Bloody Easter Homework

[Easterchick25]

Year 5 holiday homework is…make a moving toy. AIBU to think FFS?!

Used to annoy me enormously when my DCs got holiday homework. (Except in y11 and y13). It used to stop DC1 from reading or it prevented us from doing something as a family. Having said that, I think my DCs might have enjoyed this homework but I would not have enjoyed supervising it. I do question whether it's really a necessary homework and I suspect the teacher has set it because the school policy says they have to.

DC2 hardly ever did the homework at that age and never got into trouble. They did 100% of their homework in secondary school and are now at uni, hoping to finish with a 1st.

Presumably the revision as they’re GCSE year and so revising daily through the holidays is surely expected. Your dc will have a massive summer holiday after exams they can rest in.

That’s rubbish; we used to do that as a full half term of DT within school.

also homework is not statutory for primary age children.

You do realise it’s completely optional?

My sons didn't have a creative bone in their body, so things like this were flipping impossible. They were sport mad and didn't want to be indoors making something. One year we had to make a Shakespearean theatre!! And this was Y6.

I put my foot down, and made my son look up Shakespearean theatres and learn 5 things about them which showed how different they were to today's theatres. I told the class teacher what I had done and why, and he was fine about it.

I feel for you.

I was prepared to say YANBU, but then saw your child is in year 5. By that age I would expect most children to be able to make something independently that meets the brief.

At worst, I'd expect to spend five minutes helping them to find a webpage with instructions on making pop-ups etc, then set them going on the artwork for a bit (prompting them to get back on task and stop watching the YouTube brain-rot as needed). Finally , and only if they haven't managed it unaided, help them to assemble the final product at the end.

Doesn't sound too bad, TBH.

My sons didn't have a creative bone in their body, so things like this were flipping impossible

Same...DD and I once did his entire holiday project of making a ww2 bomb shelter out of a shoebox. When he returned to school, he had to write a piece about how he'd made it. All credit to his honesty because he literally wrote, "my mum and sister did it" 😂

Have you seen the link of what the teacher is expecting?

Yes, but imagine how the child would feel if he turned up empty handed, and all the others were proudly showing off their brilliant efforts!

Here’s a moving toy hint.

• Buy one of those little wind up toys.
• Take out the mechanism and put it in a matchbox with a hole in the match box for the winder
• Then get some Fimo and make something to go on top.

My son drapped strips of Fimo over to form a bug. I think it was a woodlouce because it was the easiest to do in his opinion.

• Leave the Fimo to harden. Job done.

Ps. He won the class prize and still has it on his shelf. He’s now 24 😁

@Kandalama
I was so hoping that you were going to say "He's now 24 and is an entomologist"!
🐞 🪲 🐜 🐝 🐞 🪲 🐜 🐝

It's meant to be inspiration.

I hardly think the teacher is going to expect every child to turn up with something equivalent to the link.

Some of the craftier kids might have an attempt at one of the simpler ones with thick cardstock.

These are much better ideas than mine- I would just stick pencils into a shoebox and slap some cardboard circles on the end to create ‘a car’.

No
Hes a Zoologist 🤣🤣.
Yes really!

Cotton reels for the wheels 🤓

I hate to tell you this but I’m also a teacher! Im not dissing teachers, I’m dissing the ridiculous amount we need to fit into the curriculum!

Oh come on, you've been told over a D over that you're making it too complicated.

Just let your son have a go at making a moving toy... It's not hard.

And if there are children away in holiday for the fortnight? Do they need to still do it, whilst in a family holiday?
Or those in Easter clubs because their parents need to work during this holiday? When will they do it?

Holiday homework at this age is nonsense, especially this type.

I teach primary and still thing this type of thing is ridiculous.

1. its not optional - kids stay in at breaks until homework completed if it’s late.
2. they have been told to use cams, it has to be something that their “target audience” would really like to play with - here are some examples (video link)
3. I’m not “stopping” kid doing it and have already pissed away time going to different retail parks to Hobbycraft and Wickes.
4. I wouldn’t care so much if we could use cotton reels, old boxes, straws, split pins etc, but that doesn’t seem to be what teacher is expecting and according to WhatsApp group, some kids are worried (mine isn’t) Parents are pissed off - there’s not normally much moaning about homework, but people are being quite vocal on this one.
5. It annoys me as the responsibility and pressure is put on the kids for things they don’t have easy access to and which take away from family time and budget.

Homework is optional in primary so the school shouldn’t be issuing punishments. Have you taken this up with the headteacher and Governors?

Ooooh that’s really shit, I have taught cams and it can be quite challenging.

there is a relatively easy Easter chick cam thing I can try and hunt out.

You need to challenge this as that’s a full term’s DT work!

Not the one i was looking for but can be easily done with bits of cardboard and a split pin. There’s a picture on second page if the back.

https://www.laughtonallsaints.org/assets/Y5-6-Project-on-a-Page-Mechanical-Cams.pdf

What’s cams

I have googled and only got stuff on suicides or cycling

My year 6 twins have been given 7 SATs papers each to complete over the holidays. And like OP said, school certainly doesn’t treat homework as optional and they have to stay in at lunchtime if they don’t do it. I told one of my twins not to do it and she said she would get into so much trouble, that’s not an option.