Schools ask too much of families - AIBU?

[historyinthemaking]

My DS is aged 8 and in Year 4. Every week they upload homework and what’s coming up on Google Classroom. When they uploaded this week, I couldn’t believe the sheer amount of stuff being asked of families.

i know every dynamic is different, but for us, me and my DH work full time Mon-fri (PIL do school pickups) and we collect our DS from his DGP’s between 5 and 6pm. His bedtime is from 8.30-9pm. We get 2.5hrs with our DS in the evening (which needs to incorporate feeding & bathing too) and the homework just seems so excessive for an 8 year old! Nevermind the extra curricular activities he does too, like swimming on a Wednesday and football on a Friday.

And then there’s the sheer amount of money the school looks for, sponsor this and sponsor that, themed days, raffles, charity!

my best friend has 2 children at the same school (Y4 and Y3) and she’s also a full time working single mum (and she’s part time studying) and she said she simply doesn’t do all the homework because she physically can’t - not for 2 children.

Are all schools the same? Or is my son’s school the odd one out? I’ve started thinking I should skip some of the homework too just so I can actually spend quality time with my DS instead.

I think school is asking too much of us. AIBU?

Mine don’t do this much homework. They get one maths sheet and one spellings sheet a week and are expected to read. I read with them every other night not every night because they do a lot of extracurricular. I get them to do their homework in the afterschool club they go to a couple of nights a week most weeks. They are high achievers at a high achieving school. I think it my job to enrich their lives with sport and extracurricular not homework. They do dance, football, cricket, swimming, gymnastics, beavers and piano between the two of them. They aare year 3 and year 5. I will get a tutor for an hour a week for year 6 like I did with my first born who is at high school now. He is also a high an achiever.

Year 4 teacher assistant here. It does seem a lot. However surely reading can be done at bedtime. - a nice time to read and can shared reading. Times tables, songs and spellings can be done anywhere as and when and fitted into daily life. I imagine this is the teacher’s expectation.
The only onerous things seems to be the religious task and the happiest day task.

I think daily reading, spelling, maths is pretty standard in KS2. What does seem overwhelming is the number of events and charity donations and dressing up. The mental load of being a primary parent is bonkers sometimes. They are at least organised enough to tell you weeks in advance what is coming up but I can appreciate it feels like a lot. Move towards getting the homework done being your child’s responsibility, it is much easier in secondary if they are in the routine of doing a bit each night and getting on with it.

Homework seems similar in most schools but your events seem ott. Could dgp do the spellings and help with times tables? I'm not arty or crafty and the making Easter bonnets will take forever. I'd miss that one out.

Different parents will have different views. I like the fact that your school are giving you notice of special days coming up in advance so you can plan ahead. I much prefer this then getting emails once every few days. You've chosen a catholic school and in Scotland we do have a choice, my kids go to a non denomination school l so they don't have a lot of the events in your email. I appreciate keeping on top of what is needed when, can feel overwhelming. We add the dates to a shared Google calendar and then a physical family calendar in the kitchen.

I also see no issues with the homework they have given out. In essence it is reading,spelling and times tables. The topic I would do if you have time and i would communicate that to school. I would ask grandparents to do the reading and do the times tables on the way home from grandparents. Spellings no more than 10 minutes two or three times a week. Doing those gives you a gauge of where your kid is excelling or struggling and you can adjust accordingly.

If at any point it does feel overwhelming, speak to school as you won't be the only family short on time.