Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To just want a worksheet homework

120 replies

OnlyFoolsnMothers · 26/09/2023 16:38

I’m so over the creative homework’s, it’s homework for adults. My 6yr olds homework this week was to create a song about the fire on London! No way can she do that- it’s like pulling teeth- so I spent my evening after work thinking of words to rhyme with fire.
The week before was to design a book cover.

Can we not just go back to some lines of spelling, a worksheet of sums…please.
Anyone else have this/ feel like this?

OP posts:
Stroopwaffels · 27/09/2023 11:03

They tried to do this when my youngest was at primary school, pre-pandemic. A "menu" of things which were fun for all the family. Apparently.

Things like - "get each member of the family to write down the name of their favourite song, and explain why it is their favourite". Or "devise a family board game and take a picture of all of you playing it".

Fecking waste of time - at that point I had two older children in secondary school who had maths and biology homework to be doing, not twatting about devising board games and singing their favourite songs. So I told school I would not be doing it, I was happy to support my child by reading, or taking him places at weekends, doing things like baking (weighing and measuring) but would not be engaging in the "homework menu".

I am really hoping this nonsense will fall out of fashion soon. Nobody has time for that sort of shite.

mumda · 27/09/2023 11:30

Fire fire!
Bury the cheese!
Fire Fire!
Spread by the breeze
Fire fire!
We're on our knees
Fire fire!
The flames go higher.

Or ChatGPT:
(Verse 1)
In London town, so long ago,
A fire started, oh, don't you know?
It blazed so high, it burned so bright,
The Great Fire of London, a fiery sight!

(Chorus)
Great Fire, Great Fire, burning so high,
In 1666, it lit up the sky.
Great Fire, Great Fire, history's flame,
Let's learn about it, in this little game.

(Verse 2)
It all began in Pudding Lane,
A bakery's oven, a spark's cruel gain,
The flames, they danced, and spread so fast,
The city was in trouble, the fire would last!

(Chorus)
Great Fire, Great Fire, burning so high,
In 1666, it lit up the sky.
Great Fire, Great Fire, history's flame,
Let's learn about it, in this little game.

(Verse 3)
The people tried to put it out,
With buckets, water, there was no doubt,
But the wooden houses fueled the fire's might,
It roared and roared throughout the night.

(Chorus)
Great Fire, Great Fire, burning so high,
In 1666, it lit up the sky.
Great Fire, Great Fire, history's flame,
Let's learn about it, in this little game.

(Verse 4)
The King called for help, a plan they made,
To stop the fire's relentless raid,
They used firebreaks to halt its spread,
And slowly but surely, the flames were dead.

(Chorus)
Great Fire, Great Fire, burning so high,
In 1666, it lit up the sky.
Great Fire, Great Fire, history's flame,
Let's learn about it, in this little game.

(Verse 5)
The city was scarred, but it did rebuild,
With brick and stone, and a stronger will,
The Great Fire of London, a lesson we've learned,
From history's pages, its story is earned.

(Chorus)
Great Fire, Great Fire, burning so high,
In 1666, it lit up the sky.
Great Fire, Great Fire, history's flame,
Now we know all about it, in this little game.

leighqt · 27/09/2023 11:54

If it was me I would ask my child something like this to bring context

what does a fire feel like?
what does it do to building and people
maybe talk about the colurs

The child may just use words hot, red, etc the homework was given them opportunity to be creative but also teaching about the dangers of fire.

personally I think we are too busy to help kids with homework but really it’s important as in my opinion kids learn more In the home

IntheSnowySnowyMountains · 27/09/2023 12:31

I see lots of words but no music yet!

Did they give her manuscript paper? Presumably she already knows how to read music and all the different keys!!!! Did they ask for just the melody or full four-part harmony? Full orchestration or maybe keyboard, guitar and drums?

ManateeFair · 27/09/2023 13:16

Stroopwaffels · 27/09/2023 11:03

They tried to do this when my youngest was at primary school, pre-pandemic. A "menu" of things which were fun for all the family. Apparently.

Things like - "get each member of the family to write down the name of their favourite song, and explain why it is their favourite". Or "devise a family board game and take a picture of all of you playing it".

Fecking waste of time - at that point I had two older children in secondary school who had maths and biology homework to be doing, not twatting about devising board games and singing their favourite songs. So I told school I would not be doing it, I was happy to support my child by reading, or taking him places at weekends, doing things like baking (weighing and measuring) but would not be engaging in the "homework menu".

I am really hoping this nonsense will fall out of fashion soon. Nobody has time for that sort of shite.

I think that's really different to what the OP has mentioned, though. I totally agree that it's not on to set 'homework' that's a family activity like a board game or whatever. But I don't think 'design a book cover' requires any more effort from the parents than completing a worksheet of sums. It's literally drawing a picture and writing the name of a book on it.

I also think that the song example sounds like the OP making more of a meal of it than necessary. I'm pretty sure the teacher would have been happy enough if the lyrics were 'Fire fire, the fire is burning / Lots of smoke / The fire is burning' to be honest. The point is just to get the kid thinking.

I certainly think that some homework kids get set is ridiculous (like the board game example you mentioned or having to create elaborate costumes for World Book Day or building a scale model of Hampton Court from sustainable materials sourced from the home or some other such bullshit). But the examples the OP gave just sound totally straightforward to me.

TheLightProgramme · 27/09/2023 13:24

I hate these too

Drawing ones especially. Neither of my DC can draw well at all. They are terrible at it - they try really hard and what they produce is still far worse than peers, and whats more its immediately obvious to others as well so they get laughed at for their poor efforts.

No amount of videos/practise has helped.

And actually, no, they don't need to practise this to improve it because actually they can leave school at 18 still shit at drawing and become a highly skilled working adult regardless - its not essential, so I'd rather their time was used on things they need to master.

Dotjones · 27/09/2023 13:25

Just come up with any old crap, it's not like the teachers expect every 6 year old in the class to come up with something good. Off the top of my head, a sort of rap thing:

Fire!
Burning in the fire, dog!
Burning in the fire, G!
Burning in the fire, yo!

There was a great fire, a great effing fire, burning in the city, burning all around,
Killing all the people, no water to be found.

Death is all around me, screaming is the sound, G, dead people, dead people, burning to the ground.

The tune doesn't really matter because it's a rap.

TheresaBouvey · 27/09/2023 13:30

This is when you’d use AI!

AI gave me:

In old London town, a long time ago,
There was a big fire, oh, don't you know?
It started one day, in sixty-six so grand,
And it spread really fast, like the flames on the sand.
(Chorus)
Fire, fire, burning so bright,
In the dark, dark night, what a scary sight!
Fire, fire, up in the sky,
Oh, how we all wondered, oh my, oh my!

booksandbrooks · 27/09/2023 13:39

It's their homework, you don't do it for them. If they can't do it for themselves you can discuss that with the teacher but doing kid's homework for them does no one any favours. Not the kid, not you nor the teacher.

I'll steer my kids in the right direction, or help them figure out how to solve a maths issue say, but they should sit down and do their homework themselves. I don't agree with primary school homework tbh but I'd rather a creative task than another evening without my phone as it's maths app time - nothing like an app to motivate them to work though.

saltinesandcoffeecups · 27/09/2023 16:08

I’m so disappointed that nobody added this one…🤣

The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
(We don't have no water, let the mother’s butcher burn)
(Burn, mother’s butcher, burn)
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire
(We don't have no water, let the mother’s house burn)
(Burn, mother’s house, burn)
The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 27/09/2023 16:11

I agree with worksheet homework. Something they can pull out of their bag and do themselves. Surely homework should involve independence - not having to have Mum or Dad involved

zingally · 27/09/2023 16:52

I'm a primary school teacher, and every time I've had to "write a song" for some reason or other, I do it to the tune of "wheels on the bus".

The fire in the oven goes crackle, crackle, crackle...
The people on the street said pass the bucket, pass the bucket
The king in his castle said knock it down...

You get the idea.

Pollydarling · 27/09/2023 17:04

Teachers don't want your work though. Ask her to try her best and write down what she produces. That's it. It might look shit to you but it's all a yr1/2 teacher expects and the homework is done. Get some pots and pans out as drums and let her go for it. Film it and send via email.

Parker231 · 27/09/2023 17:09

Homework is optional in primary so ignore it. DT’s didn’t do any until senior school when they could get on with it on their own. Parents shouldn’t be doing the homework.

Flossflower · 27/09/2023 17:36

MargaretThursday · 26/09/2023 17:10

I think there was an idea that creative homeworks are fun. My dc hated them, especially ds. He especially hated any that went into art/craft. Draw a book cover was not something he enjoyed at all. He'd cope with writing blurb for a book, although that wasn't his favourite but it was better than drawing!

I think the worst was when they decided that maths homeworks would be open-ended creative types like "Write about the number two".
Eventually (actually I think it was week #2) I pointed out that some of the joys of maths are that you were right or wrong, and that you could see exactly what you had to do and know how much more you had to do, and I would be writing 20 sums (as much as possible round the theme) in the homework book for ds to do and he would do those.
The teachers didn't object, ds was much happier-and he learnt far more than "talking about circles".

I think one of the problems was that the teachers were all more English based, so they tried to make maths homework better by making it more like the English homework. They hadn't realised that some of the children would have been happier if they'd made the English homework more like the maths homework.

Yes my children loved maths and science and didn’t like arty things. I think most teachers seem to think that everyone loves creative stuff.
There is a famous story in our family about when my husband was doing his O levels. The maths teacher noticed that the pupils came in stressed on one lesson every week. It turns out the lesson before was a non exam compulsory pottery class. The maths teacher asked the head if the pottery lesson could be stopped and everyone was much happier for it.

Ididivfama · 27/09/2023 17:39

Home work is supposed to echo what they’ve learned in class, so this should be a repeat or extension they already know. Ie it should never be up to the parents.

Yes it sounds ott and more like a holiday project. Please don’t waste your time doing it, the teacher doesn’t care what you can do. If you want to help her learning talk her through it and get down whatever your daughter does. Then tell the teacher if it’s literally nothing.

Notthisagainpart2 · 27/09/2023 17:43

Just let her do it and if she can't you / she can tell the teacher it was too difficult

Kazzybingbong · 27/09/2023 19:36

MargaretThursday · 26/09/2023 17:10

I think there was an idea that creative homeworks are fun. My dc hated them, especially ds. He especially hated any that went into art/craft. Draw a book cover was not something he enjoyed at all. He'd cope with writing blurb for a book, although that wasn't his favourite but it was better than drawing!

I think the worst was when they decided that maths homeworks would be open-ended creative types like "Write about the number two".
Eventually (actually I think it was week #2) I pointed out that some of the joys of maths are that you were right or wrong, and that you could see exactly what you had to do and know how much more you had to do, and I would be writing 20 sums (as much as possible round the theme) in the homework book for ds to do and he would do those.
The teachers didn't object, ds was much happier-and he learnt far more than "talking about circles".

I think one of the problems was that the teachers were all more English based, so they tried to make maths homework better by making it more like the English homework. They hadn't realised that some of the children would have been happier if they'd made the English homework more like the maths homework.

It’s more likely that they are required to get literacy into maths to prepare them for the ridiculously wordy maths GCSE exam.

Wolvesart · 27/09/2023 19:46

OMG are they still doing design a book cover in Yr2 😀 Mine found this worse than writing the book/story the cover was for.

Seriously, creative homework cranks up from Yr 1 and then peters out at secondary school. That’s a lotta cardboard n stuff. By the time we got to make and label a volcano model in Yr 8 or 9 the DC had had enough but the most help he needed was ‘Mum do we have any …?’ ‘Could you just hold that bit down til it sticks?’ But in Yr2 it’s a bit more of a combined effort.

JoBrodie · 27/09/2023 19:58

Is there any scope (more generally, not just this particular song thing) for getting kids to create homework ideas or quizzes for each other? Bit of design involved, bit of coming up with things their fellow pupils might know. We have lots of FREE kriss-kross puzzles of various types to print, e.g. about a particular topic, or phonics (ones with words that have a particular vowel sound etc). A couple of the maths ones were created by a six year old :)

Help yourself to any of our kriss-kross puzzles here :)

Maths kriss-kross: https://teachinglondoncomputing.org/maths-kriss-kross/
Phonics kriss-kross: https://teachinglondoncomputing.org/kriss-kross-puzzles/phonics-kriss-kross/

All our kriss-kross puzzles: https://teachinglondoncomputing.org/?s=kriss-kross

Jo

Maths Kriss-Kross

Solve these maths puzzles as a way to develop logical thinking and pattern matching skills needed to enjoy both computing and maths, while practicing maths too. These puzzles were the idea of Danie…

https://teachinglondoncomputing.org/maths-kriss-kross

Ballyhoobird · 27/09/2023 20:03

JoinInBetty · 26/09/2023 17:10

She can use this.. there was a fire in London and it was hot. Repeat for 2 mins. Job done

This is very, very catchy, automatically read it to the tune of "She'll be coming round the mountain" and it's now hoping round and round in my head... do you work in advertising or something?

MargaretThursday · 27/09/2023 20:04

It’s more likely that they are required to get literacy into maths to prepare them for the ridiculously wordy maths GCSE exam.

That was before the wordy maths exams were even a twinkle in Mr Gove's eyes. It was also in year 2 so, no, I don't think the teachers were particularly concerned about GCSEs.

The wordy maths questions came into play in year 6 when they announced that every week, parents would be required to think up three practical (and fun) maths questions and write them out for their child to do. Helpfully they provided two examples.
Their first example was buy a tube of smarties and get your child to put them in piles of colours, then draw a pictogram of the colours. Cue all children arriving home telling their parents that homework was to buy a packet of smarties. The local shops ran out of smarties, and the conscientious students were devastated to find they couldn't do as they were told. The unconscientious students ate the smarties before they worked out they were meant to do something with the smarties. And they don't have the little plastic caps that you can shoot across the room which might have provided a fun alternative.
I think the second example was estimating then doing practically how many capfuls of water filled a 2 litre bottle. Assuming a capful takes around 10ml, which isn't a bad estimate once they've spilt at least half the capful trying to pour it into the small hole at the top, that's 200. Even at doing it at a rate of 3 every minute, which is quite quick when you're only 10, that's an hour worth of filling the bottle, and probably a mini flood on the floor of wherever homework was being done.

Actually that was by far and away the best year of maths homework because even the keenest parent had lost the will to live about week 3 and the teachers lost any hope of persuading the children it was worth attempting to revive their flagging parents, and obviously decided that flogging the dead horse of homework wasn't in their capabilities and so no homework fell by the wayside.

coxesorangepippin · 27/09/2023 20:07

Totally agree.

It should be an activity book kept at home: week 1, pages 1&2, week 2, pages 3-4 etc etc.

itsgettingweird · 27/09/2023 20:10

It's meant to do the entirely opposite!

A worksheet can mean parental involvement because there's a right or wrong answer.

Open ended creative homework's are meant to stretch the imagination and allow a pupil to have freedom to produce their own best work without it being right or wrong.

Time to encourage your 6yo to have confidence and resilience in producing something for themselves. A skill sadly
Lacking in many children nowadays.

Julimia · 27/09/2023 20:15

Better still no homework at all for primary school children.