Parents what do you think to online homework

[Ladybug85789]

We received a letter from school advising of the dangers of too much screen time, and to not watch screens before bed as can affect sleep. Do any parents feel as torn as I do, my children watch tv, iPads etc but then when I turn it off and say time for homework it’s all online. This makes me feel like we can’t get a break from the screen I know it is new technology and everything is online. Thoughts

They have never offered to do this! I will ask them. Maybe they don't know they can. That would maybe help depending on how much extra it gives.

Screen time in itself isn’t bad as long as they also get exercise. It’s what they do on the screen that’s important

I'm a software engineer but writing is still a very valuable skill.

There's no need for primary school kids to be doing their homework on a device. It's just so the teachers can save time marking, not what's best for the kids

Not really bothered about the screen time bit but online homework, especially if it's timed, is the bane of my life at the moment. Dc get really stressed with it and since we only have one laptop, it can be a bloody nightmare when they both need to use it because the phone screen is too small.

There's no need for primary school kids to be doing their homework on a device. It's just so the teachers can save time marking, not what's best for the kids

And teachers saving marking time (when they already don't have time to do everything else they need to do to do their job properly) is a bad thing?

Oh God I hate the apps my year 3 daughter gets homework in a book which is mostly writing and craft based and to research some things online which is ok.

Then there’s the times tables rockstars and mathletics apps I CANT STAND THEM. Their teacher has set up some sort of contest between them to see who can score the highest which basically means being on it more. We don’t have a tablet (choice not financial) so she’s on my phone which I don’t like.

However, she seems to be learning from it and I don’t know what’s best as I want her to learn but also don’t want her glued to apps! We also print free maths stuff off twinkl and other places and she still likes doing those but I dread the future and getting her a phone. I want to avoid that as long as poss but it feels like the schools force it. It’s not right

Online learning seems like a good idea, but I believe that the timed sessions may cause unnecessary stress on children. Personally, I don't mind if my kids spend some time on their tablets or phones, as they use them to socialize through group chats and games, especially during winter. However, during the warmer months, they do go outside and play.

We are a middle income household but the only devices we have are work laptops and phones. Not suitable for a child to do homework on. I won't buy a laptop for a 5 year old. Therefore we don't have anything they can use. I'm sure we're not that unusual

I felt the same as you when my kids first started school. As part of their homework they got handwriting practice but this was so difficult to do on the phone. Lots of parents fed this back to school and we were given the homework online. The handwriting practice and sentence construction could be done in their jotter. The maths exercises were programmes like top marks where we would use the tablet or phone to complete. We have the option of uploading all the homework onto the online platform they use or handing the jotter in. Our kids get a physical book to read every week and have the option of reading an online book too. We get a homework grid at the start of the month and then have the whole month to complete it which helps with planning. A mixture of both has worked well for our two who are 6 and 7.

Dislike it greatly.
There is no continuity or revision (by looking back at things you have built on, like books will allow you to do) possible for the online quiz or tick-a-box format. It's only fostering the 'get the right answer, then move along asap' mindset.
And why the annoying names and constant gamification? Blooket, Kwizzz (or whatever it is) and so on are just irritating. Gamification, fine, but for every single online educational thing? I'm not convinced that this builds focus and I think building focus for more than 5 or 10 minutes is just as useful a thinking skill as doing something but mainly because it's going to reward your avatar with some new wig.

Ok, I'm old. I'll get me coat.

I love online homework. Our school uses Numbots/TTrockstars, my maths, spelling frame and spag.com. It’s so easy to manage. It’s not the homework screen time that’s the problem, it’s all the other stuff.

This is a really ignorant comment. There are many children who find online leaning much more engaging and accessible than written homework. My own, for instance who have SEN. Yes it can also save marking time but it's not just about that. Plus- even if it was - then so what? We've got a massive Ofsted driven teacher workload crisis and huge issues with recruitment and retention. Parents really need to realise how bad things are in schools and support teachers as only then will actual change happen. In the meantime, my Secondary aged child is being taught by non-specialists and constant supply teachers. It's so worrying.
Online learning isn't the problem. It's endless time spent playing Roblox, Fortnight and watching banal nonsense on YouTube and TikTok. The vast majority of parents completely ignore the age limits on social media and gaming platforms and many do not limit or monitor their children's usage.

We are a middle income household but the only devices we have are work laptops and phones. Not suitable for a child to do homework on. I won't buy a laptop for a 5 year old. Therefore we don't have anything they can use. I'm sure we're not that unusual*

Children in a situation like this, would be offered access in school. But it really is very rare for them have no device access at all.

I hate it, give me paper and a pen anyday.

Plus online homework reminds me of all the shitty home learning we had to do, I don’t want to be reminded of that again

And why the annoying names and constant gamification? Blooket, Kwizzz (or whatever it is) and so on are just irritating.

To you. Not to kids. As long as schools are judged based on kids' results and engagement with learning, schools will use methods which kids find engaging. Yes, it would be great if all kids were automatically excited by all of the non-gamified lessons and homework teachers spend a lot of time trying to make interesting, but the fact is that many are not. Just like they weren't before we had the tech. Even in my lovely girls' grammar school, there are plenty of kids who don't particularly like my subject, but whose eyes light up at a Blooket and who learn something they otherwise wouldn't have because they are engaging with it.

This whole thread is about primary school where they shouldn't really be doing hw other than reading every day and times tables anyway up to yr6 really, so tt rock stars and hit the button are fine.
At secondary schools that are all online hw generally either give out free laptops to all or parents all buy or rent them and they bring them to all lessons and charge every night so they all have a device. Google classroom is brilliant, specific maths apps and seneca are good too. And more in depth marked than anything on paper, no teacher is spending more than 30 seconds to 1 minute grading yr7 hw, parents might have helped anyway, they have meaningful planning and exam marking to do so hw on paper might be looked at vaguely but online hw is much more useful to the teacher. You can see where the class have all understood and common misconceptions at a glance then feed these into planning.

It is not uncommon to not have a laptop or tablet in primary . Homework shouldn’t be done on a phone. So these children need paper copies or are unfairly disadvantaged. Access in school is inappropriate as this means they loose their break time.

Reason #82692737 I'm home educating!

My DD’s school is entirely computer based. Very little is done on paper, mostly math. Students in secondary are all issued laptops. They submit their class work and homework online. It’s a system that happens to work very well for my ND teen.

active work on a computer is not the same as passively scrolling the internet.

Tell me you know sod all about teaching without telling me 🙄

And lets be honest, in ANY profession if theres a process or a way to make life easier and do it quicker, you'd do it. Why should teaching be any different?

*Doone22
It's ridiculous, and lazy teaching. They don't need to set homework online but it's already made for them. No effort.

Tell me you know sod all about teaching without telling me 🙄

And lets be honest, in ANY profession if theres a process or a way to make life easier and do it quicker, you'd do it. Why should teaching be any different?*

It's unbelievable isn't it? The level of ignorance that persists despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary is astounding. Especially when the crisis caused by Ofsted and teacher workload has been all over the media recently.

I am very anti screen time, but I don’t actually mind online homework. DS1 is at secondary school and it’s a mix of online and homework in books / on sheets, but the online stuff is very much the minority of subjects (maths, French, and Latin). His homework tracker is online too and that’s quite easy as it means I have it on my phone and can see what he’s done and what is left to do. He does have a smartphone now as he’s 12 but no games or social media obviously (as he’s only 12), so he just uses it for texting / calling friends really and spends very minimal
time using it.

Youngest son is in year 5 and only has reading homework still, so nothing online for him (I believe there are maths & spelling games that he could play but I spoke to his teacher and said that he doesn’t use screens at home and that was fine).

However, maybe the reason I don’t mind online homework is that my children hardly get any and they aren’t reliant on using devices at home. They spend most of their time out of school playing outside, playing with Lego or at sports training. They haven’t asked for iPads and gaming consoles yet and I’m not sure they ever will. They seem very happy and find friends who do a lot of gaming, a bit frustrating that they don’t have any ‘real’ interests. My kids do watch TV but not very often, it’s not limited but they aren’t that bothered with it.

OP if you are worried about screen time maybe cut out iPad, gaming, and/or TV and just make sure that the online homework is done early enough in the evening that it’s not affecting their sleep. So the only online stuff the kids do is homework.

When?
Break or lunch? What if they want a break? Why should they miss their lunch?
If it's after school what if there is no parent to collect them or they get the school bus etc?
If you want a paper copy this should be your right

I don't like it because I think it excludes so many young people who don't have a cess to technology, whose families are living in poverty and the extra money for wifi, a device etc is too much especially when they have multiple children who all require it for online work.