Do you agree with homework in Primary

[Toastiesforever]

I disagree with homework in primary school and quite frankly im amazed its still handed out and expected.

I have 3 DC in primary school and we have never done homework, my theory is that my children have enough education in school and as parents we should educate outside of school however we see fit.

For us this includes them reading books, Harry potter, Jacqueline Wilson, david Williams etc - we are lucky that my children love reading.

They will always participate in school talks/presentations and projects.

All my children are involved within the school Litter picking committees, School newspaper, music lessons within school.

And furthermore they are in competitive level sports outwith school which require substantial training hours.

Local days out like airshows, community days and city celebrations.

Ive noticed that most teachers my Dcs have had through the years really agree that homework is not required in primary yet we have this year we have came up against a teacher that says its required for my oldest DC.

I still said no, am i being unreasonable.

I don't agree with homework, and I dislike the stress it can add to the evenings. We have just moved back to the UK from overseas where my DC were only expected to read - and read whatever they wanted, not levelled books, and we didn't have to make a note or sign anything every time they read for 10 minutes.

Now my year 5 DC is having weekly spellings, TT rockstars, maths, a school reading book and online reading tasks. It's too much and she just wants to go outside and play with her new friends.. which I think is usually a better use of her time (other than reading, providing it's something she enjoys). The spellings she has been set are words many adults will never have heard of or use in daily speech.. last week it was words like aphotic and euphotic, had to look them up and I'm reasonably well educated. I doubt very much she will remember how to spell these words, or use them, in a couple of weeks so feels fairly pointless (many of the words fall into this category). It just seems like it's bordering on pretentious.

I think we'll do what we can and try not to stress too much about it. Evenings and weekends should be a chance for kids to relax and/or do extra-curricular activities.

Plus it usually requires parents to persuade or nag children to do it, or sit with them to make sure it's done (not all kids of course but many). And that can be the hardest thing - I think many schools / teachers don't even consider the pressure it puts on parents to juggle even more things and the stress it can create in the home.

And we haven't even started on Sats prep yet.. would prefer to withdraw my DC from them but I think she will not like the idea of that.

I agree with homework at primary.
But only maths spelling and reading.
Moving to secondary (where dd has gone into wrong set..) There were kids getting only 20 marks out of 60 on arithmetic test. The ones that cant do well likely didnt have or do their maths primary work or homework. It needs practice. But ideally it would be individual for the child.
The apps for maths really did improve the kids' achievement at our primary.
However i think primary is too dependent on parents doing the reading at home and reading scheme is too rigid.
Dd2 was definitely ready to come off the scheme at least a year earlier

It sounds like it wouldn't take them long to do the sums and spellings then. Why not just do it? Maybe they'd move towards above average for numeracy with more practice? Surely that wouldn't be a bad thing? It will get them into a habit to get their homework done quickly before secondary?

If you think they need to come off whatever reading scheme because they are beyond it they have then talk to the school about that.

Schools don't have enough time for reading, spelling and times tables? What on earth are they doing then?! That's the basics of education, surely.

Ugh, its hard because i dont want to go into our timetable as i know all parents are super busy, but between 3 kids, 2 full time jobs, a house to run and combined over 27 hours of their training a week ( competitive sport) there really isnt alot of time and the time that is available i dont want it being an hour of homework a night between the 3 kids and tense exchanges.

Plus 2 older kids train 4.30pm-8.30pm.

Primary teacher here. I hate it. I hate setting it, I hate marking it, I hate the expectation that a 7 yo should be punished for not doing HW when that has nothing to do with them and everything to do with the capacity that the parents have to sit and help the child. I set it as we get checked to ensure we have, but I don’t make a fuss of children who do or don’t complete HW.

Other than reading I don’t agree with it. Since research seems to suggest it’s not beneficial in primary and my kids hated it I didn’t get them to do it . When we moved schools after yr2 I chose one that didn’t set homework.

When they moved up to secondary they started getting it and, while they still don’t like it, they are much better prepared to cope with it and manage it fine.

Why would you punish a 7 year old for not doing homework when it’s not mandatory. I’d have made a formal complaint if that had happened to my DC’s.

27 hours a week between 3 children is only 9 hours a week per child (on average). Plus travel time, I'm sure.

But surely they can fit sums and spellings in there? Perhaps at the weekend?

It's their homework, not yours. You don't need to do it so I can't see why the house to run is relevant here. Also I can't see how sums and spellings is an hour a night. Or why it can't be delayed to the weekend.

If you start now when it's low pressure hopefully there will get used to getting it done quickly without tense exchanges. Otherwise you're all in for a real shock when they get to secondary.

Homework is important but should be proportionate.

Why wouldnt I want to spend 20 mins a day reading or doing maths oth my child to support the foundations of learning?

It's important for building a working relationship so they can ask for help inY7 and beyond.

It doesn't matter to me if your child does it or not.

But I would say that if you are very outspoken on this, chances are your friends and teacher friends will tell you they agree for a quiet life and you may find they are actually doing it with their own kids.

Not to be rude OP, but you chose 3 kids and competitive sport.

I have no objection to helping them learn their tables either as they're essential. Why are tables essential? I could make a case for 2x, 3x, 5x and 7x but why any others?

I agree with reading and times tables practice.

Undecided about whether there is any evidence for spelling tests. Inclined to think pointless.

Think the rest is pointless.

27 hours min between 2 children not including weekends. 3rd DC too young and doesn't have homework yet.

Valid points though, however i am hoping that schoolwork combined with their competitive training, our parenting style and the extra optional school clubs ( that the kids choose to do within lunchtime & Breaks) has instilled in them hard work that will naturally carry forward for their secondary school.

Yes, im really happy with our life and our decisions but also really happy to hear other people perspectives and I haven't judged anyone on them.

5 hours of one teacher across 30 kids. Not including PE, assembly, forest school and trips. Do the maths on how much 1:1 time each child gets per day or week and how much they are chatting to their mates.

You're BU.

A small amount of homework is needed to set the habit up for secondary. They'd keep over in school if it hit them for the first time in secondary.

Teacher here. I disagree with homework at primary and secondary school. Catch up work is helpful at GCSE level, but no more. It normalises blurring the lines between home and school/work which I don't think is healthy for children or adults.

Wow my daughter's school is the same...lol..is it possible it's the same school?

In her school in London, they used to give different homework. But we moved last year and in this place I've been really happy that they only have the reading which should happen 5 times a week and then there is a couple of maths apps that they should do but there's no set amount of time etc. The school likes to focus on reading which I think at that age is important. My daughter has definitely improved in that area of school since coming here.

Jesus my typos, they'd KEEL OVER in shock

If you choose to send your child to school you agree to their rules. If that means homework, you support the teacher in doing their homework. You're not special, your kids aren't better than everyone else, and if their class requires homework of the class they should do their homework.

Or you home ed.

As a concept no, because especially in infants- it is not in the childs control if they can do that homework. If it needs an adult to assist e.g learning something they haven't practiced or getting info from the internet or a textbook then its just a test of who has parents with free time and who doesn't.

As a kid, if I couldn't do the work independently then there was going to be nobody to help me (parents worked late and I had siblings to help with and chores to do) and I had to miss playtimes to make up for something I never had a chance of being able to do. I wanted to read everyday and I'm sure my education would have benefitted, but my home life was not able to facilitate that before I could read fully on my own.

I like the sending home of reading books, wonderful if a kid gets more opportunities to read - but if a parent has to do it with them and fill out a log- its a parent test nothing to do with the childs ability or willingness to work.

How amazing then that my DC’s manage to cope so well moving from primary, where they didn’t do any homework to senior where they had a mandatory homework club.

Sums/spellings isn't about hard work though. It's about making sure they are properly ready for secondary.

Either they can spell the words (in which case spellings homework takes 5 minutes) or they can't (in which case they should learn them now - secondary schools don't do spellings - just primaries). They should also make sure they understand what the spellings actually mean - which is often overlooked.

If you want them in higher maths sets in secondary then it's common sense to practice the sums now.

Have you looked at their school maths books? Have you asked the teacher if they are getting all their maths work done in lessons? If they are working slowly and only finishing half of the maths in class then you can see why school would want them to practice sums at home too.

If they stay in competitive sport then they will continue with long hours. I'd be getting as much educational groundwork done at primary.

Nope. Don’t agree with it at all. I don’t force mine to do it, I don’t engage with it or ask if it’s been done, don’t check the book etc, school are aware of my views. When we are at home we relax and do what we want to, I’m not forcing my children to do something that should be covered in school hours. We read everyday anyway a mixture of home and school library books, even during lockdown as we had no access to a laptop and couldn’t complete the work, school said as long as they read that’s the most important thing, my kids are doing fine without it. And any time homework rewards are given out, my kids get a treat too.