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Reception child & homework

14 replies

Dee198600 · 31/10/2025 21:57

Hi, I am looking for some thoughts / opinions.

My little boy is 4 years old (turned 4 end of July) and started in Reception in September. Up until now, he has brought home a reading book each week, which we read each night as part of his bedtime routine, along with some other books that he chooses each night.

Tonight he has come home with a phonics worksheet, which suggests we should practice sounding out letters and practice writing them each day. AIBU to think this is a lot given that my little boy has only just started being able to sound out phonics and is very reluctant to sit down and practice writing letters (he is mostly at mark making stage and not yet holding pencil correctly). Also he attends after school club 3 days per week and so on those days we don’t get home until after 6pm. On those days we only just have time for dinner and then bath, reading and bed.

I feel a bit overwhelmed as I am keen to ensure he isn’t behind his peers given that he is one of the youngest in the class.

Thanks 😊

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FuzzyWolf · 31/10/2025 22:03

I would suspect that he has been given the phobics to try to bring him up to the stage he should be at, so I would recommend fitting them into your week. In just over a year (usually early June in Y1) he will sit a national phonics screening test.

BluntPlumHam · 31/10/2025 22:06

Op get him in the habit of sitting down and doing writing and learning. Habits created now will serve you well later.

You don’t need to do hours long. 20 mins here and there as they have a short attention span. Definitely more play peppered with small learning sessions.

Holding a pencil is hard. Imagine never having done it before. It’s an alien concept like many other things we teach them like potty training or riding a bike. Be patient and show him how to and he we will eventually get it.

In terms of writing gently hold his hand and trace the letters. It takes time.

Sirzy · 31/10/2025 22:06

I work in a reception class and we send home which 4 sounds we have worked on each week. Ideally parents will spend a few minutes practicing them with their children. We don’t monitor if they have but at this point it can make a big difference when things are being reinforced at home.

For writing I would do it with a highlighter and then encourage him to go over in pencil to help practice the shapes

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CoucouCat · 01/11/2025 01:18

My ds school was the same as yours and ds was very reluctant to do his phonics practice too but it’s really a good idea to help him at home, we aren’t talking 20 mins a day - just start with 5 mins and gently extend on the days when he’s more cooperative. You might not manage both phonics and writing at first while his concentration span is short. Make sure when you do it, you’re sitting at a table with no distractions and you are 100% focused on ds too.

My ds went from being unable to read or write a single letter at start of Reception to getting 38 out of 40 on his reading assessment in Y1 by doing just tiny bits of extra support at home it made a massive difference. There is no way he’d have made it without help at home.

I found the best time of day to do the phonics practice and writing was 7.50 a.m. after ds had eaten breakfast and dressed. He was far too tired to concentrate (he was in after school club every day).

We would do ten mins about 5 or 6 days per week. Occasionally ds would throw a real strop as he couldn’t face doing the homework because his friend told him he is stupid, or he found it too hard - mostly I’d just help him tough it out and despite tears we would get it done and I’d find a way to make him giggle and realise he’d done a great job. Good to learn some resilience as long as you don’t make it traumatising.

It has been good to see his confidence grow and now if he says “I am too stupid to do this” I just tickle him until he begs me to stop, and we move on.

For writing, ds was just tracing and copying letters on a worksheet so we’d just do one or two letters per day. Loads of encouragement and get some “well done/good job” stickers on a roll so he can have one when he tries hard (or frankly even when he doesn’t!). He liked wearing the sticker to school in the morning.

You can also try things like getting ds to draw the letters with his finger in a plate of flour or sand.

I also really recommend books of mazes and simple dot to dot puzzles as they are great for tracking a line and pencil control. Ds would often do a puzzle as a warm up before his writing.

Now my ds is in Y2 and he stoically puts up with his homework - although he always tries to push back, once he gets started he actually enjoys it. He has become a bit of a Times Table Rockstar fanatic and has perfected his 2, 5 and 10 multiple and division facts and steadily working through 3 and 11 at the moment. We are working on spelling now because that’s his next tricky area. He has come a long way since those slightly tearful days when he couldn’t do anything at all.

I never worked methodically like this with dd1 who is very able but my ds needs it. In a classroom where 15% + of the kids have SEN that make learning much harder, my ds doesn’t get quite as much attention so he definitely needs the top ups at home.

So don’t push too hard and as pp said, make it a habit - we just have it built into our routine so ds just knows it’s time for his reading, spelling and arithmetic in the same way he knows it’s time to brush his teeth and put on his coat and shoes.

Telemichus · 01/11/2025 06:50

Maybe you don’t do it on afterschool days, or maybe you could get some bath crayons & he could do it in the bath. I got some jolly phonics cards & did things like putting them on the floor & the kids jumped to the right one when I called it out.
lots of other things you could do that aren’t just sitting.
You could write a card/ letter for gran or someone or a thank you card to the lady in the library or anything & help him write his name at the bottom for pencil holding, make it have a bit more purpose to him.
you get wipe clean maths & phonics books too.
keeping the counting going is good too i wish id done more of that.

Iocanepowder · 01/11/2025 06:55

Our reception hasn’t started homework yet, it will start next week. Our issue will be juggling it when also trying to watch my 1 year old. Luckily my DC likes phonics and books though.

It will be any kind ‘craft’ homework they will struggle to get out of us when the time comes.

mystepballchange · 01/11/2025 07:00

The problem is that if only the children born between September and December (say) were given homework then the gap between autumn and summer borns would widen. So I don’t think you can ‘blame’ his birthday.

My DS is also four and in reception. We have phonics to practice which we don’t do sitting down, we just read and practice them as we do so. It seems to be working well as it keeps up that positive association with books.

What scheme does your school use? I’ve found it all quite difficult and DS didn’t seem to get it at first but he’s suddenly flying so it does seem to happen all of a sudden!

BendingSpoons · 01/11/2025 07:30

My DC inly got reading books in Reception. He doesn't sound quite ready for those sheets. I wouldn't make it a battle. Are there other things you can do (maybe at the weekend) instead e.g. drawing, copying diagonal lines or using other things like writing the letters with his fingers? Otherwise it sounds like you will have a big battle with limited success at the moment. Maybe ask school for ways to make it easier.

Superscientist · 01/11/2025 08:54

I have an August born now in year 1. In reception she would have the following in her book bag
2 reading books plus a story book to read to her
Sheets with 5 words to practice
A phonics keyring with all the sounds they had done to date
A keyring with exception words to learn (after the spring term - 2 new words added each week)
Phonics worksheets to complete once or twice a week with a sound they have learnt that week to practice they draw something that has that sound in and write a few words

We encouraged but didn't push her to do the homework. We were meant to read 3 times a week. Some weeks we managed every night other weeks it was just once. We could see that she was learning and growing in confidence and we didn't want to ruin that by pushing when she wasn't engaging. We generally did two of the activities each time and tried to do everything at least once over the weekend.

We found making it part of the bedtime routine worked best for us. We don't have a lot of time in the mornings and early evenings

CopperWhite · 01/11/2025 08:58

A sheet so that you can practice and support what he has been learning at school is not too much. It is important that children are supported in learning to read at home because there just isn’t enough time for each child to have enough 1-1 practice at school. IME, the children who are supported with reading at home make significantly more progress than those who don’t do the work at home.

sparrowhawkhere · 01/11/2025 09:07

My eldest really struggled/hated any written work sent home. Laid off the pressure in first few years but it didn’t work with her so we were firmer from Yr3-4, had so many upsets with her. One day in Yr 5 it clicked that if she got on, she’d have more time to herself and now in high school she’s great at getting on with her homework.

This all might seem years off to you but I’d really recommend getting into good habits early because it’s so hard to get into them when they’re older.

BeLoyalCoralHiker · 01/11/2025 09:56

I don’t think homework is appropriate for primary school children and mine didn’t do it. They were in childcare until 5.30pm and younger one did sports 5 days a week until 9. It did not affect them in secondary school. I wouldn’t stress. Stuff like making sounds that you can do while you’re walking to school etc is different to sitting down with worksheets.

BeLoyalCoralHiker · 01/11/2025 09:56

I don’t think homework is appropriate for primary school children and mine didn’t do it. They were in childcare until 5.30pm and younger one did sports 5 days a week until 9. It did not affect them in secondary school. I wouldn’t stress. Stuff like making sounds that you can do while you’re walking to school etc is different to sitting down with worksheets.

PeachShaker · 14/11/2025 07:49

I would create phonics games or find them. One book I had suggested finding B things to put in a bag (and look at the letter too). Me and my son had loads of fun with Sammy the sock, who was supposed to be placed on things starting with S. I had Sammy the Sock Stirring Soup in a Saucepan on a Stove. We had loads of Finnland made the silliest and longest ones we could, and took the Bag on a Blue Bus too.Fit the game into life like that.

I wouldn’t do the writing he’s not even compulsory school age.I‘d write out big letters (think A5 paper or at least phonics flash card size, or just use them) and have him trace the correct forms and say the sounds. Then ensure he is doing fun mark making.

That way he learns the sounds, learns how to write letters and recognise them and also practices the writing through mark making. Also play with sand, small bits, Lego etc builds pre writing skills and doing those will help writing more than forcing it and making the experience unpleasant

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