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?

I too hate homework and tbh, we have't done any for about 4 weeks.

DD1 is 7 and in Y2 and like Oblomov said further upthread, we get reading practice every night, which is often a whole book. Have no problems with this, but because she is quite a good reader, the books are long and boring for her to read and me to listen to.

On top of that is numeracy (about 20 questions), literacy (write about a subject and use various connectives and punctuation, but it has to be at least 1 A4 page long ) and science/geography/history (usually involving experiments at home). Then there are the obligatory spellings every week... It's such a long process. DD1 hates it, we end up arguing because she won't do it/can't do it/hates homework etc etc.

On top of all that, I have 2yo DS and 11 month old DD2 to sort out. DH works until way past the kids bedtime every night and I'm struggling to physically fit it all in (with bath, bedtime, stories etc).

She gets given homework on a Monday night to be returned on Thursday. Sounds fab because they've got three nights to get it all done but then DD1 goes to Brownies now on a Tuesday so effectively only has 2 nights to get it done.

I refuse to let her drop Brownies because she enjoys it, she is making new friends and she is learning new skills all the time. I refuse to shift her bed time from 8 which it currently is, to anything later. We already shifted it by an hour to accomodate the other children having tea and going to bed.

If it was set at the weekend, we might have more success at getting it in on time. We do reading practice every night but homework gets right on my nerves (and DD1's).

Added to all that (!) I'm finding that the homework they are getting hasn't been covered at school so I am acting as the teacher, trying to teach DD1 the basics before she can even do whichever random activity they have set up.

I am fully expecting to be pulled by the teacher for lack of homework, especially this close to SATS .

I still think there could be a 'middle ground' - clearly PlanetEarth's daughter gets far too much homework at age 8 (1 -1.5 hrs a night) - but then my DS age 10 gets just one book to read a week and nothing else - I do feel that children need to learn how to work outside the class room - it does worry me that so many young people leave school without the basic skills, I used to do a lot of interviewing etc for young school leavers and the lack of ability to do simple maths, basic english, etc was shocking. I don't know if homework would have helped everyone - but I guess what I am saying is that I don't want my DS to end up unemployable .

Ragwort - at our school we get at least 2 hours a week homework for my DTSs they are 8, and 30mins for my DD she is 5! Plus daily reading, spellings and tables - it is toooooooo much!

Ragwort - watching tv can be very educating. School so far hasn't taught my dcs as much about animals and wildlife as Deadly 60 and Roar .

And they both absolutely loved Human Planet.

candleshoe - perhaps I'd better transfer my DS to your DC's school .

vintage - I am sure some TV is educational, sadly I don't think 'Top Gear' and 'The Simpsons' are in the same category .

Tv doesn't actually have to be educating though - surely after a 6 hour day at school, a bit of chilling out in front of the tv (as well as other activites) is good for them to be honest.

I can hardly get a word of dd and ds until they've chillled out for a while.

Oli, no that isn't homework as such, they get homwork in addition to reading, spellings and tables.

It has been a constant battle with ds but at least it isn;t as bad as the homework at the other local prep school or the local state primary. At the dc's independent school they don't get half so much as the other places.

I can agree with no more extra work on top of reading, spelling and timestables- to remove this would be sad.

Why would it be 'sad'? Don't you wonder what you are paying for if they are expected to do work at home?

Mollie - did you just say that ?

I don't agree with masses of homework especially for the purposes of additional learning (as opposed to reinforcement) at the primary stage.

But I certainly think that the habit of doing some work whether it's some reading, writing or numberwork almost daily is a habit worth developing in young children. Getting them to take responsibilty for checking what they have to do and setting about it, getting it into their bags etc will prepare them for later on (I'm still working on dd with this)

Oli I thought your post meant that you thought not having spellings etc to do for homework would be sad.

Well, I am sure children at state schools also have spelling homework too so really it has nothing to do with what I am paying for Do you honestly leave all work to the teachers just because your DC is at prep?

I just think that taking everything away may actually be detrimental to the child. Learning shouldn't be confined to the classroom and surely timetables need more and more practice?

I'm fine with tables and spelling and reading. perhaps once a term or half term, a little project involving a range of choices would be okay.

I was fuming last night - dd's (yr 4) maths homework, in for tomorrow was so vague. Not in a way that I didn't understand it but in a way that dd defo didn't. It literally told them to measure areas and perimeters of rectangles and then find the difference between the two measurements and put answer (d=.....) onto a grid. No mention of why they had to do it or what they should look for.

I asked DH to see if I'd missed anything and he said they just had to fill it in like it said and nothing else was required. Now, I'm sure it was just an exercise to be able to measure area/perimeter but the worksheet was crap and didn't tell them why; even the teacher had written stuff on it to make it slightly more clear. DH said that perhaps the teacher would go on to ask in class what pattern they saw. I said that should not be what it's about - it should surely be coonsildating something they've already learnt!

I have to admit that I am all for this too! The kids come home after along day at school and I barely get to enjoy their company before have to nag them about homework which takes up a lot of the evening before bed! And if they get stuck it takes longer.
Also takes up my evening because I have to help them.

Maybe they should restrict homework to 2-3 times a week or just Friday?

Or how about giving them a number of spellings to learn on a monday for test on friday and a times tables for the weekend. That means they needn't be sitting over a work book all weekend. They could do tables in the car/gardeing/playing etc.

We have homework on Friday to be completed by Monday - it takes 20min max. For example - stuff like list 5 transparent/transluscent/opaque things in your house or complete this page with connectives other than 'then'.

We have no homework during the week but they do get spellings and timetables on Friday to be tested the next Friday.

Reading is again an ongoing thing with at least one written review during the week to check comprehension and writing skills like pancuation etc.

I agree that 'real homework' needs to be every other week but we shouldn't cut out the basics of reading/spellings and timestables.

I expect Ds to get more teacher attention in a class of 14 compared to a class of 32. If he isn't and is being set homework that matters then I'd be going to see the head. I've done further education courses where the tutor has set homework that was important to do because we didn't have time to cover it in class. If the same was going on at ds's school I would find it completely unacceptable.

Obviously no one has looked at my link. Had an interesting chat with ds's teacher today about it.

I am hugely opposed to primary homework. We didn't do homework at primary school in my day (God I sound old!), and I don't think it makes one bit of difference in the long term.

I especially hate the flipping research projects which you inevitably end up doing for them. I would rather chill out with my children after school and, as you say, they are still 'learning' doing other informal things.

What I don't understand though, is parents who say they don't like too much homework but still insist on sending their child to a pushy private school that gives TONS! One of dd's friends who goes to a private school can't come to play with dd after school because of the frigging homework. And that was the situation 2 years ago, when they were 6 If a 6 year old can't play with a friend because of homework then something is seriously wrong.

Most people here seem to agree that homework is a bad thing, yet believe that reading and times tables need to be reinforced at home. I'm sorry, but is this not home work? Perhaps the bugbear is not with homework, but the kind of work which is being sent home.

I think the problem is the fact that parents are doing the homework for the children. Why are you doing your child's research project for them? The point is to assist them - no do it for them!

For any sort of research project, I take him to the library, help him find the resources, then leave him to it. So what if it is badly done. DS handed in the most unpolished powerpoint presentation as his half-term homework, but I didn't care because he did it himself, which was the whole point of the exercise to begin with.

think the problem is the fact that parents are doing the homework for the children. Why are you doing your child's research project for them? The point is to assist them - no do it for them!

Sofaqueen - I don't literally do it for them but these research projects put a strain on parents. My 8 year old doesn't KNOW how to use Google yet so I have to help her, using the one computer in our house which is already in demand from other members of the family. Very difficult to sit down and help her with a 4 year old also needing my attention and dh working long hours. She can't take herself to the library so I have to take her. Not such a big problem in itself, we use the library regularly anyway so it's just another trip. But I resent HAVING to do these things for something which (I feel) is of little long-term educational value compared to other things. For example, my dds are keen readers, middle one especially. She has taught her loads just from reading non-fiction. I would rather she has more time to do this than spend time on a pointless project.

Research projects are all well and good....at a certain age. And I don't think 7 or 8 is the right age.

everspring - that's ridiculous! Of course removing homework won't "level the playing field"! Parents who engage and assist with homework (even if they disagree with it) are parents who automatically encourage and nurture all sorts of learning.

My DS is 3.6 so not at school yet but I don't like the idea of primary homework. I was DS to be able to follow his own interests after school.

If he has no homework then we'll have more time to play/work/learn with him and he should end up with a broader and deeper education - i.e. increasing the gap between himself and those whose parent's cant/won't help.

What the answer to that is I don't know!

But everyspring, by saying the above, you are implying that doing homework DOES benefit children and those who do it will be advantaged by doing so. If homework has no benefit whatsoever, then it doesn't matter if it is done or not.

A dictate that every primary school child should not do homework will only hurt disadvantaged children (if you think that homework is beneficial) because independently educated children will be getting homework, thus making any advantage given by educating privately even greater.