to say to my kid" if you can't do your homework then take it back in UNDONE"

[AugustusGloop]

rather than me trying to explain it?
Because that is what I ( very rarely) do.

Primary.

So if homework is so essential why didn't we have any in the 60's, 70's?

Our teachers seemed to be able to tell which children were capable of what.

And for my children 20mins homework took more than 20mins. Not because they couldn't do the work but because they had been doing it all day and wanted to do other things.

I did homework in the 70s!

I don't think it was controversial. It didn't have to compete with 24hr children's TV, console games, or MSN.

Scienceteacher Sadly that's what my English teacher said. I spoke English and Spanish until I was 5. Dropped the Spanish as my Mum's English had improved. I have never lived anywhere else. They put my difficulty down to my parents 1st language and not that I was having problems of my own. We only spoke English at home because my parents didn't speak each others language. JUST I couldn't spell just like any other English kid WITH dyslexia. It's so annoying to have a problem and for others not to listen to your words but already have assumptions made up in their heads to reply to you. I hope this has all changed by the time my son is in school.

Not sure what 24hr children's TV, console games, or MSN has to do with it.

My children like to go out to play. They like to read. My 5yo doesn't even know about MSN. Yes, the watch TV and they have console games but not all the time.

Are you saying that you were happy to do your homework because you had nothing else to do?

I don't remember having homework in the 70s apart from one project over the summer for an exam.

I just said that hw wasn't controversial then. We just did it - didn't whine or argue or get slippery about it.

I started school in 1970 and distinctly remember hw from day 1. Reading, spellings, tables, arithmetic, grammar etc. It was just part of the overall work ethic before the lefties took over education.

I didn't have homework in Primary school in 70's but did of course in Secondary. It might have helped if I did get homework in Primary school then teachers might have spotted that I had a problem.

I started school around 1964. Maybe it's too long ago for me to remember
We did have a reading book to take home but I don't remember having anything else to do at home.

I don't recall having homework in the 70s (not in UK). Or at least if I did my parents did not hassle me about it. As a consequence, I did none. I managed to avoid homework all through primary and then secondary even through to university where I hardly ever prepared for tutorials.

I survived (and even aced exams) because I was a good crammer and could self-teach from textbooks. But I did not develop a good discipline of doing a little revision when I got home and this had carried through to higher education and I feel has made my learning experience less deep. My parents did not know how I was doing at school beyond my alphabetic grades and my teachers did not know what understanding I had. In fact, I did feel some of them were surprised I did as well as I did in exams.

In my primary years, I remember a lot of watching cartoons.

Contrast with my dh who was diligent at homework - he admits to doing revision every day - and his memory and understanding of his subjects is far more meaningful. We are both educated to the same level.

juuule, yep only a reading book I started primary school in

Send it in undone. I don't agree with homework at primary level anyway apart from reading.

Well it's one thing to not agree with the concept of homework, it is another to not comply with the policies of the school.

If you don't agree with one of their policies, use the proper channels to get it changed. Don't just stick up two fingers to it. It does no one any good, especially your child.

My kids who are of primary age never do their homework apart from reading and spellings.I think written homework at primary age is likely to have an adverse effect on their learning (and I believe research backs this up )
I have a friend who went into school to complain theat her 5 yr old didn't get enough homework !

My ds is 6 and gets homework Mon - Thurs nights. It coonsits of simple reading books (too easy for him, and the teacher allows hime to choose extra books too - at home he and I are reading 'Charlie and the chocolate factore' and some mornigns he tells me he's read another chapter and can explain it all to me), some written work and a work sheet. Some times the teachers exlainations of what has to be done and how is difficult to understand. And sometimes, my way of explaining the thing to him is not the same way the teacher explains it and he ends up confused and upset. In these circumstances I speak to the teacher or write a note to her. It always gets sorted out. Homework is important - I love to see what my child is learning and his capabilities amaze me!

I think that you should follow the school regulations. If they say that homework should be left undone if the child does not understand it, then don't do it. But if they expect it to always be done, then you should explain the homework to your child.

I don't think there is any educational value in primary school homework, but I think there is a value to understanding that you have to follow the rules of an institution, even when the rules serve no real purpose. I make my children wear black socks to school because the school says so, even though sock colour has no bearing on their happiness or intellect.

We dash homework off as quickly as we reasonably can. The national curriculum is very narrow and there are other academic areas I want my children to know about (such as time periods in history that are not covered by the NC) or ways of doing maths that are more suited to my child (although the school's method may be better for the other 29 children).

I can personalise what I want to teach my child; a teacher can't do this to the same degree because they have to teach the NC and teach 30 kids; I can provide better stuff to do at home than homework of a generic printed worksheet.

This doesn't apply in secondary schools because then my job is to teach my child how to learn independently through research methods and time management, in order to complete the homework set by the school. A primary school child is too young for independent learning.

I'm a bit worried about education today. It seems to be more about regulations and passing ofsted than getting an education! The government seem to be ignoring research that says we are pushing our children to hard. I despair of a country that has a bank/building Soc. that employed a man to run the company with no Banking qualifications at all!!! I'm going to have to teach commerce to my son at home.

You are being ironic, arent you star bear?

I've moved around a bit on this subject as a result of changing school systems twice in the last year. In the UK both dh and I worked full time. Homework was a hassle, we got it done, but reluctantly and often at the last minute. The children had spellings, reading, a maths sheet once a week, and ds had projects (nightmare). We'd get the worksheets done, and struggle through the projects, but spelling was always a big fight (ds is dyslexic and hated them), and we didn't do the reading with ds because he hated it. HW did not seem worthwhile, and we were not very supportive.

Then we moved to the States, to a school which regularly set up to two hours homework every night. It always had to be returned the next day, and all the local children had it. To start with it was a real struggle, especially as the work covered things differently than we were used to. However it was in fact very useful. The children got into a routine, we understood where they were struggling and needed support, and they got into the habit of reading every day (they had to do book logs with reviews). But it was a lot, and if we had both been working I'm not sure how it would have been done.

Now we are in Canada and homework is reading, spelling and finishing work that wasn't done in class. In a crazy way we miss the US stuff, as it was good to know where they are at, and the discipline was useful. However it is much more relaxed, which is also nice.

In our experience a little bit every night, always due back the next day works the best, and as parents we have a responsibility to support our children. Ultimately if they fail at school it is not their teacher that will suffer, it is the children.

We did the US thing as well - my poor DS1 got 3 hours in 4th Grade.

If it didn't get done, he'd get a zero for it. They were very anal about accumulating marks throughout the year, and used these for putting them into sets, which actually had seriousl implications for the rest of their schooling.

Indeed it was all incredibly serious there. The week we left we got a note home asking if we wanted to sign the children up to eight weeks of Saturday school in preparation for the annual state testing! It was actually a very good school, but the pressure to perform well was ridiculous. ds got very worried that he might be held down a year at one point - he was in the top set of everything in the UK, so not struggling, apart from his handwriting. Still on the plus side they identified that incredibly quickly and got him help with it.

Children should not be given homework at Primary school. If he cant do it he needs to ask his teacher for help with it simple as that. Even if this is only because he is frightened of getting it wrong school need to address his fears and sort out the problem.

millyR you do talk sense but I disagree with following regulations and rules. Conforming for the sake of conforming is a very bad idea. And it is not a lesson I want my children to learn

'Scienceteacher Sadly what a teacher thinks should take 20 mins, takes some kids 1 hour. I was/am an undiagnosed dyslexic with foreign speaking, out at work parents. I know it was a long time ago but I used to work very hard at getting no where. My Mum went to my head of year at the time and he was useless. I think sometimes a note has to go back to the teacher so they understand that isn't 20 mins work for that child and parent. (TG for spellchecker) '

Scienceteacher I'm in a very similar position but we are in Italy. My sons second language is Italian but he is following the Italian system which is horribly oldfashioned. I am the dyslexic so learning languages is a very very slow dificult process for me. Therefore helping my son (6) and my daughter (now 11 but her homework is now beyond me) with their homework is difficult for me. I am a teacher and this does help me get through it but it so slow. Here the children get AT LEAST 1 hour of homework everyday. As I am sure you are aware these problems are further compounded by the fact that bilingual children often acquire reading and writing skills a little slower than other children and need patience and it presented to them in different ways. The school offer no help with this at all and are talking about failing my 6 year old and making him repeating the year

This hour often takes 2 or 3 hours and has been know to take all afternoon. The stress of it is horrible and it has poisoned the relationship between my DH and DD (huge arguements about it). I generally have to work in the afternoons so time is also a problem.

However I can see the point of homework in the right situation. A little often reinforcing the point, and working it out for themselves. It does help. I have spoken to the teacher and they do not accept it is not always possible or DS to complete everything and mark him down for his grades. I write a note and say I'm sorry this was very diicult we will repass at the weekend. They are not happy. We don't listen. But then we dont listen to their statement that we are damaging my son by speaking English to him or do any of the English homework the teachers sets (on the basis he is confused enough without any further confusion - lets gets Italian under his belt first).

Sorry rant over about my personal situation, I think if they cant do the work the teacher needs to know, if they are finding it dificult or need further explaination the teacher needs to know. That is the principle point of homework, from my point of view. The secondary point is for the parents to know what the children are doing. The third is to make life difficult for the parents

I'm a teacher and I think, if your child has genuinely tried, and you have offered all the help you can to explain (not to do it for them), then YANBU.

Purepurple, yes, I accept that you have a point about not wanting your children to conform for the sake of conforming. I suppose that I want my children to understand that you choose your battles wisely, and it is not really worthwhile to challenge authority figures over 20 mins homework or a pair of black socks.

unavailable No!