Would you reply to the head?

[mosschops30]

we had a survey sent out a couple of weeks ago, the usual 'do you think you child is treated fairly and with respect' etc.
There was a question about homework and i wrote thst i thought the 'learning log' they do is a nightmare. Its not smething they can do without a large amount of parental input mostly, and i put that ds1 dislikes doing it. I said i woukd rather they have structured homework like they had in reception, e.g. Handwriting practice, phonics etc. Or spelling lists or times tables.

The head teacher has written to me and said the following:
The purpose of learning logs is to consolidate learning that has taken place. Parents often like to be involved, but it should not be parents who complete them, the objectives may include spelling or writing.
Also waffles on about home reading which i didnt mention in the survey and have no problem with as its something we can both enjoy.

So would you reply? Im a bit that she is suggesting i am not one of those parents who enjoys being involved!

Some of the stuff we've had to do is:
Share and complete a jigsaw, make your own puzzle, record with photographs or drawings.
Whilst driving talk about traffic you see. Record this in the log and draw and label.
Make a fruit salad, discuss what you like in it, record with photos or drawings.
Take your child to the local library, choose a book, talk about different types of books, people who work there. Take photos of your visit.
To celebrate St Davids day please make a symbol of wales (love spoon, daffodil, rugby ball) these are to be displayed in school.

And so on. This is every bloody week and it drives me nuts.

I think some of the tasks being set in your learning logs aren't good as they require too much input and specify how they should be done. We were told we had to have open ended tasks and that the children should decide how they were to be recorded. For example, 'What different types of books do you know about?' Those with the time and inclination could decide to do the library visit and take photos but other children could just look at their own bookshelves and copy a couple of the titles or draw what's on the cover. 'What's your favourite fruit dish?' Again some could go to the effort of making a fruit salad and photographing it, but others could just draw a picture of some strawberries and ice cream - both equally acceptable but requiring different levels of adult input.

Sounds horrendous. I hate homework in primary school anyway and never set it. Learning logs sound like a total nightmare.

I would just ignore the letter. And if it was me I'd probably ignore the homework too, but that's for you to decide. :o

chillie wish you could come with me, shes scary

Hmm they do seem to be only things thet child can do if the adult organises it for them like buy fruit drive to library I think this is a bloody cheeky every week, thugh nice mini projects in themselves, the phots alone would drive me mad.

It does not allow the child to be very independant such as reading instructions from a hmk sheet and completing a historical diary entry or story or constructing a cube.

Sorry so yeah I would reply to the head and say while you see the validity in soe of the homework set and understand the readonng behind that you feel strongly about children having pieces of work that foster indepdance as this is an essnetial life and learning skill equired for later years.
Also giving a child some autonomy over their choice of format/topic in which to present the homework task allows for greater differentiation amongst children.

Ooh namechange, wanna do me a letter

Campergirls-spellings "pedagogically futile"?? Surely not!
Thank goodness my children went to school a while ago and had homework which consisted of spellings, tables, "sums" and book reports. I also recall time spent drawing maps and scrolls and ageing them with tea and burning the edges.
A younger colleague's children get this type of homework and she hates it, particularly for her younger DD (year 3 or 4), who needs help to complete the tasks. The worst was "What do yoy know about St Wilgetfortis?"
We agreed the correct answer was "Nothing at all, actually..."

My DCs' school does whole school homework projects for the second half of each term. Every child gets the same brief, but how they (or their parents) interpret it is up to them.

I always feel sorry for the ones who have either had it all done by the parents or had no parental support at all.

Examples - for "Prepare a biography of a famous person" one girl produced a single sheet of a4 on which she'd written a few facts about Diana, Princess of Wales. She was surrounded by classmates proudly clutching displays and booklets.

For "World Festivals" one girl had chosen the Olympics and [supposedly] created a vast model athletics stadium with running track, long jump area, javelin distance markings, etc, all perfectly to scale ... in yr 1. Yeah right.

Alpha mum always spends the school run frantically briefing her darling boy on how 'his' project was made. The day that he dropped the "Find out how something works" lego ferris wheel, it was mum who cried. Son couldn't care less.