If your year 6 child was given a homework maths paper with three questions on it and asked to do two, would they even consider doing all three?

[sandyballs]

I've been having a conversation with them about 'going the extra mile', not just with homework but generally in life and how particularly in the job market that they will probably enter in a few years, how important it is. So a good idea to get them into that frame of mind now surely?

DH thinks I'm being over the top and if they've been asked to do two and they've done it then leave them alone. DD1 totally gets what I'm saying and has done the extra questions, DD2 is adamant that two is all she is doing.

Views please

Not got a year 6 but 2 means 2! You are a hard task master!
Also in exams if she answered 3 she wouldn't get marked for the third answer...

These might be a reason the teacher doesn't want them to do the third question. I do like the idea of teaching children to not just do the minimum though. I am a teacher in a secondary school and most pupils are extremely lazy, the ones who do extra always do so much better than their peers and are a joy to work with.

We aren't talking hours more work or anything difficult, the extra question would take about 10 minutes!

Learning to follow instructions is important too though I think. It is important for exams to do as you are told!

That's exactly it, not doing the bare minimum. Hadn't thought of the following instructions thing though, that's a fair point, and it would be wasting time in an exam situation.

If the instructions said 'answer two' then that is what your DC should do. DD2's primary often offers 'bonus questions' for maths homework and tests. They're not compulsory and the results appear as, eg 26 points out of 28 (plus 2), but it's good for able kids to have extra exercises which stretch them. I do encourage DD2 to do these extra questions if she has time and is sure she's answered the compulsory questions well, but certainly wouldn't give her the spiel about trying her best in life, job market, etc. I don't think primary-age children can relate to that or are motivated to try harder because of it. It's different when they're 14, perhaps.

'optional' is different to 'answer two out of these three questions'.

I give mine about 6 questions and usually ask them to choose two or three to do , depending on how long I think it will take them. I would say about a quarter of my children will do the lot, a quarter will do three or four, a quarter will do the two and the final quarter won't do any!

I personally think 14 is a bit late for a chat like that! From what i have seen of my 14 year old nieces and godchildren lethargy and under-achievement have set in. And these are kids who were in the top streams at primary school. Perhaps that's why I'm being a bit anal about it all. i'm also a bit stressed about secondary school and the results on Thursday.

The paper had three questions on it and the teacher verbally told the class to choose two of them as their homework. They weren't told that the third question was optional.

We had a huge discussion with ds1 (yr 5) about this. He was adamant that he was only allowed to do the first sheet. Not the second. And we went round in circles about the exact words the teacher had used. (in his case it was a completely different sheet, not stapled, nothing. The teacher had said they only had to do the first sheet. So we wasted an entire evening on what she meant by had. Did she mean only, and absolutely not under any circumstances to do the spare sheet (in which case why had she handed it out) or did she mean 'you don't have to but you can if you want to and find the first sheet easy peasy'...

We never did get to the bottom of it.

Dd1 is yr 7 and would have done all three as a matter of course in yr 6(and always), then checked to see if there was anything else she could do. Ds1, very literal. Working several grade levels ahead in maths, would rather have poked his own eyes out than attempt to interpret what the inference was, but wouldn't have had any bother doing three if she'd have said 'you have to do at least two, you can do them all if you like'. It's the uncertainty over expectations that sends him into meltdown.

DS would have done 1 of the 2 requested , then done the second one after some nagging encouragement from me; DD1 and DD2 would do all three. DD1 would then go online and look for more sample questions. DD2 would probably just stick with the 3.

If it was maths then I'm sure dd1 (year 6) would do all three. She wouldn't if it was any other subject unless it happened to hit something she found particularly interesting.

Dd2 (year 3) might in maths or reading as long as there wasn't something beckoning that was more fun.

Ahh - a verbal instruction interpreted by the pupil. Written instructions would be better all round I think! I think I wouldn't do battle over doing three. If your dd has got the instructions wrong and she should have done 3 she will learn the hard way. If she is correct- then leave her be?
Maybe I will change my mind as my 'do the bare minimum' son gets older!

My DDs would do all 3, but they are swotty ambitious girls.

Personally I'd only push argue them into going the extra mile if the third question was marked 'extension' or something like that.

FFS, this is an eleven year old child we are discussing... give them a chance to enjoy what is left of their childhood, before telling them how hard it will be to get a job. Frankly most children, and yes, this is a child and not a mini adult will do as they are requested, ie two questions out of three... I am surprised that you did not realise that perhaps the teacher has asked them to do this for a reason. By seeing which question the child has not answered will often show where the child is or considers themselves to be weak on a particular topic and extra work or scaffolding can be applied to help them.

I think you are being unreasonable... life is tough enough in Yr 6 without extra pressure from home.

Yr 5 here - and I would say in maths that the answer would depend entirely on dd's mood.

Some days, she would be like madwomanintheattic's ds - she would be distressed and upset by the idea of doing the wrong thing even if that was doing an extra question.

Some days (if the sums didn't involve much writing) she would absent mindedly do all three and then be bemused that she had done so.

Other days getting two done would involve tears, tantrums and full on melt down.

Mostly I think DS would do two, but might do three if it was a topic he liked. But then he likes Maths.

DD (year 3) would not dream of doing extra Maths. She did a fabulous bit of history though, with some models thrown in for good measure.

As a teacher, I would roll my eyes at the extra marking

I give my GCSE class a Grade A*/A question, a Grade B question and a Grade C question and tell them to do what they can. I get a much better response than actually telling them to do it all. It invokes a bit of a competitive element (not wanting to look like the one who might only get a C etc) and generally speaking, most of them do all 3, or at least have a crack at the hard one, as there's no pressure, so to speak.

If the 3rd question was labelled 'Extension' or 'If time work' then yes they would do it.

If the work was phrased "answer any 2 of the following 3 questions" then no, they wouldn't

DS1 would do the extra if it was marked 'extension', he hates to be beaten by others. He wouldn't do the extra if it said ' do two of these three questions'. I encourage this attitude, he really needs to improve how carefully he follows instructions in an exam situation.

There is no way without pleading cajoling then bribery, shouts threats and tears and a severe beating from me that ds (year 5) would do any extra work.

Annoyingly he takes after his father and coasts along nicely seemingly without effort. ( I realise this is Not a Good Attitude and we have Had Words)

My children (12 and 11) do all their work at school, so I'm not involved with it at all. In general ds will do the minimum and dd will do the maximum. However they both are good at reading instructions, and were very chuffed to be in the very small minority to read the whole of a recent test paper that had as it's last question 'only answer question 1' or something similar. Learning how to read instructions is an important lesson, and to be honest I think rather more pertinent for an 11 year old than going a hypothetical extra mile (I've always preferred my team to do what I ask really well, than to do several other things I didn't actually want them to do). I don't expect my children to be formally entering the job market for another 10 or so years, apart from part time jobs so I'm really more concerned about academic success at this point in any case.