AIBU for refusing primary school homework apart from reading?

[AntiPrimaryHomework]

My dc are 7,9 and 13. We’ve never done any homework at primary school. I strongly disagree with it all except reading.

The school aren’t happy but my dc all have ASD and ADHD diagnosed and they are too exhausted every weekday and at weekends we let them play and relax and take them out.

At secondary school we believe homework is necessary and ds1 happily does his but for primary we just don’t agree at all.

Does anyone else feel the same ?

Ask for the evidence. As educators they should be using evidence based learning not just making rules up. There is very little to no evidence most homework at primary improves attainment. Reading and tables are worth doing everything else is busy work.
I would agree to do homework where they can provide evidence if works - surely no teacher would just make up a random rule? I say this as a teacher. My dc didn’t do primary homework after I had this conversation and the headteacher realised his argument was nonsense. They did however read every night at a way higher level than the school suggested and they knew their tables.

Why should they do more than nothing? 🤷

Of kids are reading and doing applied learning and being creative etc, what does a 7 year old gain from being made to make a shoebox house just because school say they should for "home work"?

You crack on and make your kids do the work, what will it achieve? Better marks in their sats? Oh wow you're kid for 116, mine got 105....So what?

Kids can very easily learn to do homework and prep at 11/year 7.

I had exactly the same with my DS!
When he was in P1, I used to play a version of countdown with him where we’d see how many different words we could each make out of a small selection of his phonics flashcards.
I have a photo of him posing proudly beside the word “dug” thinking he was the bees knees as DH and I were howling after he explained what he meant 😂

DD didn’t get any in primary apart from reading and spellings. TBH they knew it wouldn’t be done if they did.

I think you should at least offer the children the opportunity to do the homework on a regular basis.

This reads as if you’ve made a unilateral decision, never to be revisited!

And it isn't because primary-aged children don't do their homework.

Surprised to learn that homework is an option now tbh. Back when I was in school you got a detention for not doing it. Glad this has been lifted as it was a ridiculous rule. I grew up in an extremely abusive household and doing homework was very difficult at any age due to all of the shouting and noise alone.

I remember a girl in year 6 crying to our teacher that she couldn't revise at home because she had 4 younger siblings, including a baby who cried constantly. She was clearly, visibly so overwhelmed and I recall my teacher saying to her that she should be used to the noise or would get used to it and to just do the work in her room (which she shared with siblings).

There are so many reasons why doing homework isn't always a possibility for many students, be it those stated above or a plethora of others. I agree with OPs original sentiment that especially primary aged kids should not be doing it at home (expect for reading, etc). Home time is home time, for downtime, playtime, quality time with your family. It is just as important as school is. The evidence for burnout stumping learning and productivity far outweighs any evidence that homework drastically increases academic attainment, at this age especially.

I feel sorry for the parents who don't do their child's homework with them. It can be comedy gold sometimes.

I don't think it requires homework to have amusing moments with your children.

primary School head teacher told us that it’s been proved that reading a book to your child every night is far better for your child than doing homework which is why they don’t give my kids any. I also wouldn’t agree with it! The eldest at high school get a ridiculous amount of homework linked to their exams and even summer holidays they were getting crazy amount every week!!

As I said in my first post, if its project homework that means basically the parent does it then that's fair to skip but helpful homework that reinforces what they learnt that day and they are able to do by themselves is good, studies have shown that relevant homework done little and often is beneficial to learning.
Maybe you don't want your child to do their best in school but I do. I want my children to learn well, work hard, and give themselves the best possible chance in life. Education is incredibly important. For some children that extra boost from homework can mean the difference between passing and failing, here in Finland you can fail the year and be held back even in primary school, maybe that's why we take education more seriously, that and because without education we'd still be a poor country of subsidence farmers like it was a century ago.

🤣

No it’s because of parents!

🙄

Of course it's important. I do take it seriously. But I don't make small children sit and write poems or sit and write out sums after they've been doing formal learning for 6+ hours already. Just because the school said to.

We do applied learning all the time to reinforce her formal learning. Things like telling the time, working out how many minutes until nx times how much money are you spending, counting out the coins she needs to buy desired item,how much change she'll get. How many conkers an she fit in her pockets, then. Drilling them and threading them with ribbons and seeing how far they can go, when thrown and the difference between ribbons and no ribbons. Reading on the way to the shops, using her encyclopedia to.answer the random questions she has, learning her violin, doing her dance club etc

There's far more to learning and school (and life) than sitting down repeating spellings that she's already worked in five times that week at school.

No. Pick a different school or get with their programme. Don’t be that parent

Primary shouldn’t have homework aside from reading like you say. That’s what secondary is for.

I think this is perfect and exactly what parents can offer out in the real world that schools can’t. Each approach should be allowed its place.
We don’t do much of the homework beyond reading and writing practice. Some of the things set are genuinely ridiculous, some outright undermine me as a parent wanting to protect my children from overuse of screens. Luckily our school is very much in the camp that all the additional stuff is voluntary.

Your point?

🙄

You are defying the school.
Your children are learning this is acceptable.
Good luck at Secondary when things get tough and your children feel entitled …..

Our reception starter this year was sent home 3 worksheets and a phonics reading book from week 2.

We do the worksheets but the reading is nigh on impossible with an incredibly tired summer born child. They get plenty of books read to them at bedtime and always have.

Maybe you should have worked a little harder on the vocab homework?

@AntiPrimaryHomework Homework was actually useful for my ds1 asd. We didn't do it on weekdays but on week-ends. That way I could explain the notions because he didn't understand when the teacher explained to the group but understands 1:1 when taking it slowly. Anyway nobody expected him to do his homework (1:1 support in school).

As for DS2 he always did his homework (reading, maths, spelling). Never had a problem with it (max 15 minutes per day).

You'd do better ditching the worksheets and doing the reading instead.

Reading is the key skill to accessing learning and doing well and succeeding.

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