Is it too much for my 6 year old DD ? Homework.

[isittoomcuh]

DD is a bit behind in writing and maths. So I’m trying to get her to practice for 10-15 minutes every day.

is this too much for a 6 year old ? She’s starting to really hate it. We have some simple worksheets she works through. She also does her reading most days.

sometimes she writes stories or we play maths games and stuff like that.

It was fine initially but now she’s getting upset and doesn’t want to do it and does it wrong when she’s in a mood so I just tell her it’s fine and to leave it.

I don’t want her falling too far behind at school but I don’t want to ruin her love for learning either but I’m finding it hard to strike a balance. I don’t think she should be getting upset and not wanting to do her work. But equally I need to find a way to practice with her / improve her writing especially.

Love how everyone is saying after breakfast. I also tried that and it works sometimes. My husband thought it was such a silly idea. He thought it was absurd. Well, clearly I am not the only one who thinks mornings are good.

Have you spoken tow school about where she is at? Are they worried what are they doing to support her? Do they have thoughts on why she is struggling?

I ask because depending what is behaving nd struggles may inform your approach.
For example if she has poor fine motor skills or her hand/ finger muscles are a bit weaker then a day of writing at school and then.more.wrotomgnat home may not help. But you could do things like dough disco, using theraputty playing games that involve fine motor control. Will all help the writing without work sheets.

Have you tried practicing spellings without writing? My child hated spelling practice with writing (they have various issues with writing) we practiced spellings verbally, used magnetic letters or sometimes a white board if they did feel like writing. I'm these situations the spelling was a lot better. It's definitely worth breaking it down figuring out the issues and finding the best way to approach it.

At 6 it's very obvious who is on a lower reading level, or might not have handwriting that isn't quite legible and struggles to write sentences.

The only things that the 6 year old is "behind" is the expectations for 6 year olds in our very prescribed education system.

It's not a particularly reliable indicator of success in later life.

Sorry can't edit my post it should say depending what is behind the struggles

Also
"then.more.wrotomgnat" should be then more worksheets at home

10 minutes a day is over an hour a week and makes a difference ime- especially if you do it in school holidays too.

I used to teach basic skills to teenagers who had fallen through the gaps.

So one way I used to teach maths was by rewriting the Monopoly cards to give very simple sums like 'what is the hour now times the date', 'How many pieces of fruit are in the fruit bowl' etc etc and I magnetised a load of coins that I used on the magnet board to do basic maths. As long as the questions were age appropriate and linked to your pets or local street names or houses or friends it helps keep them interested. So 'what is the number of dogs Dave owns added to the hour now' kinda thing. What is the number of the green house on X street plus todays date?

I also used chalk pens on a large white board for them to write things rather than use pens. So they would write the maths to the monopoly questions on the board and if they couldnt do the maths we would talk them through it and little by little they started to get it. Many kids who would not even pick up a pen would go all out on writing on a whiteboard, they loved it.

My DC were never tired after school and by this age were doing dancing, brownies, piano and swimming. We still fitted in reading homework and whatever else was required (not much) but dc could follow their interests after school.

I think it's easier at this age to encourage them to do household chores with you instead of formal learning.

E.g. writing shopping lists, writing cards for people and doing a small drawing inside - or wherever you have to 'do math' or write something down. "How much do these potatoes cost?" when shopping, etc. Just flagging with her the times you are writing and doing maths is also good.

Mine labelled all our household keys at this age (badly spelt) and the key fobs still have her handwriting on, even though she's an adult!

Oh yes this is a great idea. Also pens for writing on windows, and a large roll of Ikea paper in the kitchen for writing and drawing. Just make the opportunities fun.

My DD added names to my address book! That ages us! Still have the book though. She also got the book out one day and crossed out an aged aunt and wrote “she has died” next to her name.

@OhDear111 of course they may be struggling to keep up - with the imposed goals of our education system. that doesn't mean they are inherently behind where they should be as individuls.

Many countries (by far the majority globally) do not start formal education by 6!

And a lot of european countries do far better than us academically despite a much later start with 'formal' reading and writing and maths (doesn't mean children aren't learning via play before that)

A third of UK children fail maths gcse - despite starting at 4 and being drilled to within an inch of their lives.

Clearly our harsh system which removes play based learning far too early isn't working anyway.

@waterrat I know Swedish people and they don’t hold dc back! They go at dc pace. If dc can start to read, they do. This idea that there’s just play an no structure is not correct. If dc can read at 4, who holds them back? No educators or parents. Plus y1 is hardly that formal!

If you think all dc would achieve identical goals by starting at 6, you are wrong. They don’t in other countries. Plus we know we have many dc who don't have bright parents and many parents who don’t value education, so getting dc into a learning culture is no bad thing. We all know dc do best with educated interested parents. This country has many chaotic parents with relatively low attainment and skills. You cannot make low achieving dc, at any age, become high achievers. I do think starting at 6 would definitely suit slower learners and less mature dc but the kindergarten system abroad is a well oiled and resourced machine. It’s not a play free for all with not a qualified teacher in sight.

@waterrat
Clearly our harsh system which removes play based learning far too early isn't working anyway.

All of the top performing nations effectively start academic learning at 3 years old - Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Estonia. The top performing western European nation - Switzerland - starts at 4. Germany and Sweden (starting at 6) perform far worse, and worse than the UK.

I agree with you that play and play based learning is essential for developmental growth, but it is difficult to label the UK system as harsh when looking from a global perspective.

I would not say they are the top performing nations

o would say they are nations with high but narrow acedemic standards and a whole host of human problems and I suspect a high rate of failure

counties like Germany and Finland produce balanced and broadly happy children with high academic standards and options for those who are not academic to also do well and they start formal teaching around 6 to 8

@itsthetea These are the top performing nations in terms of academic attainment at 15.

It is very tempting to look at east Asia and to make generalisations about their societies to explain why they outperform our own. I would advise against this.

The countries on this list simply study longer than us.

What is your critique of Estonia. Hint - this one is not in Asia, in fact it's very near Finland that I believe you mentioned?

But when she is tired she still seems to get it wrong

is the very textbook reason for having breaks and holidays

It's making her hate it, so it probably is too much.

I'd focus on reading (not making her read but encouraging her to and reading a lot to her) and incorporating maths into your daily life more with random questions, giving pocket money and counting peas, and playing maths related games.

I dont believe 6 year olds can really be behind by the way. That's just our rigid system.

I agree with this. Where I live, children start school the September after their 6th birthday, and they don't start learning to read and write until after new year, when many of them are nearly 7. Generally by this age they understand what is required of them a lot better than they would have done at age 4/5 and pick it up very quickly.

If your child is struggling at age 6 I think just like other landmarks (eg eating solid food, toilet training) if it isn't going well, take the pressure off and try again in a few months.

Make it fun!

Static whiteboard sheets. They can cling on most surfaces so makes it more interesting plus some coloured white board pens

Chalk outside on the ground or on wall (easy to wash off)

Cheap led writing board- i got two on amazon for £5

Using scrabble tiles to spell words

Online programmes like nessy or r3ading eggs ect

Playing word games. Orchard do loads of educational games that kids love.

I don’t know why MN is so anti-homework. If your child is falling behind it doesn’t matter what other education systems abroad are like - they are in the UK education system and if they don’t understand the basics of what is being taught in their current year group they will fall behind.

It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t like doing it, of course she doesn’t. She’d rather be on an iPad or watching tv or outside but that’s irrelevant. Make homework part of the routine - get in, 30 minute break and a snack and then 30 minutes of reading or maths.

Falling behind in school is very stressful and embarrassing for kids. You’re doing her a favour.

I don't think MN is anti "work done at home".

They are anti young children being forced to do worksheets whose sole purpose is to allow them to meet tick boxes at school.

Education is about way more than that. Children who've had their entire focus on passing exams are often very limited.

I think your daughter is telling you it’s too much by the fact she’s getting upset - you don’t need to ask us that. 10/15 mins of worksheets at home on top of school for someone that age is definitely too much.

Can you tell her that she needs to do 15 min 3x a week and then let her choose the days so that she feels she has some autonomy.

@redskyAtNighYes, and that’s lots of young people. Although the bigger issue is secondary school. On another thread we are discussing MFLs. It’s clear pupils don’t want to do them. They want bespoke GCSEs that reflect their interests and not a broad education which encompasses choices from each of science, English. Humanities, MFLs, arts and technology. They are allowed a very narrow diet. I find primary school better but poor at prep for MFLs, art and technology. Private preps are much better. We have dc passing exams but they are not educated. Same with A levels snd degrees.

Ex teacher here, I hate primary school homework with a passion and I’m not too keen on secondary homework either. My 7yo and I read at home every single day and her teachers have been quite judgy with me for not noting down in her book every time we read 🙄 I’d sack off all but the most necessary hw at that age and focus on play and connection after school.