Why has primary homework become a race to the bottom?

[tokyogirl]

I've noticed this over a couple of years now.... to be seen to be doing any kind of homework in primary school is a literal race to the bottom.

"Oh we don't do that"
"I never fill in the reading chart"
"We don't bother"
"Can't be bothered to do all those spellings"

In DC school completed reading charts and such like are rewarded yearly with certificate and prizes, why wouldn't you want your child to be rewarded and have a confidence boost?

Any hint of actually doing homework seems to be met with an eye roll or smirk?!

A lot of the stuff that came from primary school as homework was of less benefit to my kids than the things we were going to do anyway. I found the amount coming home increased too from the eldest to the youngest child.

A lot of what happens in schools is a waste of time for a subsection of pupils. That doesn't mean overall that school is a waste of time.

For example, one of my children was told they had to copy out spellings four times. They could already spell the words. That particular child just had a spelling brain. It would be insane for them to waste time on that, so we didn't.

All the extensive research suggests that kids should NOT be set homework in primary. It's set to placate the pushy parents. So...the laid back ones are not 'racing to the bottom' and may well be very supportive in secondary, when it actually helps. Incidentally it only helps in KS4, 14+ and we only really set it in KS3 to develop the habit of completing.

By taking this negative attitude early parents set up beliefs that learning is a chore or at the very least not something that can enrich and stimulate, rather than something to enjoy which is a real shame.

Be careful not to judge other people's reasons for not doing certain activities. IME plenty of the activities given in primary don't actually involve real learning they just fill time!

Because it's not beneficial to the child. They have already spent 6 hours concentrating at school

Home time should be spent relaxing, enjoying family time , doing after school sporting activities, learnt tasks in the real world - helping cooking, washing cars, odd jobs helping parents etc.

Reading is of course important but can be done by making sure the child has a bedtime story.

Mine left primary now - with hindsight finding an excellent maths tutor and having a language class through out primary has been a definite advantage to mine academically.

Dd1 hit ground running with French as she had been doing an hour a week with a tutor in a small group with homework since she was 6. As a result she’s always been top of class which has given her confidence- just opted for 2 languages at gcse and did an exchange.

Due to maths tutor dd2 gone from bottom third of class to top table but best of of all is confident now and enjoys maths. Pushy? You bet.