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.

Start at 3 years, not 7! 5 is obligatory.

@churchandstate of course a child isn't going to learn a list of historical facts when playing football. You're just being ridiculous. Team sports - apart from the obvious physical and psychological benefit, kids learn problem solving, social skills, conflict resolution etc. We have a pool table and dart board in our garage. Pool - hand eye coordination, patience, and maths. Darts - the same. Learning an instrument- language learning skills, perseverance, and a lifelong hobby to help with relaxation and positive mental health.
All these are essentially life skills.

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.

You make it sound like the only thing they do is football!

I honestly believe a child need to have a good balance of activities. The brightest and most successful graduates I always come across did very nicely at uni, but also had an interesting CV with their own chosen activities. They basically do "more" than the strict minimum and don't concentrate only on the academic side.

I think not doing enough out of school is really not going to help a child and a teen. If a child needs to spend too long doing homework every night, it means he's struggling.

And kids also need to be kid, kicking that ball is what keeps them fit, healthy and happy.

That was to the poster saying 'don't schools on the continent start later, at 7?'

NO.

weymouthswanderingmermaid
That makes perfect sense.

And we wonder why kids are so stressed out these days with self harm rates and mental health issues through the roof
Always schools and school work.
Never any of the other million features in children's lives. Giving kids some reading and spellings in primary, which has been the norm for decades, is absolutely more of a cause of poor mental health than kids rarely getting any downtime from doing loads of extra-curricular activities, or the rise of social media, or the impact of technology, or the pressure of needing to be best at things, or the increased mollycoddler behaviour where just walking to school is a huge risk in the eyes of some people.

It's like the thread recently where someone wanted to appropriate mental health to justify giving their child a duvet day from school because he was tired, but not so tired that his additional enrichment could be scaled back, and the poor lad was told by mum that if he wanted to miss sports on a weekend then he could spend Saturday doing chores with her. And yet some people were falling over themselves to argue that school was the problem

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

I have an 8 year old in yr 3 of primary in Spain and she doesn't get anything like that much homework. Although it depends quite a lot on the teacher, in general it's not much homework. And they're only in school 9-2. There's a lot of learning masses reams of information by rote though.

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
Swimming is just 'normal' due to weather
They are all bilingual as minimum on leaving school.

now you are just making that up!

Don't get me wrong, it sounds great, but it's nowhere the reality of state schools at least in France, Spain, Germany! Whilst Germany is doing very well in teaching foreign languages, that's true, but still.

were your parents working full time

Yes they were.

My parents were never asked to get half as involved with school stuff in the 80s as I have been as a FT working parent now, when more families have both parents working. It's crazy.

BirdandSparrow

Where are you in Spain? 8 years old finishes at 2pm???

Do they maybe go in on Saturdays?

(I'm in Valencia)

don't schools on the continent start later, at 7?' In Spain they can start the year they turn 3, so if they don't turn 3 until December they are 2 when they go! it's optional but everybody sends them otherwise you don't get a place later. Schooling is obligatory from the year they turn 6.

before you make your choice where to send them

A choice? What's that? Choice of school is at best an illusion, unless you have money to burn.

That is way more than both my year 3 and year 6 child get.

They have weekly spellings and times tables. I make them practise a few times independently then test at the end of the week before school test.

Reading aims for 5 times a week (I listen to them read once a week as both above average usually with some sort of comprehension exercise/questions after to challenge them).

Year 6 child has maths/English homework alternate weeks on top and creative topic work, year 3 creative topic work only. This I sometimes support if they need it, completed at the weekend.

They also both have music homework from instruments that I get them to do independently in their room up to three times in the week for no more than 15 minutes.

I also have another younger child who just has reading and spellings, DH does reading I do spellings. I work on average a 50 hour week and also study so any more would have me on my knees.

As they love to say on here, no is a complete sentence.

Billie Andalucia. School is 9 am to 2 pm. if both parents work they can go to comedor but all teaching is btw 9 am and 2 pm all the way through infantil and primaria. Even instituto is only 8 am to 2.40 pm

DontbeaBabs

Err, no, I am not making it up. Thanks.

weymouthswanderingmermaid

And I am not arguing that those skills aren’t important. It’s also true, however, that the more you prioritise those things over traditional academics, the less traditional learning will take place. That’s the only point I am making here.

That'll be the heat then BirdandSparrow Please confirm to others there' no half terms though!!

So true that is they don't start age 3 you are buggered if you try to join later.

Instituto is 9 till 4/5 here too Every community seems to vary so much.
I bet your DC's speak the local dialect, Castellano and English don't they? Plus French (good level of)

I support homework but supervise whilst I do other things, cook etc. I don't "do his maths with him" I think homework needs to be achievable on their own. I don't refuse to help but the teacher doesnt need to know how good my multiplication knowledge is.

I also refuse to get overly invested in craft projects. We had a bridge building one once that the children could get an award for, DS built his out of cardboard, I assisted a little but it was mainly his own work. Great! I somehow managed to refrain from informing the teacher that there was no earthly way the awarded 7 year old made a 3 foot expertly decorated suspension bridge out of cake!

If I were you OP I would sort the reading, spellings and maths but ask the teacher for his justification for the left handed and squiggly writing stuff...if I thought the response was naff I'd say that we "won't be doing that."

DontbeaBabs

No argument from me. Balance is important. But the trade off exists. If school believe your child should be reading for 20 minutes a day and you think it’s more important that they do an extra curricular activity instead of that, then that choice comes with a consequence. It’s as simple as that.

Yanbu, an hour an evening is too much, can be a nightmare fitting it in and frankly can take even longer once you coax an overtired child to complete it. Makes it painful for the whole family, we experienced this once after parents contained their DC weren't getting enough homework, Thankfully it settled down! I would definitely speak to teacher and if they are not sympathetic escalate to head.

Billie no, no half terms, but a couple of puentes a term usually. Mine are varyingly bilingual but have bugger all French as they don't start til 8 and the teaching is sparse (like 45 mins a week) and a bit crap. But ultimately as Spanish speakers French should be easy-ish when they want to put the work in. Easier than for English only speakers anyway.

Cant you lie? Fill in his daily diary as if he's done it every day? As long as he does it twice a week, theres no need for daily homework surely?

beautiful
Or just raise any concerns like a reasonable adult with the people who set the policy.

Starting with lying about homework from KS2 just created a rod for their own back for future homework at secondary, though I'd be willing to bet that the parents who lie and make excuses at KS3/4 were probably also parents who made it clear to their children in KS2 that it's optional and only do it if it fits, if we feel like it.

church that is the point. No 8 year old has to be taught to lie they do it naturally. It is therefore pointless to carry on the pre-tense that adults are absolutely honest in all their dealings.

I had a discussion with my 17 year old on Thursday. Her teacher had persuaded her to attend a pointless brainstorming session at the expense of her core lessons. Since she is leaving school in 6 months she will not benefit from this. I was cross because she felt obliged to go. She went and came home to report no-one was interested in her opinion if it wasn't 100% what they wanted her to say. She has learned. It would have been of more benefit if I had passed on more of my cynicism earlier.

It’s so frustrating. My son is also 8 and in year 4 but he has autism. They have to read every night which is fine, spellings, also not too bad but the homework.. jeez. It stresses me out so much. DS doesn’t want to do it. It’s a fight every night and they give him homework the rest of the class has been given and it’s to complicated for him (he is behind but not because homework is a struggle..)

I am 28 and when I was at primary there was no homework. Obviously the usual reading and spellings but nothing else ever came home. I’m
not sure why it’s gone so ott in recent years!

I agree BirdandSparrow I do a lot of my DD's French tuition frankly, they set the standard sky high (I would say almost a year before my 'O' level), but don't necessarily 'teach', I agree with 'rote' (I think 2x40 mins a week) but I am lucky in that I can help her.

Also agree, far easier if you speak Spanish to pick up/understand French. (Especially in Valencia)

Yes, we have the fallas here and lots of 'bank holidays' I am so happy they can swim properly all summer and I don't have to take her to the municipal baths in Swindon