AIBU to expect my Y7 to study at home?

[StrawberryShortbread2001]

I'm just wondering how much homework or self directed study your Y7 does after school?

My DD had Long Covid during Y5 and 6. Although the only subject she got behind on was Maths, she also wasn't really fulfilling her potential either. She's not highly academic but is bright and very creative. When I say homework/study I don't just mean academic subjects but creative ones too - they are both important, imo.

I want DD to do well at school and fulfill her potential. But equally I don't want to push her too hard and I want her to have a balance of school work and leisure time after school. Her school suggests they should be spending up to an hour per night on homework. But she only gets 2 or 3 pieces of homework per week. I'd like her to spend some time going over her Maths or practicing the languages she is studying.

AIBU to expect her to do extra study beyond homework?

At year 7 I'd just leave her to it I think you'd be putting too much pressure on her if you said anything. Sounds like she's had a hard enough few years. Does she apply herself and do well with the homework she does get? Has she settled well into school?

If school thinks she should be doing an hour per night homework then they should be setting that. Making her do more than she has to is not going to encourage her to do better in school, rather make. It feelike a chore. I would encourage her to use some of her spare time wisely, maybe clubs, sports, art, music of her choice. If she is genuinely struggling in maths, maybe get her a tutor once a week or so to get her to catch up.

My DD also doesn't get as much homework as any of us expected - she's in Y8 now.

We don't expect her to do extra, but we do try to chat about the lessons she's had that day, and ask if there is anything she would benefit from going through at home or researching a bit further to consolidate the learning. Mostly she says it was fine, but just occasionally she has checked through things again.

If there's something that particularly interests her or has links with one of our interests, we try to take the conversations further and encourage wider study. Again, it only happens occasionally!

As she comes to the end of a learning unit, we do encourage her to write some revision notes, to save time when revising for exams. Again, she has done this occasionally but not every time! She has acknowledged that, when she has made some revision notes in advance, it has made the process of revising for a later exam much easier. So we are hoping she will see the benefits of getting into good habits.

We are not forcing her though. She does need to experience the feeling of being under-prepared for something or to find a unit difficult because she hasn't bothered to keep on top of it, and the early years of secondary feel like a good time to let that happen.

Do the hour per night and then she gets into the habit of having a set time for homework, we did that here. On the nights my children didn't have homework they expanded their knowledge on something, usually connected to a topic they were covering in their lessons but also just expanding their knowledge about the world around them.

This was basically youtube which has millions of videos and lots of educators on there from science, history, geography, music, art and maths. For language there is the obvious Duolingo or Memrise apps that means you can see what they have completed. Mine did enjoy learning though.

If she gets into that habit now she can build on it through the years and I think it is better to have to do something daily, so mine had a set time after they were home, changed and had got themselves a drink and a snack. Daily they were asked about school at the dinner table and they would say what they had done in each lesson rather than did you have a good day. That way we could maybe talk about the things they had learned. And yes, academically mine did amazingly well but they were also driven themselves not just us pushing.

I mean she is 12/13 isn't she with a health condition she's probably doing grand as she is, keeping up with her school work is fine.

oooh so similar to @LetItGoToRuin then. My youngest is now year 13 so I am through the other side. We have a friend who is a head of department for a high school (GCSE years) and we asked his advice about what makes a student succeed, he said a couple of things, curiosity and a wider reading of the subject and world events sort of thing, current and past. How we got to where we are etc.

Is she doing the 2 or 3 items of homework that she is given? If so, then that is all fine and there is no need for you to be doing anything.

Homework has to be marked which would mean having an actual teacher to mark it which may subjects don't already have, or if your child does have a permanent teacher they are probably marking books for other classes with supply.

I didn't make DD do homework as such but did check the curriculum plan online and then we would watch documentaries on TV or YouTube, go to exhibitions or theatre shows of texts she would be learning about. I make homework a family affair, being sent to work alone after all day at school is a bit rubbish. We might sit at the kitchen table and use the CGP flashcards and test each other having a hot drink and a couple of biscuits. I bought some molymods and taught her about chemical reactions and a bit of organic chemistry (I have a science background), we learnt the periodic table song from ASAP science. I feign ignorance and DD teaches me what she's learnt in maths that day etc

At yr 7, if she's keeping up with her homework and doing ok in tests that's fine. Having a good work ethic to keep on top of homework is valuable to install but she's got quite a few years of study ahead and the really critical years are 9 and beyond.
These first years at high school are good for starting good habits but also keeping a healthy balance with hobbies and time to relax.

If you do want her to do a bit extra I'd suggest something like Duolingo for her languages or mathletics for maths.

Little and often is the way to go.

We also started a Saturday night movie night and watched some classics - Frankenstein etc.

For languages watching foreign language cartoons on Netflix or similar is also good.

She is autistic so struggles. But the school are really supportive and she has settled better than I expected but still has a way to go.

Generally, yes, she tries hard on her homework and does well, although there can be some moaning when I tell her it's homework time.

She plays the violin, does horse riding, swimming and badminton. She also does lots of drawing and painting, reads and makes random things out of cardboard boxes! She hasn't joined any school clubs as she is too shy but hopefully one day. I don't really want to pay a tutor when I can do it myself with the Maths, tbh.

We do no extra work (did a bit every week last year in the run up to SATs), but DC does swimming and another sports club and an instrument at the moment.

My now older child did extra maths and English work at that age due to needing it, but we went to class like Kumon or Explore learning.

Thank you for the advice. I always talk to her about her classes. I will mention revision notes for exams and see if she thinks that is a good idea!

@StrawberryShortbread2001 if she's autistic I'd really limit how much you make her do, especially with so many other activities. My autistic daughter is exhausted after being at High school all day. Try some of the approaches I listed above so it's more a fun quality time with you rather than another demand on her. I would be wary about teaching maths yourself as techniques have changed massively since you were at school and teaching a different technique will just lead to confusion.

One of the things DD really said helped is I bought her the texts she was going to read and she went through it scanning each page, highlighting any words she was unfamiliar with and then googling them, particularly useful for books set in different cultures, and then she wrote notes in the margins. So when she came to read at school whilst she hadn't read it in depth she had more contextual knowledge which she found useful. Completing overlearning tasks like this is useful for autistic children because it means the work isn't brand new which is useful when they are struggling with the school environment.

I did have that thought myself, that it is good to get into that habit. I will tell her You Tube videos can be involved in her learning - she'll like that! I'd actually forgotten about Duo Lingo. She enjoys doing that.

She's 11. Luckily, she's pretty much recovered from the Long Covid aside from some pains in her joints/muscles.

I don’t think you’d find many year 7s (or any other year, come to that!) who would happily spend time doing over and above the homework that they’re required to do. If she’s coping with the work and the school is happy with her progress, then I don’t think you should be insisting she does extra. If she seems to be struggling with something in particular, you could go over it again with her during the week?

Yes, she does her homework.

sorry I can never remember what age year 7 is. I think with what you.have said her extra.things she does she doesn't need to be doing extra work at 11 years old.

Her school is actually fully staffed, luckily. I don't mind them not setting more homework, I just think she could use a bit of after school time to study.

I don't send her off to study alone we often do things together or she's with me anyway and I'm showing interest in what she's doing. Sometimes she likes to do it alone. She tells me what she does in each lesson. Yesterday I was given a Religious studies quiz and she was surprised how many I got right! She also showed me the dance her group did in their dance lesson! I'll have a look at those resources, thanks.

@StrawberryShortbread2001 YouTube has some teachers who won teacher of the year on there ie later for GCSE stuff. But for now, great content like Extra History channel, Crash Course world history, edutainment like Tom Scott and the amazing CGP Grey with explanations like why we are called both the UK and Great Britain. YouTube is incredible, you can explore the Grand Canyon, space it is very interesting.

Thank you! Sounds good!

My DS went to Explore Learning but he quickly worked out how to do minimum work and still get all the points for the lizard cards and prizes! 😂