Homework for little ones: too much (for busy parents too)?

[LittleLionMansMummy]

I've had a few conversations with other parents about this recently and wondered what others thought.

Dsis adopted 2 boys earlier this year, a 5 and 7yo. She's back at work now ft and is really struggling with their homework because they're so shattered when they get home from school and are usually in bed by 7ish. So basically dsis gets home, sorts their dinner then it's whatever homework they can fit in before they get too tired and go to bed. But she says they get a lot of homework and I've been quite surprised that others share this pressure. My ds isn't yet 4 so will go to school next year, but i always saw homework as more 'senior school'. What do others think? Is there too much homework for young children these days, especially when you bear in mind that many have both parents working ft? Is there too much pressure on children and parents? How do you all cope with it?

There's far too much homework in many schools - often it's because mad parents demand it. Private schools tend to be worse than state, though many state schools are piling it on too now. If you have any choice in the school your child attends, then choose the one with the laxest hw policy - at least one where nothing has to be handed in the following day and it can all be done in one day or at the weekend

It's not reasonable to expect children of that age to do homework that late in the evening but who is she using as afterschool childcare ? Why can't they look after the homework ?

I have a 5 year old and work FT. We do reading in a morning, as he's much more alert after a good night's sleep, and get one big lot of homework on a Friday, so do that Saturday morning with spellings on a Sunday.

It's a nightmare if we're away for the weekend though. And we get up at 6.15am, which gives us time to do the reading before we leave at 7.30.

There's absolutely no proof that homework in primary school makes a difference.

There's a reason school days are short and broken up into breaks. Because children lose focus. To then expect them to manage what they don't even attempt in schools is bonkers.

Play, rest and relaxation, dinner and an early bed time are factors which help far more and are what is lost as a result if pointless homework.

Oh and all the crap you will hear about preparing for secondary school or employment is just that. Crap. We all adapted just fine to homework when it was required and we had the ability to do it ourselves and the maturity to realise it needs doing.

And yes it's hard for parents too. Do we cook or do we do homework.

Do we look at their disappointed faces when their friends call for them and are turned away cos there's a spelling test tomorrow.

Do they stay up til half eight just to get some sodding down time as the buses back were late and dinner wasn't finished til 6.

Do we cancel the one after school activity they actually get to do and enjoy because there's a project due in.

Not a choice we should have to make. Let kids be kids

I hate hate hate homework from school in the early years. It is pointless IMO, since the teacher doesn't know how much help the child received at home so it is no reflection on the child's understanding or abilities whatsoever. It also makes home life stressful for already stressed out parents. I want to enjoy my children in the evenings, not be nagging about supervising homework.

I also think it sets a bad precedent. We hear so much these days about people being overworked and lack of life-work balance, yet we are making children take work home with them.

We are struggling too.

I think it helps to look at the homework and cut out any that is homework for home works sake.

I'm quite happy for my kids not to do stuff like colouring in, backing books, researching on the internet, anything that involves lots of cutting, sticking etc. or anything else that takes up lots of time for little result.

If they want to do it, that's fine, but I'm happy to have a word with the teacher or send a note in to say why they won't be doing it. Family life and down time/ activity time is much more important.

My kids have a complicated spelling sheet that involves them writing the words over and over in different ways. It takes 1/2 an hour to do properly and the words aren't challenging at all. Now I just test them on the words and if they already know them, I don't make them do the sheet. Any that they don't know go on the kitchen wall opposite where they sit at mealtimes and they learn them that way.

My dd's teacher confessed recently, after I refused an additional load of homework when dd's grades dipped, that they mostly give it out because parents complain if they don't!

Pretty unanimous then! Just who are these crazy parents demanding more?!

As others have said, I want my ds to have some down time, and quality time with us, in the evenings and weekend. I don't understand the need to rush them into growing up.

DD is 4 and started school in September. She is bright and loves to read. She has 3 books, one as 'homework' where she should try to independently read by phonetically sounding out the letters and blending them. Two are her choice of library book. Her school asks that she read to/with each day and that this is recorded in her reading record book. As homework, I don't think this is too much, sometimes isn't enough! Some parents of children in the class do struggle to get their child to read though, and others can't be bothered! I think it's good that she has to do it, and I love seeing her learn and progress.

gemma reading goes without saying. We don't really class that as homework.

It's all the other stuff. Work sheets, projects, draw this, colour that, build a farm.animal etc

I find it very unfair. They're at school all day long learning and writing and reading and and...!

My 7yo Dd doesn't ever want to do hers, so I'm in a constant battle with her over it. She gets her homework on a Thursday to be returned on Tuesday. I try to get Dd to do it Thursday night so we can forget about it for the weekend, but that almost never happens, so it's a big rush on Monday night with much moaning and groaning and writers cramp and me shouting and tearing my own hair out!

IMHO, they shouldn't be doing homework until year 6. They should change it and encourage cooking with Mum or walking the dog (with Mum) and playing in the garden.

My DH and I both work fulltime and our DtSs are in Yr 1. They do 3 days of wrap around childcare (a 7.45am to 5.45pm day), and on Mondays, when they start and finish at 'normal' school hours times, they have just started going to Beavers, which they love.

We struggle to get two lots of reading done in the mornings, even with two of us doing it. If one of us is away or has to leave early, it's almost impossible. And this is as well as weekly homework on Maths, English and Phonics. I am so relieved to see others responses, because the guilt is swamping me at the moment. Having grown up in a household where my mother stopped work when I was born and never went back, and who pretty much silently and sometimes not so silently disapproves of my dissolute working ways, I feel I am letting my boys down everyday by not reading/working with them enough.

BUT, I didn't have homework until I was in year 6, not even reading (early 70s child). I have a degree, 3 postgraduate qualifications and professional chartership in my field. My boys are often referred to as bright by the school staff we speak to (maybe just pandering to parents?), and seem to be academically doing OK if not a bit better than OK.

So, is it OK if we don't always get the homework done? Should I take the view that if it is homework for homework's sake, we should quietly ignore it as the PP suggested?

Homework at DC school is optional. And generally fun topic related stuff which they seem to like doing. I like this approach as it eases them into compulsory homework in later years.

I think quietly ignoring it can lead to problems. In my kids school, they can miss a playtime for not doing a homework. So for that reason, I am always clear with the the school when It's been my choice to not do, or to modify a homework. I speak to the teacher or send a note in.

"who is she using as afterschool childcare ? Why can't they look after the homework ?"

Melanie, after school clubs and childminders often don't cover homework. When the DC are genuinely independent at it, they may provide a quiet space but remember there may be 6 or more children per adult in an after school setting, all of whom are in different classes or years and therefore maybe have different homework.

They get far too much in the early years. I have 4 kids, work, hubby works away. Kids go to breakfast and after school. I just don't have time and am not willing to battle with kids. In my opinion school in for learning, home is for fun

And even when independent, child might need reference books or internet access that they would need supervision with at an ASC setting.

gemmalou That sounds manageable to me and I certainly wouldn't have trouble with the light touch reading as we read to him every night before bed anyway. But I've heard of spellings, handwriting, making things that require a lot of time, drawing, colouring (all things my ds currently becomes very bored very quickly with), science projects. All this on top of costume making and after school clubs that many young children actually enjoy going to. I think I'll be one of those who refuses certain homework and advises teachers as much while he's still so young. We point things out to him, converse with him and explain things to him enough in every day life to compensate for any lack of homework. The time to knuckle down will come when he's older.

I am a teacher and have to set homework according to our school policy. I hate it. It is extra work for me with no value for pupils at all.

Fortunately, I was able to choose a school for DD with a much more relaxed approach. Homework is lovely (and optional!).

I actually think it's fine. Ds has started school this year and gets homework every night. It's just read a book with us and some words/ spellings. It's only 10-15mins.

We usually all get in late and just do this whilst dinner cooks. It's helped re inforce what he's learning in class

I have a 5 year old. On a Monday he gets literacy/maths homework to be handed in on Friday, plus an ORT book to be read every night and returned on Friday too. He also gets an additional reading book every day to be read that night and returned the following day. It is a lot and I am a SAHM so at least I have the opportunity to sit with him and do it. If I was working I might not. I find it annoying that it all has to be done during the week with nothing at weekends when parents are usually more available to help with homework.

Art, the EYFS homework is usually manageable, as the kids grow it gets more but the time you have to do it doesn't increase.

Yoni - maybe. His cousin 3 years ahead has the same though, just harder obv. Have been told max 10 mins reading, 10mins homework thoughout the school. It's set every day so just refreshes days learning but with parents. It's private, so they don't follow EYFS

DD1 is 5.5 and Y1. We have weekly spellings, nightly reading, weekly on-line math thing and a weekly homework project that may involve ordering numbers, drawing and labeling pictures or making a model (note to self -must keep giant weetabix box)

And today there was a sticker on her chest saying about preparing a show and tell project - but that's only once every half term.

She goes to 2 sport activities - 3 evenings a week and on a Saturday morning - both are life skills and I want her to continue these. I try to take her somewhere interesting (EH life members so often a castle or fort; or zoo, or aquarium) at least twice a month - not forcing education but more answering the 100 questions a minute that the DDs come up with.

So far DD1 is happy enough. She reads the book as a bedtime story to her sister and then again to me. The maths thing she mostly enjoys and is independent at, though I have to persuade and support her in the areas she's not as good at. The weekly thing she loses enthusiasm for by the end, and I think I can make the 'show and tell' thing fun. Luckily the weekly project is handed out on a Friday so unlike Veruca we get to do quite a bit over the weekend. Unless we have lots of guests for a Christening one weekend and a family party half way across the country the next. We practiced the last-minute-homework-panic, but that's a skill she'll need later...

I think she's at the limit of what she can do and still have 'down time'. Of course as the homework increases in the next few years she will became more independent and hopefully have more stamina for it all.