Is helping with homework a new thing?

[LittleBiscuits]

Excuse me if this sounds ignorant but I only have preschool kids so haven't gone through this yet

I've recently seen on here various comments and other comments from colleagues about needing to devote a fair amount of time to helping kids with their homework as a standard part of parents' daily routine (I'm assuming primary school age to preteens/early teens).

But when I was younger (90s and early noughties) I never got help with my homework - I just got on with it. I'm not sure my friends did either. But from these comments I get the sense that it's normal to sit down with your kids and do their homework with them. Obviously I get that SEN kids (or really young kids) might benefit from additional support but otherwise I didn't really realise this was a thing. Am I wrong?

I was not raised in the UK so maybe that's the difference? Or possibly younger kids are just getting more homework now?

I don’t remember my parents ever helping with my homework either, but I also don’t remember ever getting homework (beyond maybe a reading book) until middle school, by which point I didn’t need my parents help. Maybe that’s the difference, as homework seems to be given younger and younger.

Both dh and I (now in our 40s) got help with our homework. I used to do mine at the kitchen table whilst my mum cooked. She always helped me revise for exams as well. I think it was common amongst our social circle.

Never had help with mine, never helped my kids beyond setting them up with the space and time set aside to do it in, plus access to whatever they need and they can always ask for help if something doesn't make sense or they're having tech issues.
Obviously did reading with them in Primary school stuff when they needed reading books etc, but we'd have been reading with them anyway.

Kids get more homework at primary now than when I was that age. I only used to get a few spellings and a bit of reading.

When my kids were at primary, they had spellings and reading as well as some worksheets and maybe some research projects. They didn’t often need help but it was nice to sit down with them and see what they were learning about and if they had a good understanding of the topic and help if necessary. I think it’s a good thing that parents are encouraged to be more involved in their children’s learning than they were years ago. At senior school, they tend to just do it themselves but they sometimes ask for our input and I help with revision.

Thanks for the replies. Just trying to get an idea of what I'm in for. I sincerely hope I'm able to be in the camp of just dumping them with it and letting them get on with it, but knowing my little crazeballs, I'm worried it might be a bit more time intensive than that!

I don't generally help but sometimes the homework will be something creative like build something(make a Viking helmet, make a model of a hut or something like that), which my child couldn't do alone as they don't have the materials or the dexterity... So I end up helping (doing!!)the task! these tasks are a bit much!

Primary school, they only ever spent 1.5 hours a week max on homework and that was year 5/6. In lower years, it was less, 20-30 minutes a week, mainly requiring you to listen to them read.

My primary aged children get less homework than I did. None of these massive craft/research projects people on MN seem to have. Friends in other schools similar (except work for 11+ in those areas)

My elder DD has just started Yr7. She takes herself of to her room to do her (online) homework. The only help I've given her is setting up a printer. She knows where am I but hasn't needed assistance. They are supposed to do it themselves...

At secondary school, my brother, father and I would often discuss the Maths/Science topics, but never languages/humanities etc. Indeed we were expected to have the bulk of our homework done by the time my parents got home from work at 6.30ish.

My year 1 never gets homework that takes more than 10 minutes, plus reading books, I usually either sit next to him doing other stuff (general life admin!) Or am in the kitchen cooking/doing chores whilst he does it. Not help as such, more guidance and helping keep focused.

I never got homework til high school, aside from reading and a few spellings.

Some people do, some don't..When my kids were in primary the teachers had different attitudes too - some said "we want it to be your child's own work" others said "the children who get the most help make the most progress".

Like pp's I dodn't get much homework in prinary, but my 2 boys got more and wouldn't have had the organisational skills to tackle it if I hadn't helped them. But my help was always aimed at teaching them methods and techniques that would help them learn or to become independent. By the time they were 13 they didn't want me anywhere near their homework.

Example: at primary they had a weekly maths workbook. I would go through their answers and say "you need to look at number 10 and number 15 again" so they could correct them. If they didn't understand what was wrong, I would explain it to them, so next time they had a similar question they would know how to do it. (But then I have a maths A level, so was confident in doing that).

I didn't so much help as sit with them to make sure they did it. Only for primary snd more fir my easily distracted son (my daughter didn't need much supervision). I occasionally helped with math, tested them for spelling and listened to them read. It helps to know what your kids are learning, and how they are finding it - if they are struggling or frustrated or finding it easy or just right.
I think most of you may not remember getting help because you don't remember boring stuff from when you were young!

My mum used to help me to some extent. I was a perfectionist and could get quite overwhelmed with homework so having her to bounce ideas off was very helpful. I always used to ask her to test me on my revision and to read my essays through (generally she would just correct a few bits of grammar). I even sent her my masters dissertation to read through!

my own daughter is far less of a perfectionist and need prodding to do the bare minimum of homework so my main role is reminding her she had to do it and providing as much as I can in the way of resources without getting accused of being pushy and interfering!

My year 3 child gets proper homework, and only needs a bit of help logging into Google classrooms, as my laptop is a bit funny about it. She does it on her own. My year 1 child is getting stupid homework like 'practise using scales' or 'sort socks', that need to be set up and guided by an adult, and it's a crashing waste of time.

Depends on the child. DS1 is a bright people pleaser who likes rules…we just listened to him read until Y5 when the teacher officially said they no longer needed to read TO someone. DS2 needs a bit more prodding to do his very minimal Y2 homework (despite being perfectly capable) so does it at the dining room table with me or DH pottering around and checking that he’s actually doing it not (as he did once last year) scribbling pretend writing. I expect to be more involved with his homework for longer than we are with DS1’s.

Homework for my children involved quite a lot of parental support when they were younger. Listening to them read, testing them on spellings and times tables, providing the materials and a bit of help for craft projects, supervising internet use for research, taking them out on walks to collect natural objects or take photos etc.

Never had any help with mine except for one project about birds that I recall mum helping with the drawings! But agreed, there was far less homework at primary school age.
Never got nagged to do it either - just got on with it.

School age children used to play outside without much parental supervision, times change. "Home" homework support is standard expectation. Parents / guardians should take reasonable primary accountability for the direction of their offsprings study (naturally dependent on childs' needs in context) as opposed to finger pointing that teachers don't do enough etc.

I didn't receive homework at primary school.
Contrastingly, my year 5 child must read five times per week aloud to an adult and have it signed. Also two pieces of online homework per week and 10 spellings.
Year 3 child must read three times a week and have it signed, also has two pieces of online homework per week and 10 spellings.
Year 1 child must read three times a week and have it signed, no online homework but also has ten spellings per week.

I am a teacher and I find it exhausting, I do not have time to listen to them all read every night and then also jump in with online internet learning when they are struggling to access it because, admittedly, I limit their internet access

It’s normal for school to ask you to read every day or as close to it as possible, and to do spellings and times tables practice. Othe types of homework varies a lot between schools.

I always had help and guidance from my parents definately (I'm early 40's) and I help my kids now

It's just a given isn't it? If you have children you'd want to help them to achieve their potential surely?

Year 3 here has spellings every week, reading every day and one piece of homework a week which is usually supposed to probably last 30 minutes but actually lasts hours as dd procrastinates and then rushes if and has to redo it. For the homework we tend to support her e.g. suggests she does a plan first, and help her find materials but I won't do it for her. Some parents in her class seem to spend hours creating master pieces that clearly are not the child's work e.g. working model of a pyramid complete with working trap doors etc.

My DC is in y8. I remind him to do his homework but it’s rare I help. Sometimes I helped with more project based stuff that requires a bit of organising.

I am in my 60s and come from a big family. My dm had us all sit round the table and while not exactly helping she was supervising, hearing out tables and spellings and generally discussing stuff with us. Meant younger ones learnt a lot from older ones. Studied in our rooms for Secondary. Think it's good just to have a routine.

We've just started Year7 here. Primary never gave any homework... I always felt this was a mistake as it doesn't get you into the habit. Lo and behold Year7 has started and he's reluctant ... so we sit with him to ensure it gets done. Am hopeful it won't take too long before the habit is formed. Also the shit they have to do now is SO hard, I don't remember it being as tough. Luckily his dad is a Civil Eng and good at lateral thinking and at maths or he'd be screwed waiting on me 😱

My sisters attitude was always 'it's the School’s job' ... my niece and nephew sadly left school with very few qualifications. Maybe their school was a bit rubbish but I can't help but wonder that my DS and BIL's removed attitude went towards it.