Home work in reception

[Wailywaily]

DS2 5yo started reception in September. He is a very bright little boy and a couple of weeks into term he teacher pulled me aside to say that she did realise how able he is and apologised for sending him home with phonics. I said that it is lovely that she has noticed he is bright but in his head he is a little boy like all the others and at the moment he just loves school and everything that goes with it. He loves phonics even though he does find it very easy.
Since then his homework (once a week) has become a lot more complicated and this is why I am here.

This weeks task is "can you write sentences with these words in them; in, and, on, the, is?" Last week he had to draw a picture and label the different parts (It was a house and he was supposed to label what the roof, walls and doors were made of). Is this fairly standard homework for reception age? I was initially a bit that they got homework at all. Its not that I don't think he can do it its more that I know that at that age there is no way I could have done it.

Can your son do it though? If so then it's fine.
Mine had homework in reception. Not as difficult as that at the beginning but similar to that further on in the year. Mine didn't know any phonics before starting school though.
My kids school always used to say that they didn't mind if the parents actually wrote the words down for the child as long as the child did the work (makes up a sentence or describes the parts of a diagram) so that's another option if it's the writing that's too much for him :-)

He certainly understands the question and can probably come up with the sentences with a little bit of help. He has been free reading for about six months now. But he only started to write when he started reception so that is the bit that I think he will find hard. He spells with phonics.

It does seem hard homework for reception.

DS3 started being given written work to do rather than the usual class phonics homework in reception as he was doing the year 1 phonics classes. However he was writing before he went to school although he couldn't really read.

Mine did labelling and a bit of writing in Reception. If they can do it and are bright, why not? Often schools find it is the writing that children are slower to do, hence the early start I expect. If he is free reading, then surely sentences should not be a problem. Do you not try and link the words he is reading to correct spelling? My DDs learnt to read in the pre phonics days though.

Well, it is going to sound a bit strange but we do very little structured learning with him at home and just leave that to the school. DS2 has a huge internal drive and has taught himself to read and all of his numbers, my job so far has been to occasionally direct but mainly provide alternative activities to interrupt his obsessiveness. So, no, I haven't done any spelling with him at all. I know that he has several strategies when it comes to reading and spelling - some words he just recognises and those he simply remembers how to spell. New words he sounds out or breaks down depending on how long the word is so again when it comes to spelling he seems to just employ the same tactic with these words.

He has had no problem at all with the homework, so although I was a bit over it it looks like his teacher has pitched it just right - he can cope and loves the challenge.

This homework would have sent DS1 into a complete meltdown even when he was in year three. But that is the difference in my sons - one is bright but severely dyslexic and is terrified of new challenges the other is bright with no hint of dyslexia and when faced with a challenge his whole face lights up and he wont drop it till he has perfected it.