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?

I mean some of the spelling and grammar materials I've seen certainly feel like they might has well have just thrown a quadratic equation at a Y4.

Hard for one teacher to supervise and help 30 7 year olds doing this. If it takes you all day to do it with one child, how long would it take for one teacher with 30 children, even if they were happy to use glue gun, scissors, staples etc without adult assistance?
Some children really like doing this sort of activity with their families, and gain a lot from it. Most schools make this sort of holiday project optional, which I think is the way to go.

My Son’s school has NO homework as a policy. I LOVE it. 😂

@ArseInTheCoOpWindow
I think you do have a point. They should have done some similar creative projects in school (at my daughters school they did) so would know some basic skills.
Unfortunatly some parents see crafts as time wasting or "busy work" in school and complain if they do too much. It's sad.

We’ve really enjoyed some of the projects but there are too many. It means the projects barely get displayed at school and there is little praise - I know my DC really enjoy it when the projects are included in the school newsletter, the children spend time looking at each other’s work and the teachers make a fuss.. but then when we’ve spent hours and hours doing paper mache and no one really cares because it’s the second at home project in the last 6 weeks it’s totally demoralising.. for them and me..

Gets them off iPads.
Gets them away from gaming.
Gets them away from YouTube/Netflix/phones
Gets them talking to their family
Gets them using fine motor skills which improves things like handwriting
They might learn a few things about the topic

Yeah complete waste of time 🤔

Why?

My Dd taught herself to draw and paint from YouTube. No drawing bloody Romans on there.
Gaming improves hand/eye co ordination.
Most people use computers instead of handwriting.
My Dd uses her iPad as a drawing tablet.

Texhnology moves forward not back.

Technology is also hugely damaging.

But we live in the digital age. It’s the future. Better to learn to live with it than see it as an enemy. This is Luddism.

I refuse to do homework that is homework for me, not DS. I have a full time job and sorry, its not my homework.

A balance is probably more sensible. Yes technology is the future, but developing other non digital skills is really valuable- and dare I say to many...enjoyable! I do think as tech takes over the creative industries there'll be a resurgence of fine arts and other things that can only be thought up and made by humans.

I'm not saying never to use it but many kids use technology far too much and it's detrimental to physical and mental health. We can agree to disagree on this.

I agree

Waste of time and resources!

So do l! It will be great!

I used to love doing crafts with mine.
Some were homework, some for fun!

2/5 do regular crafting now even into their 20s, covering their costs by selling through craft fairs/ETSY.

There's a Viking longboat origami video on YouTube. It needs two square bits of paper and takes ten minutes.

Most year 3s should be able to to fashion something vaguely on a theme. They don't have to be perfect. They're not supposed to be perfect.

The home projects mean that the children who find maths and English difficult have a chance to shine with their DT skills (which there isn't enough time to nurture during a school day.) It's really lovely to see a child who struggles proudly present their project when usually they'd shy away.

Vikings didn't even have horns on their helmets so that would be pointless.

Do they give you that sort of homework every week, or occasionally alongside more usual worksheets and so on?

Because most schools will try to offer a range of homework activities, to try to appeal to a range of personalities.

In my class, parents generally prefer worksheets that their child can get on with with minimal supervision.

But the kids usually prefer the practical activities. We honestly get feedback on this type of activity from the kids, especially those whose parents don't do a lot of crafts with them. They love it, are proud of their creations and mention such things when they pop back to visit when they're older.

Schools have to teach certain objectives for Art and D&T but this activity was probably more about being creative and reinforcing the features of a longship.

When we did similar, we had cakes, jellies, papier mache, origami, junk models.

Whatever.

Im not a historian. Decorated relief helmets then.

What are the distinctive features of a long ship? Other than being long? I clearly didn't pay attention when it was my turn to craft one.

Dd once made......

A labyrinth!

It was about a metre square!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

@Arse. Learning to make things is good for your psyche. It’s good for young people to learn to craft. My mother taught me skills, and I took up dressmaking seriously in my twenties. I now make all my own clothes and quilts for friends. Finishing things makes me so happy. It’s much better for children to cut and paste with actual scissors and glue than chase imaginary monsters onscreen, though I think six is rather young for a hot glue gun.

Oh god yes DD1 ( now aged 25) had to do that. That was that half term utterly ruined.

Lapstrake construction and a low draft two extremely important things as it meant the boat could be navigated up fairly shallow rivers (hence why even the Midlands wasn't safe from Danish/Norse incursions) as well as the open sea.