubs are language lessons!
Sport is a twice weekly school activity, at least an hour.
Swimming is just 'normal' due to weather
They are all bilingual as minimum on leaving school.

I have taught primary in all these countries bar Germany.

My DD does all the above but still squeezes in 2 hours of Minecraft or DanTDM a night

And Shearwater - if you had acres of time, out of interest, were your parents working full time? Who cared for you when school finished?