homework v prep

[morethanpotatoprints]

Can somebody explain the differences please, in terms of the rationale for the work given to dc for both of these.
Or am I being daft and they are both exactly the same.
The school is using one term, the teachers another.
in our paraphernalia it says homework, teachers are saying prep.
Thank you

They are the same thing

Prep is often used in private schools

Prep is preparation for the next lesson strictly speaking. Homework is stuff they have already covered for consolidation.

Prep in private schools, homework in state.

Part of the "us and them" jargon divide.

It's just an historical term - of course you don't really do 'homework' at a boarding school do you?

Prep is work set out of class.

It is often done in school however as boarders don't go home .

At night I mean. Obviously not never .

Ah, thank you very much.
I just wondered why the same school would use both terms and a bit of a daft question to ask them, in isolation.
I think I will compile a daft question list and ask the house master to answer all of them at the same time.
Although, this will make me seem very dim

In terms of rationale I was wondering how you could prep for a leson you haven't already received, whereas with homework it seems to be completing work not finished in class, or to revise/ consolidate what has already been taught.
I can't wait to find out, I'm sad like that.

It won't make you seem dim at all.

Schools are institutions and as such have their own internal logic not always easy to decode from outside.

I doubt the teachers have thought about it that much... Homework could be consolidation or preparation, or random torture, depending on your point of view. I suspect prep is actually the same!

The difference between prep and homework is as great as the difference between loo and lavatory: different word, same thing, slight class connotation.

You can, in fact, prepare for a future lesson - spelling test, or learning vocab for a foreign language f'instance. But, as has been said, homework and prep are pretty much the same thing.

Thank you badger I wondered if one was being literal how you could prep for a lesson.

I think I'll stick with prep and pretend to be all middle class n that

Have to pick her up soon, she said she wants to stay, which is a good sign.
Just hope she's not expecting a choice of menu for meal times now, because she won't be getting one.

Dd has had to prep for a lesson by researching something which will then be used for a project in class.

she does call it all honework though. It is done in the boarding house or at home on exeats.

Back in ye olden days, it used to mean reading from a textbook about the subject to be covered/discussed in the lesson. I can remember doing this. Interestingly, the new idea of the "flipped classroom", where students watch a video of the lesson content, then discuss it in class, appears to be in some ways a modern variation on this ancient practice.

IME "prep" is always preparation for the next lesson; vocab, learning by heart, reading ahead, etc, carried out within the confines of a boarding school (and by extension including those at the school who don't board.)

Homework taken home (and supervised by parents) has more scope for "make-work". There's a complete absence of nightime cardboard castle building with prep...

I'd say prep was supervised by school staff, homework to be done away from school, either at home, or if boarding in library/ common room or study room but independently.

There's a complete absence of nightime cardboard castle building with prep...

Hallelujah to that!

In my mind, Prep is supervised in school. So day schools set work to be done for the next day or whenever and it can often be done after teaching hours in a room where a teacher is present to supervise - in the same way it would be in a boarding school.
Many boarding schools also have day pupils and they might choose to go home and do the work or to stay at school and do it supervised.

Where my DC go they are set homework and can choose to do it at home or in supervised Prep, so both terms are in use.

Oh and re the 'making' type tasks, these would only be set rarely and usually over a holiday period,allowing plenty of time to do them, but most tasks are intended to be those children can broadly do alone.
Along the same lines, there is less of the springing of things on parents, such as dress-up days in 2 days time, or cakes needed for a sale tomorrow. It's funny, because in this sense and some others, the children are less reliant on parents and the school runs with less parental input (less constant PTA cake sales etc) I guess because in Boarding schools the parents weren't there to rely on and today it is assumed they have lots on and asking for lots of support requiring time could be onerous. On the other hand, in my experience, many children do have SAHM who spend a LOT of time managing the minutiae of their kids' lives and need an outlet. They easily find one, but the school is not relying on them being available.

They mean the same.
I noticed the children's school has stopped referring to Mufti day and now says non uniform day. People just change the words they use and different people use different words.

V few people now know the word mufti as the numbers in the forces have declined.

How I agree with Chocolate. I was appalled to discover how much was sprung on me as a day school parent, in both state and private sector, in terms of stuff to support the child or school, having boarded and been expected to get on with it since little. The lack of notice drove me mad. Ditto that a lot of the tasks could only be undertaken by the child with parental supervision. And what precisely is the point of making a pyramid of sugar cubes?

Many schools have "mufti" days when they don't wear uniform

My dc at private school gets prep. He might have to compose a sonnet, describe Tudor burial rituals or compare the same bible story told in two different gospels, or perhaps learn the major mountain ranges in Europe.

My cd in state school, one year younger sometimes has to colour in a worksheet and sometimes had a few maths questions. This is homework.