Homework projects over half term?!

[ggmom87]

We are currently on holiday for the whole of half term. Just now saw that my DD (yr 3) was set a HW project. She’s supposed to create a poster about the Stone Age with various bits and bobs. A project of this level will require quite a bit of help from me including buying poster board and other supplies. We are abroad until Sunday night. We have no time to do this. AIBU if we skip this project and send a note on Showbie saying “it’s half term break so we took a break!” It honestly irks me that it’s assumed we have time during half term for projects. She’s 7. She can take a week off.

I think holiday homework is OK at secondary with the focus on exam classes (I always set it for GCSE and A-level). At primary - no - and on the occasions I have made DD, do some, or all of it, it is never ever checked - which tells me a lot about whose idea it was! Not the teacher's!

In your situation, I'd just explain you were away.

That response upthread about Lascaux was genius though!

But it's an hour you could spend doing something else. Holidays are precious and expensive.

If the child is particularly bookish, they'll do it on their own account (I would have; DD definitely wouldn't). If you're on holiday and there's a Stone Age site - great. We did a small detour to get a pic of King Alfred's statue in Winchester earlier this year as DD was learning about him. But no-one made us.

Children are different. Parents are different. One size doesn't fit all.

Totally agree with this. They are YOUR children and it’s YOUR holiday. Parents need to stop giving in to the holiday homework nonsense

You are on holiday abroad so it can't get done.
End of.
Just write a message saying we were unable to do this as we were abroad.

Beyond reading, spellings and maths practise.

Holiday projects are optional and I think it is up to parents, if they are completed. Children should not be penalised for non completion of these tasks. I would send a note advising that you were busy and unable to complete.

When I was teaching, I really didn't like setting half-term homework. The expectation usually comes from the head, so there isn't much choice in the matter!

Perhaps your dd could write a little diary/report about her experience of your holiday? Then when she returns to school, she can show her teacher that she has made some effort to do a school based activity but within your means since you're away.

Enjoy your holiday!

No one should be doing homework in primary. What they need to learn should be taught in the school day. Ignore it and have a good holiday. We went away every school holiday and didn’t do anything school related - no harm has been done.

Either don't do it, it's no big deal, or give your kid a sheet of A4 paper and let her draw a picture. You absolutely do not need to be involved aside from giving her the paper and pens. Going out and buying the supplies you describe is way over the top anyway.

As a PP said we are damned if we do and dammed if we don't. You would be surprised how many parents complain about no homework.

A poster can take ten minutes. All this poster board nonsense sounds like you are part of the competitive homework problem with other parents. A self drawn poster shows much more about the child than a handcrafted artisan castle loaf, a plasterboard model of gargantuan size or a vlog with soundtrack ...
Where are you on holiday? But some paper, watch a Horrible Histories and let her draw a poster as the PP demonstrated earlier

I dislike homework, but it is a lot to expect a young dc to feel ok with not having homework to hand in when it is asked for.

I would have got them to sent ten mins writing/drawing on a piece of a4 at some point during the week.

Tad confused about the parents complaining that a colouring poster is too much for a wee child in the holidays- but spellings, maths and phonics is justified. Pick a lane!

Wtf is a poster board?

You just need a piece of paper & some felt tips/crayons. You can help her look up some interesting facts & she can draw/write the poster. Its not a massive task.

A poster? Well a4 paper and colouring pens can suffice, or on the computer when you return

Btw if anyone wonders why kids are private schools do better, my DD's friend got 2 hours of homework each night and a big pack every holiday, completion wasn't optional (her parents were moaning they were stuck in the villa day after day somewhere exotic with slow internet)

I would help her do it when you get back. It’s not exactly an overwhelming task that will prevent her having any sort of break. Big piece of paper and felt tips and he’ll her search some facts and she can draw pictures around it.

For me, I don’t see homework/projects as an imposition on my time with my kids. I think it’s important to show engagement and support them with their education. It’s also stressful being the one who hasn’t done what’s been asked for. I do dislike those silly projects like ‘build a replica of the coliseum’ because that’s so clearly impossible for a young child to do independently, but this seems like a reasonable project that a young child could do.

This attitude that children "need a break" from any form of learning is why my son's school now doesn't even send a book at half term. Because some parents couldn't even be arsed to spend 10 mins of half term hearing their child read.

Exactly this. I don't set homework in the holidays for any class. I work them hard in term time. But there is always someone who complains about there not being enough homework.

Children don't need a break from learning broadly defined - they need a break from compulsory study tasks imposed on them by others, of topics and in ways chosen by someone else - especially at young ages. School work was easy for me. It's been quite an eye opener how hard it is for my child.

Oh god. I hate this.
I agree. Send a message and don't give it another thought.

I believe children at private schools generally do better academically due to a combination of many factors including staffing ratios, facilities/resource availability and selection. They often do better later in life in part due to connections built at school. In general what research exists says that homework for primary kids makes little/no difference to outcomes

The homework assignment specifically requires a certain size of poster board. Not standard size paper. The assignment also requires using a set of mixed materials. None of this actually matters because it’s the principle of it all - homework shouldn’t be assigned during holidays. Also, I never do my child’s homework and frankly could care less what other parents are doing. I’ll help if asked. It’s amazing how much people will infer about a person or situation based on such little information.

Erh I used to hate these projects. on the whole the parents
h as to get involved and then end up doing the whole bloody thing....

@ggmom87 talk about drip feeding. Was a poster in your OP!

Slippery slope OP. Set the precedent now and DC will think they don’t need to revise or do their essays during the holidays when they get to GCSEs and A levels. You have been warned.

Don't be ridiculous. My dc were all expected to do different things when they were 15 from what they were expected to do at 7. That is normal development. Small children should be out playing, going to farms or zoos, playing out on the swings, building dens, learning to swim and so on and so on and so on.

I've had to Google what poster board was specifically ( and I've had to children complete primary, well one still in year 6, and never been asked to buy poster board..). So it's a thin bit of cardboard. I guarantee you 2 things- not everyone in the class will complete the tasks set for over the holidays, and of those that do- very few will have been on Amazon ordering poster board. They will have given their kids a bit of paper, or the back of a cereal box or similar. The teacher will have just downloaded the instructions from somewhere else, she/he won't care at all what materials are used ( or if it isn't done at all).