what amounts to a reasonable amount of homework?

[temmy99]

I know things are different where I am (Nigeria) but my ds2 age 4 had been asked to write numbers 100 to 200 as homework with 10 quantitative analysis questions on top for the weekend, it took us almost 3 hours to do and not without the tears. The school is trying to adapt the british system but I still feel that the homework is too much. what is it like in England? He is in Yr R but they work one year ahead so he is doing Yr 1 work.

Way too much. DS (4) in reception has two reading books a week they are changed Tuesday and Friday only if he has read it 3 times, so some weeks he only actually has one book. and letters to practise.

We read with him encourage him to draw / write etc and he takes some of these into school to show the teacher.

It's a lot more than my DCs get. In Reception, daily reading out loud. In yr1 and yr2, continue reading plus a spellings list (10 words) once a week and maths worksheets once a week.

Sorry should add: reading should be for about 10-15 minutes (books changed when finished), but it doesn't matter if you skip some nights especially with younger children. The maths is meant to take no more than 20mins, and in practice (for my DCs) it took much less.

Oh, and in yr 2 there are times tables to practice as well,

thanks for that, my thoughts exactly, as a foreign school I was hoping that there would be more of an emphasis on the reading as ds2 is quite eager but this is not the case so I have had to dig out my old 'Janet and John' books and also my ladybird series. Going through the threads though it appears that I am well out of date so i will keep watching here for ideas and advice.

I don't remember any homework in Reception year for 4-5 yr olds apart from taking 4 easy books home twice a week. However, there was hardly any pressure and if the children wanted or were able to speed ahead that was up to them. I think by the end of the year they were expected to be able to count up to 20. The 'homework' was often making stuff out of cardboard and string that the parents frequently 'helped' with for Show & Tell. At your son's age, he should be learning more through play IMO, and settling gently into a school regime that he loves which will be his life for many more years. What you describe sounds extremely hard work, even for a smart child.

My ds is in Y1 and has about 9 spellings for a test the following week, a page with a simple excercise on (about 5-10 mins) as well as 4 reading books. No maths homework apart from encouragement to play board games, dice, ask him maths questions at home.

80% of schools in this country use the Oxford Reading Tree. If your school has the funds and/or the inclination, do look them up - can't remember Janet and John setting the world alight for me but I did learn to read!

Good Luck to you and your ds!

DS1 is at an academically pushy private school, and that is much, much more than he had to do. In reception, only reading for the first 2 terms. Third term, they added 5 spelling words a week. Year 1, he had reading every night, 3 worksheets a week (combo of english and maths), and 15 spelling words a week.