I agree with this no primary home work thing

[vintageteacups]

what kirsty allsop thinks

Kirsty (IMO) has hit the nail on the head about stopping homework for primary school children. At a time when kids are obese from lack of exercise and staying in watching and playing games etc, surely, a reading book and a few spellings and times tables would suffice?

Why is it that my DCs bring home maths homework (which often takes dd hours because she procrasitnates) and and a project that takes research - often done by me because DD is too tired(mentally) after a week at school.

Why can't swining on a rope swing, helping to pick apples, taking control of the shopping list, reading a comic, helping to mix cement etc, all be a part of primary 'homework'.

The stress put on kids at secondary level is so much that why not let them be kids for a bit longer at primary?

we really struggle with homework, as ds is 8 (y3) and is behind on his literacy and numeracy compared to the rest of the class. His reading has come on leaps and bounds in the past 18 months due, in part, to hearing him read every night. However, he now brings a new book hiome every day, plus spellings to practise every night. In addition to this he has a book for handwriting, and brings home a pack with 5 or 6 different pieces of work in which must be completed over the week.
The homework usually includes some sort of science/research task, a numeracy exercise, a comprehension sheet, a literacy wordsearch with questions, and a writing task. The spellings and reading are tailored to each child's ability, the homework packs are sent out to all kids.
Last week his teacher pulled my dh up during the school run and asked why ds hadn't 'been doing his homework'. We read every night, and usually get through 3 of 6 pieces of homework. It is so laborious for ds and us. I actually timed how long it took him to rewrite one sentence with the correct punctuation the other night, and it was 16 minutes. This is from a sheet with 10 examples. He is so drained and so...beaten...every night when it comes to doing it. He just wants to kick back a bit, and tbh, so do I.
I know it must look like ds needs to be working harder to catch up, but he is just not capable of whizzing through it like some of the other kids. With the exeption of eading, and maybe one project each half term, i think the schools should be responsible for teaching our children. i am also in teaching btw, but KS4, which is a different kettle of fish. Homework that is set should be done by the child independently, if the child is unable to do the set task without 1-1 from a parent, the homework is pitched tooo high.

We're the opposite getorf. Our school is also outstnading by Ofsted yet they set HW. The thing is, they don't do spelling tests anymore and dd's spellings have gone downhill big time since we moved here.

They also don't have to learn tables at home but dd knows them quite well so perhaps they have time to do them in class.

woodchuck - that is simply way too much and I think you should talk to the school and say it's draining him. I would be very is my yr 3 child had that to do and would make sure they reduced it.

Also, I disagree with handwriting being done at home. Parents aren't generally taught how schools teach children to form their letters and it has changed a lot since we were at school (and I'm only 33).

I think HW in primary school can be a good thing ...( ducks behind sofa;) ....Let me just qualify that statement though. I am not talking about hours of the stuff. I am also not talking about formal sit down at the desk sort of home work. But fun activities that re-enforce what your child is learning at school. DS1 is in year 1 and he has 10 spellings a week and a reading book as well as work to do on a website. None of it is mandatory and the school have given great tips and ideas on how to make it fun. One thing I do know from family members that are teachers is that once a child goes to secondary school there will be homework and it appears that those children who have got into the habit of working on school work at home find it much easier to cope.

Obviously if a young child is being pressured by and overburdened with too much homework then that is counter productive as it will put them off learning. But I don't think getting into a healthy pattern of consolidating on what you have learned is all bad. I am still having to do this in my job at 42 and very glad of the skills I learned at school .

I think homework is good too!

DS is in Y2 and gets timetables/division, spelling tests, book reviews and a maths or literacy work.

Spelling and timetables are easy for us to do - we dont sit down to do them, we make it fun, he plays on my iPhone or the computer.

This week literacy homework was about connectives - again we casually did it. If it has to be a sit down thing - we always do it on Sunday morning and he knows it. The routine works for us. He is at a prep and has had homework since reception. Contrary to opinions here, he is so used to it there are no tears here!We also do other school work things at home but we have time for play as well.

Err..... sorry I have never yet had a meaningful job that hasn't required a bit of extra work outside the office. Don't get me wrong I love my career but I have only been successful at it because I've always been prepared to do what it takes and continue with life long study. There is nothing wrong with wanting a job that you go to, get paid for and leave behind at 5.00pm, but if you want more then you have to be prepared to go that little bit extra and that is a lesson I want my children to learn - albeit in a fun and creative way ;)

some jobs - for example, hotel industry/civil servie/administration/local gov etc often mean you cannot work at home after hours. mrsbiscuits you kind of imply that if you don't work at home after hours, then you won't be successful - simply not true. what about doctors and nurses???

DD has just started bring home homework from preschool. She is 3 years old and doing literacy/numeracy. Apparently it's to prepare her for primary school. I thought that reception year was supposed to be the transitional year.

I'm not entirely sure whether I should encourage dd to get on with it and finish her phonics or send her homework book back in with whatever she's done, complete or not. She wants to go out and dig the garden over and let off steam.

Is it really flipping necessary? I repeat, she's THREE.

I am a nursery nurse and would find it a bit difficult to take my work home . Not everybody works in an office.
DH does but he can't bring his work home either as it is all top secret, restricted defence stuff that he can't do on a normal computer.

My dd loves doing her homework, she gets 2 reading books a week and then on a friday is set some maths and some general homework. This weeks homework was to get 4 items from the cupboard, find out their weight and order from heaviest to lightest and then draw them and she also had to go through one of her reading books and write all the 2 letters/one sound words.
It took her about 20 minutes in total and apart from reading her books a few times which is normall done first thing when she is getting her bags together that is it till Friday.
It hasnt stopped her playing or exercising or caused an issue at all. I like it as i can see how she is doing and we get to spend some time 1:1 which doesnt happen as often as i would like if im honest! she also loves doing her best and getting stickers from her teachers!

I have worked with both Doctors and Nurses all of whom follow a programme of continuing professional development which requires constant study and updating of their skills throughout their careers. This is not done on the ward or in the surgery. Teachers also have ensure that their skills are updatedand do all their planning etc. outside the classroom. Having said that I didn't say there was anything wrong in not doing that just that , im my experience, you get more out of work if you put more in and enjoy it in the process. My sons may decide they don't want to do what I do but I do believe in giving them the skills to do so if they want to :)

I understand what you say about professional development, but there is a good deal of difference between the way adults learn (in this case, where they have a clear goal and have chosen to do the study) and small children.

I only helped ds with his KS1 & KS2 homework if he showed a clear desire to do it. Most of the time, it sat in his bookbag, not done (I encouraged him in Y1 with spellings and stuff, and gave up when it was proving counter-productive). This has done him no harm as far as I can tell. I saw my role as taking him out, showing him interesting things and making sure he had access to plenty of stuff to read/do. None of his teachers ever pulled him up on his lack of homework- from which I assume that either they didn't like it either/a lot of children didn't do it/he was doing fine in class anyway.

I hate primary homework with a passion. Kids don't get much free time as it is, and there are lots of things to be learned outside a classroom that can't be pinned down on a piece of paper/worksheet.

just to add to my post that DD was 5 in december and is in reception year!

Homework in primary is pretty rough too if parents work full time. So the parents and child might get home at 6, then they need to eat, maybe have bath time, bed at say 8. Family time is more important than homework at this age.

Are we saying reading at home and practising timestables is 'homework' ?

I thought its the least that we can do at home with our children?

Ds is at pre-prep in yr 2 and has homework since reception. I used to try and get him to do it - threats, promises, arguments etc. Now I don't bother. He does it if he wants to and doesn't if he doesn't want to. Homework is purely for show. If it honestly made a difference to ds's learning I would be questioning what he does at school for 7 hours a day.

I didn't have homework until I was 12. Nothing. Not even reading. Didn't stop me becoming highly qualified - uni, post grad, profession.

Ds academically is bright but not bothered. Things he is passionate about he excels in. His golf pro emailed me video on YouTube about learning and I couldn't agree more with what Sir Ken Robinson says in it.

Oli it is homework if it is set by the school. If you choose to do that with your dcs for interest or fun then that is up to you. What I think is wrong is having work set by the school that children are required to do at home.

If the school didn't set homework, I would still help dd practice her tables and set perhaps 5 spellings a week for her. Other than that, we read together and she reads alone whenever she can. She is very bright but can't be bothered unless at school. She just wants wind down time.

She's absolutely right.

I HATE homework for children under ten. They don't do it, I have to bloody do it.

I refuse point blank to do my four year old's worksheets about different letters. I read with him nearly every day and if I identify a weekneass, I will work on it. None of the work sheets have yet covered anything he hasn't already known for a year. It's an exercise in wasting time.

With ds1, I do nothing with him that is likely to see him in tears. He has dyspraxia, his home-literacy (from me) consists of chalking on the path, crayoning on sandpaper in the garden and writing shopping lists for me. He also has ASD and ADHD and "Write a fable" is simply not appropriate, neither does he wish to do it. It takes 2 hours to decompress him from school sometimes, I'm not going to hinder that. He DID hand in a project on robots that he very much enjoyed.

Mollie

DS is Y2 at prep too! I am surprised that your DS is laid back about it - I suspect that it gets worse in Y3 doesn't it when they have specialist subject teachers? I am just lucky that my DS loves doing his work.

OP - Really? I don't think many parents will 'set' spelling test at home if they are saying that they do enough at school!

I wish my DS got more homework < prepares to be flamed >. I seriously struggle to understand how some children are too active/busy to do 20 minutes homework 3-4 times a week. Nearly every article you read in the papers these days says how much time children spend watching TV/playing computer games etc etc etc so how can these same children be too 'busy' to do homework? My DS does after school clubs three nights a week (sport), plus Cubs, plenty of time for playing football etc with friends - he can easily fit in some homework but is hardly given any at all.

I'm not sure how laid back he is. He seems to do well with minimal effort, eg 100% in spellings despite not learning them. If he is interested in something then he is peerless.

Ragwort, my daughter was getting so much homework I kept a homework diary to back up my complaint to the school. The week of the diary, she spent from 1 - 1 1/2 hours a night (at age 8) from Mon-Thursday and still didn't finish the homework. This hour needed considerable help from me, despite my daughter being one of the brightest - the tasks were just too ambitious and/or time-consuming for her age group. If the kids can't do it without parental help (and I don't mean parents listening to reading or helping practise times tables) then they shouldn't have it as homework.

I think it is pretty poor teaching if homework is viewed as an essential part of schoolwork.

As for not having time to do homework, I can easily understand that. On an average day Ds has an hour at home from getting in to bedtime. In that hour he has his tea, bath and is expected to do homework. I dont want him to go to bed any later than 7.30-7.45pm as he has to be up at 6.30am to get washed, dressed and breakfasted to be in school for 7.30-7.45am. Doesn't leave time for computer games, tv etc.