Hi Spothoop:
I'm actually all for homeworks but agree with ripsishere that it is important that homework isn't about ticking that box and is challenging/ engaging.
Our school developed a homework policy only into the run-up of this year's OFSTED inspection. 30 minutes a week for YR, Y1 - Y2, 1 hour Y3/ Y4 - about 1.5 hrs and Y5/ Y6 about 2 hrs a week - which isn't quite what was recommended by government (30 minutes a day for Y5/ Y6 = 2.5 hrs a week).
In general it works out to
1 maths sheet (ostensibly reviewing maths work from that week)
1 spelling list (to practice for test once a week)
guided reading book (s)
reading diary (for parents to fill in KS1/ from KS2 for children to fill in).
The older version of this (so for DD1 Years 1 - 3) was monotonous and frankly boring for child & parents, but gradually the school have been putting in place more interesting concepts.
For example - spelling for Y4 is now about the children finding definitions for words (so learning to use a dictionary - but also learning the history of words) or coming up with as many words as they can with certain letter strings (e.g. -ough, -ight, etc...). Some of it is about how different the same letter string can sound (a very excellent homework with -ough words). There was a lovely one about finding Viking words, which DD1 thoroughly enjoyed. The class would come up with all sorts of words so the spelling test wasn't something you just crammed for - it was always a surprise, but it has gradually hugely helped DD1 to grasp root words, suffixes & prefixes and is making her spelling less phonetic and more securely accurate.
Maths was endlessly colouring in cars/ caterpillars throughout KS1 for DD1, but has now moved on to reinforcing work the children have been doing in class and varies from measuring things around the house after estimating their size in mm or metres - to using +/ -/ x & division to solve two and three-step word problems. The school has also joined My Maths and gives on-line homeworks 1 - 2 times a month.
My feeling is that practice in maths is really insufficient - and we've joined an on-line tutorial and downloaded free games to improve multiplication/ inverse multiplication facts (simple division) skills. This extra work outside what the school provides does seem to be paying real dividends now for both DDs (Y4 & Y2). [the school only sent home 1 homework for multiplication in Y3 - x4 practice, which was presented in order - so 4 x 1 = , 4 x 2 = , etc... and at the time their version of multiplication practice was to give the children the same test each week, which they eventually would pass through memorising answers. To be fair to the school they've abandoned this approach to learning times tables now and DD2 has had multiplication practice sheets with mixed problems (so mixture reviewing x2 and x4 facts for example for Y2)]
Practice with writing remains very weak at the school - the result is that both DDs are exhausted if asked to write for more than 10 minutes at a time. We get around this by making them send postcards, thank you cards, etc... which pretty much means that once a month we have a little writing task for them to do at home. It is surprising that I've had to teach my DD1 (Y4) how to lay out a formal letter - something that I thought should be taught in primary (but perhaps it is usually taught at some point later than Y4?).
Finally the selection of school books rarely includes much that would be classed as 'classic children's literature' - so we read things like Mary Norton's The Borrowers in addition to what the school provides through the library or selects for guided reading (although these books do not come home after Y3). Just to add some variety to Horrible Histories, Horrible Henry, Ben 10 etc... stories.
My personal feeling is that building in time (about 20 - 30 minutes) each evening for reading, the odd spelling practice or maths worksheet is fairly easy to incorporate into our lives and that regular commitment to it has made huge improvements from the near total absence of homework DD1 experienced in KS1.
Frankly with the advent of virtual learning environments like Moodle/ WebCT there really is no reason not to have the kind of standard building block work available for parents to utilise with their children in an incremental way (e.g. learning to add 1, then +2, then +3, etc... or writing practice sheets could be handled through a series of worksheets or on-line homeworks with little or no 'marking' time required for the teachers and which could be rolled out year after year as and when a student is ready for practice with that concept). We more or less do this with our on-line subscription to a maths website which means DDs can be doing a short 20 minute lesson and practice in maths whilst I'm putting away dishes, cooking, whatever...
I think many parents are keen for their children to 'get off to a good start' and I suspect most would welcome well thought out, enhancing homework which consolidates learning, helps those struggling to get over whatever the hurdle is and also keeps parents in touch with what is being taught in school (by providing homework which directly reflects current coursework).