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Original poster

To think two hours homework a night is not excessive for a year 10 pupil

438 replies

Challenger5 · 03/10/2022 20:49

DD 1 is adamant that two hours a night homework, is against her human rights. She has been stomping around, refusing to start her homework. DD 1 is being exceptionally rude to me swearing at me for sending her to a prison camp and claiming to be-having a nervous breakdown due to the schools expectations.

I am trying to calm her down and reason with her, that two hours a night is quite proportionate for a year 10 girl at a Grammar School. This especially as the school as stated her target grades are 7-9 in all ten GCSE subjects.

She has also informed me that her head of year as given her a after school detention, today for calling her English teacher a 'mean cow' for a poor homework mark. DD denies calling the teacher that, saying she was misheard when she pulled her face at the teacher.

DD is saying the detention is unfair and against her human rights because it is grossly an excessive punishment even if she had accidentally muttered 'mean cow' when the teacher spoke to her. DD argues that her face pulling was justified because someone has to stand up against the schools unrealistic and unreasonable levels of homework demanded.

OP posts:
paintitallover · 03/10/2022 22:55

Too much

worriedatthistime · 03/10/2022 22:56

Personally I think its too much but never been a fan of much homework

worriedatthistime · 03/10/2022 22:57

@maddening but thats the hrs for an adult , she is a kid not an adult

mamabear715 · 03/10/2022 22:59

I don't like homework at ALL. But your DD does sound a little madam.. sorry..

FacebookPhotos · 03/10/2022 23:00

I don’t think anyone moans when their kids don’t do as well as others.

A huge number of parents moan about their children’s grades! My recent professional experience is grammar school and private, but my personal experience (friends and family) is way wider than that. And when children don’t do as well as anticipated 90% of parents blame the school, even though the school highlighted poor work ethic and lack of effort with homework for years in advance of exams.

It is great that you aren’t worried about grades, but huge numbers of parents are. And while there are many successful people without good exam results, failing maths and English (in particular) makes succeeding far harder. The reason we hear the “I failed my GCSEs but still did well” stories is that they’re the exception, and thus interesting.

I’d love to love in a world where kids didn’t need to do homework because it was all done in school (though school hours would be longer, preventing many extra-curriculars from even happening). And I’d love to live in a world were poor exam results didn’t make life harder (though in that case exams would likely be scrapped altogether). But we don’t. We live in a world were failing GCSE maths and English makes life harder, and where your GCSE grades determine your A level options, your A levels determine your degree / university and your degree / university have a huge impact on earnings.

OriginalUsername3 · 03/10/2022 23:00

That's an absurd amount! How can they possibly maintain a good diet, exercise, family relations and friendships, hygiene, rest, relaxation and sleep with 2 hours a night after a full day at school?
GCSEs really don't require that much unless you actually struggle.

user29 · 03/10/2022 23:01

my dc are at/went to state GS and yes 2 hours a night from y8 would be normal, and they didnt finish school til 4pm,

worriedatthistime · 03/10/2022 23:01

@Florenz but thats an adult working day , they are not adults are they ?
Mine never ever had 2 hrs of homework in secondary and would of switched off if they had
They also had after school activities and need some time out

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 03/10/2022 23:05

OriginalUsername3 · 03/10/2022 23:00

That's an absurd amount! How can they possibly maintain a good diet, exercise, family relations and friendships, hygiene, rest, relaxation and sleep with 2 hours a night after a full day at school?
GCSEs really don't require that much unless you actually struggle.

Well…they still have weekends like they would as adults?

I think it’s way too much homework but at the same time, being hyperbolic about it doesn’t help.

I’m an advocate for no homework at all
apart from coursework/revision studies at GCSE and A level stage.

worriedatthistime · 03/10/2022 23:05

@FacebookPhotos still excessive at 2 hrs a night ? Their kids still not adults
Mine had very little homework and got average grades, not outstanding like 8-9 but tbh they could of done 6 hrs homework and not achieved that, too much emphasis on high grades only make you succesful or being academic
Many kids just aren't but go on to be successful adults in many ways
Also many kids don't have a home life conductive to homework so schools shouldn't be relying on too much done at home
They have approx 5 hrs of lessons a day so an hr homework is plenty
We expect an adult to do a 7.5 hr day on average so why expect kids to do similar
When are they allowed to just be a kid

Schoolchoicesucks · 03/10/2022 23:08

2 hours is a lot if it is every night. If she does any other extra curricular it would be hard to catch up. And feels a lot to keep up for 2 years until GCSE's.

1-1.5 hours a night on average would be more manageable. Then could catch up more easily at the weekend for any evenings where she did other things.

Original poster
Challenger5 · 03/10/2022 23:10

She has finally finished her homework tonight, I think she has done about 90 minutes proper study after her tantrum finished.

Homework is usually allowed 2 days to complete so in theory, if you did three hours over Saturday/Sunday it would mean 6 hours over 4/5 days. The problem with DD though is she always ends up doing no homework from Thursday 3.40 until panicking at 7.30 Sunday night, screaming she has two days homework to complete before bed.

DDs English teacher has emailed me saying her homework was unacceptable, for a girl who should be aiming for at least grade 8s in both her English Language/ Literature GCSE's

OP posts:
Schoolchoicesucks · 03/10/2022 23:11

Looneytune253 · 03/10/2022 22:05

Gosh she's got a shock coming when she goes to college if she does a levels. My dd gets that much for each of her 3 subjects most days.

Your dd gets 6 hours of homework a day? So if she gets home from college at 4, she's studying til 10? That is way too much. She needs to find a way to do her work more efficiently.

HailAdrian · 03/10/2022 23:12

I feel sorry for kids tbh. It's just hard fucking work from the start of secondary school for the rest of their lives, they're not all cut out for it and I'm not surprised she's stressed.

DragonflyNights · 03/10/2022 23:17

Sounds like a recipe for burnout. sounds like you and the school are putting too much pressure on her and she is rebelling. I also don’t think saying a year 10 had a tantrum is great tbh since it sounds very much like she’s tried to express it’s too much and hasn’t been listened to you or the school. That amount of homework sounds excessive to me. While it’s important to study and put in the effort for GCSEs it’s also important to get a balance and have time to rest and socialise and all the other things needed to develop into a well rounded individual.

OldWivesTale · 03/10/2022 23:24

Yes it's too much! They've been at school all day FFS. We are just teaching kids that it's OK to finish work then go home and carry on working - setting this expectation for adulthood. It's ridiculous and totally unnecessary.

OldWivesTale · 03/10/2022 23:25

And we wonder why there's a mental health crisis amongst teenagers. The pressure from all sides is unrelenting.

OvaryActions · 03/10/2022 23:33

Really good points @OldWivesTale

ThereIbledit · 03/10/2022 23:36

@OldWivesTale
Yes it's too much! They've been at school all day FFS. We are just teaching kids that it's OK to finish work then go home and carry on working - setting this expectation for adulthood. It's ridiculous and totally unnecessary.

I totally agree with this. No wonder mental health diagnoses are through the sky for school leavers. Lockdown had a huge impact for sure but two hours additional work every day when you've been learning all day already and are developing and growing and NEED your rest - it's too much.

ThereIbledit · 03/10/2022 23:38

Cross posted about mental health. Neither of us are exaggerating - a huge majority of college applicants have mental health diagnoses - and that's the ones who have actually managed to have got a diagnosis. It's EXTREMELY worrying.

postcardpuffin · 03/10/2022 23:40

From your last post, OP, it sounds like it’s more of a time management / procrastination issue, than getting too much homework and having no downtime. That puts a lot of the horrified posts in perspective rather.

It’s uncomfortable for her, but as for everyone, it’s really important that she try to learn how to manage her work effectively now, so that she can also enjoy her downtime. It’s a good time to learn this, at her age — if she can crack the skill of pacing herself and not leaving it all to the last minute, she’ll manage better than many students who are still doing that at university (or indeed, many of us who are still doing it later in life…)

ItsAutumnThen · 03/10/2022 23:52

2 hours a night sounds about right considering we live in a society which discourages work-life balance. Prep 'em young and all that.

Sounds like you've got a savvy daughter who values her well-being. She will do well; perhaps just not in the way society expects.

mondaytosunday · 04/10/2022 00:03

In y10 an hour is fine, more when a test is coming up or essay due. My dd is upper sixth now, did mostly 8s and 9s on her GCSEs and she didn't do anything like two hours a night. Burn out is a real issue and there's no need this early on.
Is it because she takes that long to do the work set or something that what the school expects her to do? Does she have any other extracurricular activities?
I found sone teacher set homework because they think they should rather than it actually be if any real use - busy work in other words.

dutysuite · 04/10/2022 00:09

My DD is in year 8 and gets over 2 hours of homework a night, Art is especially demanding - expecting endless stitching designs, bunting stitching and poster research printed in colour. It’s actually starting to wear her down, and as a result she now hates art and can’t wait to drop it. My other child is year 11 and his is mostly revision now but he the classroom app which I am also connected to and the alerts for work set are relentless, we’ve just had one come through at midnight. I do worry about their mental health, obviously I didn’t have all these apps when at school so could switch off a bit.

QuestionableMouse · 04/10/2022 00:44

I didn't do two hours a night for my MA!