Is this an unusual amount of homework for year 2?

[Molehillmountain]

Much wailing and gnashing of teeth at the school gates. I'm not a homework fan and would prefer to do without, but this doesn't seem unusual these days. I'm posting ready to be told otherwise! So they have:
Reading books which we are advised to share 3-4 times per week
Mental maths practice sheet which is a timed 5 minute activity
Spellings-10 words to put into sentences
Maths game/activity eg cut out number cards and practise counting on in ones -the activity suggests doing it ten times.
Is this an unusual amount for year 2?

It seems fairly similar to the amount dd2 gets, except we don't have a maths game - that is optional.

I hate homework too, but we find this amount manageable.

Meant to add dd2' homework took her 1.5 hours this weekend. 3 pages of number bonds questions - one sheet to 10, one to 20 and one to 30. There were 30 questions on each page, so I was a bit surprised at the amount they had. She whizzed through first 2 pages and would not give up on the third. She didn't want help, so she spent ages on that last page. She is so stubborn!

DD is in Y3 now but last year she had 5 spellings once a week to be copied and remembered then put into sentences. They don't do a reading scheme at our school and just ask you to read everyday with them which we always have done anyway so I just got her to read to me for her bedtime story. They also did a mini project every 2 weeks (design a poster for the topic they were doing or whatever). That was enough for me. Yours sounds ok though as it is lots of little bits that you can spread throughout the week.

DD has:

• reading, ideally 5 x week
• homework set on Friday to be in on Weds. Usually, a maths activity (online game or questions in book, or activity - eg. measure x things), some writing on their theme, and sometimes handwriting exercise.

DD is in Y2. Homework at her school is optional though encouraged! However teachers do not chase children who don't do the homework, and children do a variety ranging from nothing to everything.

On a weekly basis she has:

• reading (preferably at least 5x, stickers given if this is achieved)
• 10 spellings with test on Friday (stickers given to those who get 9 or 10)

- one piece of longer work - e.g. last week she had to write about an animal

• encouraged to practice number bonds and tables (2,5,10)
• encouraged to write spelling words into sentences.

DD is keen and does it all. When DS was this age, we did the reading and spelling and generally only some of the rest.

We have reading book every day, 10 sentences to practice for spelling, maths homework on a Thurs to be in on Fri, maths workbook, and now recorder practice.

DS has reading, spellings for weekly test, and a practical maths problem - took about 30 mins yesterday.

Seems the same as at our school too - although I think it's far too much!

three reading books a week with a recommendation to read for 15 minutes every day.
one tiny mental maths exercise every other week (pointless!)
10 spellings to practice and write three sentences using three of the words
One maths exercise based on something they've been doing in class.

Spread out (excluding the reading which is easily done as part of normal bedtiem reading) it only works out at 10-15 minutes a day.

Not a huge fan of homework either but it doesn't seem unreasonable to me.

In year 2, ds had twenty minutes of reading each night, three lots of maths (about ten mins each), one lot of English (about twenty mins) and 14 spellings per week (copy out each one three times and learn). Now just started year 3, he has very little.

GOSH sounds like quite lot compared to DS, year 2. He has ( hopefully) daily 5 mins reading, a very easy so far phonics activity ( has taken him about 1 minute) each week, and an independent writing task ( 20 mins) each weekend.

Dc has 15 spellings, one comprehension (three pages of questions this weekend!), three lots of Maths (2 pages each), one other literacy paper, reading every night, plus shared reading every night. Goodness thats a lot now i have written it down - no wonder we are struggling to fit it in!!!

Oh and the 15 spellings each need a sentence with them!

We don't have nearly this amount. We have six spellings a week (but I think it varies on how well they're doing with the spelling tests). We get a reading book every couple of days. Nothing else except the occasional poster to make. I would actually like them to send a maths worksheet home as I really have no idea how she's doing with maths.

In Y2 we didn't have that much, just reading, spellings once per 1/2 term (we practiced 10 words daily though) and some other HW once per term.

DS has now started Y3 and things are very different. Each week there is a spelling and Xtables test, spelling sentences, a piece of HW and we read daily. The school is also very keen on parents supporting their DC in maths, which I have done for the last year or so anyway as DS is not so keen/good at it.

To have that amount in Y2 already seems a bit much as they are only 6 years old and need time to play. Even in Y3 we do a bit in the morning and in the evening and then he is at school all day - and he is only 7!

Seems similar to ours. Looks simple enough on paper, but why does it cause so much shouting and arguing in our house? I am looking for a school that doesn't give any homework (only half joking here, if any exist in Surrey please let me know).

DD has reading x 5 a week, 20 spellings to learn weekly, a couple of sheets of maths usually over the weekend. She also has a poem to learn but she has a fortnight to do it

DD in Y2 has reading to do ideally 5 x week. That's it. Not looking forward for more...

One v easy reading book a week and one worksheet here, sometimes spellings, seems quite enough to me.

Thanks! I guess pretty much as I expected - a few with more, a few with less and some roughly the same. I'm a bit fed up with a couple of loud people poisoning the view of the school that I think is great. Hey ho.

slightly off-topic: what i care about is not the amount but the quality of the homework (my son is a bit older Y4 and, thankfully, seems to be getting less homework now than 2 years ago...!). The homework often seems dull. Couldn't spelling sentences be made a bit more interesting? i.e. instead of just writing 6 (or 10) random sentences, why not ask the children to see how many of the words they can put into a single, sensible sentence? or write a paragraph using as many of the words as possible thus turning boring sentence writing into a creative writing exercise (which wouldn't take much more time but would be a bit more interesting). Or.. in a similar vein ask children to use spelling words to write sentences related to whatever topic they're covering in history or geography, thus encouraging them to think about topics for more than the allotted 35 minutes per week. Similarly, for grammar practice, why don't teachers (or worksheet publishers) created sentences that relate to history or weather (or even maths) rather than inane sentences such as "the man laughed " (fill in with a single adverb). If the work were a bit more interesting, my son might actually THINK about it rather than rush through to complete what even he realizes is essentially a time-filler rather than a learning exercise.
(in answer to your question: in Y2 my son usually had either a single math or a single english worksheet each night + spelling words just to learn (no sentences). reading was expected but, as he's a keen reader, it was never considered "homework". now in Y4 he has about the same i.e. one worksheet of some kind each night, but they seem to take much less time, perhaps because the maths sheets are "mental maths" so don't require any "workings out". typical homework is approx 15 minutes, excluding reading which continues to be a joy rather than "work", i think the amount of homework is just fine enough to allow me to see how he works but short enough to allow us a life after school!)

We have very little homework.

Reading to be done as often as possible.
No spellings (although had them in year one)
One task per week. They are given a choice of tasks at the beginning of the term and can choose whichever one interests them each week. Some maths, some writing. Most involve finding out information from different sources.

I really like it. None of it seems a chore (unlike spellings last year) and really encourages them to be excited and enthusiastic about learning.

DS had 10 spellings, daily reading book and 1 other activity per wk. Yr3 is a different story!
10 spellings, x tables, readinh book, 1 maths, 1literacy and 1 topic activity per week.

I'm a little late to this but thought I'd add my tuppence worth as it's on my mind at the moment. I wouldn't mind one bit if DS got sums, times tables, etc. He gets reading and gets through a book each night. He also gets spellings and That's fine by me.
What makes me furious is the weekend "learning log" task which is usually a piece of writing of some kind. DS is the youngest in the class and struggling with writing. He can think of wonderful things to say but as soon as writing comes into it we have a weekend of stress and tears. Practise copying, sure, but extended creative writing for a child who struggles forming letters - why? Does anyone else suffer this stuff at weekends? What the hell is the point?

OK sorry about the old thread but its relevant to my today issue;-

DD has just started in a combined year 2/year 3 class and after being all Bright eyed and bushy tailed last year has had a shaky start to this years school.

The main issue being she is just freezing and not getting work done.

Today homework came come and the first piece (of 4) of it was to write 15 sentences with correct spelling and punctuation, and the example sentence had the word 'calcium' in it.

Before I go in a be very mean to the teacher, can anyone confirm that this is absurd amount of work for the 2nd week of year 2?