Reception children parents, did you start phonics or Math classes for your child?

[Mum8]

My DD started school in Sept and aside from homework and teaching her how to write her name and reading books to her a couple of nights a week, I do nothing else with her.
I keep hearing of parents putting their kids in phonic classes and I did nothing of that. Will that mean she will stay behind? She belongs in a colour group and the other day I kind of glimpsed at a chart when we visited the school and saw that her group had the least house points and I felt so worried.
Should I put her in a class? Like phonics or maths?
Will her ability now affect upcoming years in school and how well she does?
She is really good at recognising all the phobic letters but cannot read them as full words now...
Initially I did not want to put her in a class as I thought she should be enjoying school and not really spend her time in private classes already

Up the amount you read to her to daily.

No need to do classes/tutoring.

Other things to try: everyday maths; cooking together and talking about measuring things out, slicing a pizza into halves then quarters, putting shopping in the trolley 'Get four apples. Hang on, we need two more. Great, how many apples in the trolley now'. Or 'if I want to give you and him 2 biscuits each, how many should I fetch'

Plus board games and as many craft activities as you can bear.

Didn't consider it for a second.

DD kept up with her peers in reading without being outstanding. Maths apparently made her face light up according to her teacher (odd child!).

Now in the equivalent of Yr 1, reading is really clicking with her, and with no pressure to read she tries to read everything she sees.

We read to her every night. She reads as her homework and whatever bits and pieces she sees around. She "helps" with shopping and baking etc.

We followed the same approach with her older sister who is now an excellent reader and near the top of her class at maths.

If she's keeping up with her peers, I'd say there's no need for extra classes.

And house points could be a behaviour encouragement thing rather than anything else (I know my DD frequently tells me her table lost points because A was chatting to B too much). I wouldn't pay any attention to that unless it's bothering your DD

Oh good to hear your experiences, will keep up our nighttime reading and do some maths as part of our daily chores, good ideas, thank you 😉
Relieved to hear good experiences with hour the need of a phonic class...

Meant without and not “with hour” of course ...

Gosh, no. They do this stuff all day and then come home and do it with you. In what little time they have left in the day, let her play and have fun. She's only little. We've done the bare minimum. I get through 3 books with her a week, some letter and word recognition work and some number work (via an app provided by the school), which is what she's asked to do each week. We do nothing extra, unless there is something she is really struggling with (then on occasion, I create a little activity to help her better understand that). Assuming the teacher says she's doing well, I'd let her enjoy her time outside of school as much as possible. Draw together, cook, take a walk and get outside. I think quality over quanity is more important. Really focus on what it is you are asked to do at home by the school, turn off tv, phones, etc. and spend time with her doing it, but then give her lots of free time. There's a reason by successful executives read so many books for pleasure and go to the gym every day. It's because free time and 'play' makes work so much more productive. I think they learn so much better when they have time off and get to have fun.

• I should add just doing the bare minimum, mine is already nearly at Year 1 reading level according to her online assessments we have to do with the school and she was doing basic adding and subtracting the other day which just sort of came about spontaneously, so she's absorbing it all just fine.

Even when they are older the best education stuff you can do with them is the fun stuff. On Sunday my 12 yr old and I were estimating the weight of the snowman we built. (Having initially started by estimating the weight of the 2nd snowball that was too big for us to lift!).

Keep having fun!

Thank you all, love this approach! So easy to start competing when you hear all these stories on phonic classes etc and I actually don’t like that spirit. Love all your ways and you have some brilliant ideas on how to support learning through fun 😉

My DD started school in Sept and aside from homework and teaching her how to write her name and reading books to her a couple of nights a week, I do nothing else with her

Good grief no.
I didn't do that with mine - well, we always read both to, and with them from when they were tiny, but not 'homework' in Reception.
One has just graduated, 1 is at University, and 3rd is doing very well at school, about to take her GCSEs.
The best thing you can do for your dc is to give them a love of reading, and to talk with them about everything and anything that goes on in your day, and that they see around them. Go out and do things with them at weekends and in the holidays - even supermarket shopping is a fab place to learn, doesn't have to be expensive trips out.... a walk in the local park teaches them all about seasons, nature, people and even physics.

I've never heard of anyone doing additional phonics or maths classes outside of school in reception class. The only person I know who did pay for extra maths lessons was for a year 3. Your DD sounds fine.

Mycarsmellsoflavender I did not think anyone did myself and then heard about it from another mom and could not believe it. I’m only putting down DD to start swimming but I’m hearing now of mums putting their kids in ballet,dance, girl guiding classes or acrobatics and I’m a bit baffled. Where do they find the time? 😳 Mind you I have 3 DC but still I find it hard already with nursery and school pickups. How do people manage with all these extra after school activities and driving the kids back and forth? Tired just thinking about it ...

My daughter is 9 and a lot of her friends go to a class or club 5/6 days a week.. not us though she goes to two clubs a week and is starting back at swimming lessons in the new year. She just loves to play either at home with her brother and outside on her bike with her friends. I encourage her to have hobbies (I had none as a child) and to read as much as possible. I don't feel she needs to be part of everything!

Regarding your child in reception, my ds is 6 he started school last year children start school at 5 where I live and they don't do reception.
There was no pressure to read or even blend letters until January of this year. He can read independently now.
From what I've read on MN there seems to be an expectation that children can read at 4.. seems crazy, they're so young!

Never heard of out of school classes for phonics; only a very small number do something like kumon for maths, and it's not at all necessary. I'd lay heavy odds colour groups will be random and house points for behaviour and trying hard and kindness etc not just knowing stuff.

Out of school sports or rainbows/beavers etc is quite common, but is there anything else your child wants to do at the moment? Swimming is a great choice as it's such an important skill as well as fun for the kids. DS in reception didn't even want to do that, we didn't push it and he started in Y1. DD wanted to do everything going so she had a slightly bonkers list of clubs even in reception. Lucky girl that we can afford it and get her to it. I remember feeling the same as you when we only had DS and he just wanted to go home after school and some of his classmates seemed to have clubs every day.

Part of the difference I think is that DD is a late sleeper and homework is about 5 minutes a week. And school 5 minutes from our door. So can do a club and homework and still have hours for playing.