What is the purpose of homework?

[Returntowork]

I have always thought it was to consolidate what has been learnt in class and perhaps stretch them slightly to stimulate them to learn more. However dd's recent homework has made me sincerely doubt this. It seems to be to test the skills, commitment and financial capabilities of the parent, be so far above their current ability level it destroys their confidence and leads to hours of tears.

For example dd had to do a project on an Olympic athlete. They wanted a full essay and diagrams showing their career and training so far. I got dd to had write a short summary based on what we had sat and read together. She was marked down because it was compared to work that adults had spent hours on with no child input. What does the child gain from that.

I am perfectly capable of doing that but why? It's not my homework. Also if homework is hrs a night at 6 what is going to be expected at 16?

That sounds quite unfair, I would do the same as you, although dd quite likes to do hers on the computer and find a picture, however it is clearly her work (as I can finally spell fairly accurately and she can't yet). Some work she does on the computer and some on paper, but all the work tends to get a 'lovely ideas :) ' or some such non-graded mark, which is some reward for her work. She does spend a long time on it, but that is mainly because of one finger typing, though with her learning touch typing I hope this will get quicker.

I would talk to the teacher, as no teacher wants her students to be discouraged, and maybe she needs to reassess who should actually be doing the homework, and the message it gives to a child who does it themselves compared to one whose parents do it for them.

I do think, however that computer assignments are creeping down the year groups, so much that am considering upgrading our own laptop and giving ours as christmas present to children, who are 2.5, 5 and 7!

How do you know about it being compared and then marked down?

Just ask the teacher what sort of parental input she's expecting. In our infants' school we set homework because parents complain otherwise. But it doesn't form any basis of assessment. Sometimes it is a consolidation of work done in the classroom, sometimes it is to let the children discover how to find out information by themselves. Yes, totally pointless if the parent does it. And it shoudn't be compulsory at KS1 IMO.

She came out of school upset saying teacher had asked why she hadn't done as well as x,y and z namely those whose parents did it. DH and I have been teaching her computer stuff but it is going to be some time before she produces work the same level as an adult i.e. years.

Other parents are horrified I didn't just do the whole thing.. In fact they said I was brave.

I'm not against homework btw I just think it should be done by the child with parental guidance. Not done by the parent and presented as a completed assignment to the child.

A work colleague has just completed a fabulous project on WW2. I'm sure her son, 9, will be delighted when he sees it and he's sure to get good marks as it is very professionally done. She even managed to get it all done in work time

I would go to see her teacher and ask if, in future, she could send a note with the homework to let parents know if it should be done by themselves or the child!

I find the project work can sometimes stray into this dodgy territory. Today ds has to write a page on 'what I know about puppets'. I pointed out if the honest answer is he doesn't know anything, he can just write 'I know nothing about puppets'. (Fortunately I am not such a bloody pedant I would cost ds a team point at school just to make the point about poorly worded homework assignments - and in any case it turns out he wants to write about Mr Punch because 'he was on the news' and is thus more real than Pinocchio was 'only in Shrek', so he does know something about puppets after all).

I pity JK Rowling's children can you imagine, ds had the assignment recently of retelling a nursery rhyme, I'd imagine JK's lawyers had a field day copyrighting that before she sent it back in . Because children are generally so vague about what they've learnt at school, you're never entirely sure what you're prompting them to remember (let's record the colours of different cars in a bar chart) vs just telling them how to do the homework. Schools should run a course for parents on how to NOT do homework.

Projects are a pain in the arse.

I confess I have done chunks of dyslexic DD1s because she is just so painfully slow, she'd dictate I'd type (and I confess finish off when she'd just had enough).

We also hit on the brilliant idea of getting grandparents to email their memories, which she then found pictures for.

Those have just been recycled for secondary, so thank you GPs.

At least she now has some dictation software so DH or I only have to proof.

I don't take homework too seriously - DC are set only project-type stuff and I just encourage them to pick the most convenient ones. We do plenty of 'real life learning' or whatever you want to call it out of school anyway.

I've had kids at 2 schools.

School 1 gave a lot of projects and I helped my kids get top marks. This includes editing a video of ds and adding music and sound effects, buying a USB stick so he can present the project to the class on an interactive whiteboard and even having a cameo in said video.

Our current school has a sensible homework policy. All years get up to 30 minutes a week of non-reading homework(except Y6 who get the odd SATS paper) set on a Friday for Wednesday. The only craft homework projects are optional (eg. Easter eggs) and they allow family entries. :) My juniors have had homework to research a topic but it's on the lines of "find 10 facts about XXX" rather than a general "write a project about YYY" with no guidance about length, format...

Latest homework is a project to be completed in half term on either the brain or the heart..."present as creatively as possible...prizes for the top 3".

Oh please!

Smacks of lunacy, desperation or an obsession with competition (or perhaps all 3).

I already know which parents children will "win"!

That is absolutely ludicrous homework for a 6 year old OP. Do you have a parents evening coming up so you can ask the teacher what she thought the children would get out of it? It's absolute nonsense really, they could have done a number of more age-appropriate Olympic themed tasks.

Luckily our school does seem to set homework at the appropriate level for my infant school age kids...they don't tend to have any large projects like that. They can usually do their own work with a small amount of guidance and supervision. It also rarely takes more than 10 minutes. It makes homework a painless process that the kids actually enjoy - which surely is setting a very good precedent.

Hi returntowork:

I'm not sure this helps, but I would have done the same myself. I think the important thing to me, at least, is that the child is doing the learning and parents are just facilitating (providing a quiet place to work, computer access if needed and of course the essential snacks & drinks).

Our school never marks homework so I'm not sure why your school is 'marking' homework - are you sure it wasn't that the teacher caught some spelling errors or something?

Our school has no literacy homework at all (which isn't ideal) but your school's homework (at least as you understood it) seems a bit OTT for age 6.

Like LingDiLong suggests - I'd talk to the teacher at the next opportunity and try and learn a bit more about it.

There were no spelling or grammatical errors because I proof read it before it was handed in. I didn't abandon her completely with the homework.

She is still suffering from loss of confidence in her school work :(.

My dd didn?t have any project works to do until year 3 and then year 4. I helped her with borrowing books from library and bought a couple of very inexpensive secondhand books related to the subjects. I provided dd with some suggestions but it would be up to her to choose what she wants to do with my inputs. But But But I?ve never personally do any writing for her. DD had to either write or type all the words by herself. She could copy sentences from books etc or her own words. May even just be two or three lines per page with some pictures. If her typing or spelling errors are not too ridiculous I wouldn?t point them out either. I believe my job is to provide dd with materials and ensure that she finishes her homework on time. I don?t think the teachers really expect high professional standard finish.

We've just been told that they are bringing a plant home over half term and need to complete a diary of how it changes over the week. Part of me is tempted to bundle it into the car with the rest of us and take it on a tour of the of Scotland, with appropriate photos on the way (one leaf missing in Edinburgh, three leaves and top of stem missing in Fort William, one leaf left in Tobermory, still has good root system in Glasgow), don't think dh would be too happy though, and it would almost certainly die as a result. Though leaving it at home will mean the slugs will eat it.

Why can't a holiday be a holiday?

I think schools often exceed government guidelines with homework.

if you are choosing a school better to check on homework policy.

In desperate situation an MP may help.

Is a lot of it to do with passing exams and giving kudos to schools and teachers?

Returntowork, I'm not flaming well surprised. Poor kid . Anyone would find it demotivating being given work to do that is way above their ability.