AIBU that making craft shit for school at home is pointless?

[purplepencilcase]

Can someone explain why spending almost a whole day on making a Viking Longboat for Year 3 homework is a good use of time?

I honestly can't believe it's enhancing education in ways that other activities couldn't do?

Does it matter if parents help or not. In the 7 years of my daughters primary school you had the children who built stuff by themselves, the children who had help and the models that were clearly built by an adult when the child gave up interest.
The teachers could tell the difference, so could the children, so could the parents...but no one cared. It was all fun.
My daughter was of the "gave up interest" group but I loved making models.
One of mine was displayed in the classroom all term. All the children knew I made it because the teacher told them and I gave a brief Show and Tell about it. It was known as "Xs Mum's Model of .....".

Posted too soon. I appreciate that thwre are children who will absolutely love many aspects of these projects, and they can be fun for some, I'm just not convinced that sticking loo rolls together are really the thing that are going to spark a passion or assist the skills that you seem to think it will.

I don't think it's too much of an issue once they get a tiny bit older. The projects my y1 dd5 has to complete on the other hand are pointless! In the 2nd term of reception: build a habitat. Not one child's was made by the actual child.

@GaspingGekko I guess you have never met any toy designers - a big part of having an interest in a career like that is building toys out of cardboard as a kid.

What by getting their parents to do it? This sort of thing is fine until the parents get involved

That's utterly ridiculous. Why is that your responsibility?

Indeed. When DS1(now 18) was in Reception class, the homework was to make a model 'space rocket'.

He managed to cover a Pringle tube in tinfoil, put some stickers on it and tape a plastic ice-cream cone thing to the top. He was ever so pleased with himself.

Until he got to school and saw all the elaborate rockets clearly made by the competitive parents, that was. I've never forgotten seeing his little face crumple, and I never encouraged him to bother with these types of homework again..

We used to do all of this stuff at school in school time and with school resources, sadly there isn't the time or the money now so it gets sent to be done at home. Art and making stuff in general is very beneficial for children, the real crime is that it is undervalued in the curriculum.

Pointless because 9/10 times most of the making has been done by a parent and can easily be spotted when the little darlings bring them back to school. Waste of time and not really a learning experience and just a bloody annoyance to already overstretched parents. My daughters school had the sense to make them in school.

Ugh, we had so many weekend craft homeworks when DS was in Y3/Y4 - drove us mental!
Thankfully they seemed to have stopped the practice now DD is in this part of the school… there’s an optional “grid” of activities to be completed over the half term, but we don’t bother - it’s hard enough getting her to do the actual homework 😬

DD did a PowerPoint for a project once and got marked down for it not being creative enough. We did papier mache etc after that, less actual work required.

@nahwhale so parents shouldn't help their children with maths, reading or sporting skills either? Just leave everything for the children to do by themselves?
If a parent says they never help their child with reading they get shot down in flames.
But god forbid they help with some crafting.

DH DD once made a brilliant WWI trench. Took him them bloody ages.

Currently helping my 7 year old make a bus so I feel your pain.

@Mydusa how old was your daughter when she was "marked down" though?
Making a viking ship in Year 3 isn't the type of thing that would be "marked" or given a grade?

Yabu, as homework goes I prefer this sort. We spend as little or as much time as we fancy / other plans permit. My DC always loved a bit of junk modelling whether in the classroom, set as homework, or spontaneously raiding the recycling at home. I'm not aware of it ever feeling competitive at school - suspect in our school there are low levels of parental over-involvement - as far as I can tell that's a very middle class mumsnet thing.

I'm a lone parent of two kids, and have a full time job. Have always been much happier to make time and fend off a toddler for this stuff rather than practising bloody spellings. Much easier to engage both the dyspraxic sensitive kid, and the one who generally finds everything easy, in Viking boats than worksheets.

@iatealltheminieggs bus is easy. Empty cornflake box. Painted red (or the colour of your local buses). Draw window and door shapes on In each window either draw a person or cut out faces from an old magazine and stick them on. Cut out black cardboard circles for wheels and stick them on.
Done.

Luckily these days are long gone for me, but it's not just the making of the damn thing that's a pain in the arse, it's then got to be transported into school! Not so easy to carry a homemade volcano, or similar shite when the school run is 15 mins walk in all elements!

I don’t mind craft homework as long as

a) I’m given plenty of notice
b) my child actually engages and doesn’t complain or wander off leaving me to do it

Sadly it’s rare both conditions are met!

There’s a big difference between “helping” and taking over completely the design and execution.

Haha spent lunch time making a Gaudi inspired building with a year 8.

Exactly.

Cutting the sellotape/buying materials/ being an extra pair of hands as they execute their designs etc...Fine.

Treating it as some opportunity to show off that you have a degree in art and design or whatever... Twatty. (And doesn't help your child anyway, they would learn a lot more if you let them take charge)

Yup same in Yr 7 here. There was also an egg thing, bunting, a mask and volcano (not functioning, just labelled like the mot and bailey castle). I recall with the castle that the instructions used some other word than labelled and we ended up doing it last minute

@MereDintofPandiculation well parents don't have to do that. If they "take over" that's their choice.

I am so doing this when winter comes