I can't stand homework - do you think it's a good thing?

[mydoorisalwaysopen]

DS1 (year 5) gets the same homework every week.... "This week we have been learning about X. Tell me what you know." Every week I have a battle to get him to do it and it just doesn't seem worth the effort. Marking is usually a tick and a smiley face. DS2 (year 2) gets a more detailed description of a task but very often it's a poster for this, that or the other. Marking is perfunctory but does occasionally contain a comment.

What are your thoughts on homework? I wish they didn't have any at primary school mainly as I think what they are set is of limited value and the main lesson being learnt is that mum will sit you down and drag it out of you. I won't be doing that every night for a couple of hours when they go to secondary school.

Each term our homework changes, one term of literacy, one of maths etc. Usually photocopied worksheets which are pretty dull and boring. We never do it over the weekend but always get it in before the deadline! Recently we DS had to make a booklet and DS spent a lot of time and effort making it. No feedback from the teacher was given so he felt very deflated about that. I do sometimes feel it is pointless but my son usually enjoys doing it. The only time I refused homework was when it was a two week project piece – “design and make a flying contraption”. He was five! I wrote to his teacher to let her know we were opting out because it involved far too much parental input therefore making it my homework and not his. Teacher was fine about it. Nothing more laughable than when you go in to school and see a project which has so blatantly been made by the parent!

There seems to be a high proportion of parents who hate homework and don't see the point of it on this thread (me included!)....I'm just wondering why on earth you're all still doing it?

Making kids miss a breaktime in order to complete it if not done at home is completely awful and would have me knocking on the head's door & writing to the governors. Don't stand for it parents!

I actually hate primary homework with a passion

I don't like primary homework either, though now ds is in yr 6 it's fine and he does his own thing.

But dd is yr 3 and still quite a way away from being able to make anything of the tasks given independently. As an example, on top of impossibly difficult maths work sheets, spellings and a comprehension sheet every week, and times tables ( dd does not get multiplication) and reading, we get a homework project every half term. This one was to produce an information report on the Wild West, no other instructions given.

So I've basically done the research for her, given her lots of pages printed off various internet sites, and we made a little booklet ( she loves crafty things and enjoyed this) and now she is using the info on the pages to write a little bit once a week and she is cutting out any pictures she likes from the research and sticking them in too.

But if I didn't do all this she would be so upset and confused, the instructions are so vague and she would never get started. It's obvious that most parents help out hugely. I'd rather spend time doing things we enjoy at the weekend, swimming, cooking, walking, making crafty things and generally resting.

Surely not understanding multiplication is a huge problem. Presumably the higher level arithmetic problems mix all kinds of maths skills into joint problems. Not understanding one type of operation presumably means that the child can answer any of these multi-part questions.

I'm a firm believer that small pieces of properly thought through homework are the best way to consolidate certain types of knowledge.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that this is the only way to become proficient in MFL.

Certain activities are best covered in a collegiate environment. Other activities are far better done at homne.

But heaven save me from porjects ...

I'd be interested to know if there is any evidence to show a link between primary homework and educational attainment. If there is, fair enough. At least there's a point to it. Otherwise a waste of time and energy.

I think it's good from around Y5 & 6 to get in the habit before secondary school.
Comprehension homework was good I thought, and also something project related.
My DC are now in Y7 and 10 and I'm glad they got used to homework a bit in later years at primary as dd has tonnes now!
I think time to play, relax and talk is important too - I don't need my DCs time filling up for no good reason - we have enough of our own ideas for that
Also I wish there was more encouragment for sharing good books with them when young without the curse of endless reading schemes.

I feel that for some children, homework is positively damaging. My DS1 was a homework refuser. It lead to years of misery for him and me. Even when the homework was well within his capabilities he wouldn't do it. We both got into bad habits in that homework was something that would only be completed after hours of cajoling and support from me. Homework was often set on a Monday to be in on Friday so he would often leave it for later in the week and wouldn't see that Thursday night when his siblings had other after school activities wasn't a good time.

I queried this with the headteacher but she didn't seem to have any meaningful way of dealing with it so we carried on with our damaging regime.

Silly thing is that he was a bright lad and got level 5s on all subjects and would have done with or without any homework.

He learned bad habits which he then carried through to secondary school when I gave up badgering and he never did any homework. He still got a clutch of A*s but not a full set which he would have been capable of had he felt confident in his own abilities to learn.

If it's age appropriate and relevant to what they are learning then fine. However, I have been known to object to year 3 homework being "Find the longest place name in England" and "find evidence that the Romans were in this area" - fine if you live somewhere like Chester or Bath but not otherwise!
I've also had to say that I expect the teacher to mark the homework if she expects my DCs to do it. We had one teacher who never marked it.

Oh I forgot to say how annoying it is when parents moan that there little darlings haven't got enough homework.

I remember a woman who was a SAHP at the time, complaining that her daughter never got enough spellings. She herself had a degree in modern foreign languages and was quite capable of choosing some words and setting her daughter a challenge if she felt that strongly enough about it.

I seem to remember reading some research done at Durham University which showed little (or perhaps an inverse) correlation between the amount of homework done at primary school and achievement.

Its too late for me, but those of you with younger children, make a stand and if homework set by the school isn't working in your family don't do it. Notice I said "school set" homework. I am very much for children continuing with their learning whilst at home but in many home settings the best people to judge what learning activities will work best with their children are the parents.

Can you tell I am still angry about this.

I hate it as well, dd is 7yo and we had big fat tears ystd because she didn't want to do it and when she did do it (had to write a story about a super hero ) it was really messy. I mentioned it didn't look like her neatest work and then we really had histrionics!!

Ours start homework in nursery (attached to school). It's only something like stick in pictures of square objects at the start. It's also designed for them to have help.

As they grow up it changes to write your name, how have you changed since a baby etc in reception. They also have a reading book and sound cards for phonics.

Dd1 has just had on which was to write about the people you've learned about in class though I think the teacher might have regretted that as dd wrote two full a4 sides, I was amazed how much she remembered.
She also has reading and spellings.

It can be hard sometimes especially listening to them both read and have two younger dcs but I do their homework on sunday and read during the week so its spread out a bit and they have a day off from any school work on saturday.

If its not done there are no punishments such as lose break that I know of. Dd1 is the oldest and only in year 1 so I'm going on rules for her. I think they get in trouble further up school if it isn't done but not until at least year 3.

In some ways it's a pain but it helps them get used to homework in preparation for high school. I only got one sheet of questions and 10 spellings a week in year 6 which made it very hard moving to high school where I got double that per lesson each week.

I don't think it's a good thing at all.

I said as much on a questionnaire that came home from school, but it seems I'm in a minority.

I think they could start in year 5 or 6 as preparation for secondary but any younger than that and it's really homework for the parents.

Fair comment noramum.

I have a rule. If it's a worthwhile homework ie maths , spelling, grammar, creative writing, comprehension etc. They do it and we spend time on it. If it's pointless homework, modelling, colouring, making apair of leather Roman underpants (yes it did happen) or something teacher gives because marking is quicker I do it.

I have no qualms about this. Both DS are musicians' Grade 8 piano grade 7 cello in yr 6. I need them to have time to do their practise and get very frustrated with pointless homeworks. It is a waste of time and we have little enough.

What about other gifted children. Ballet, swimmers, actors? In the quest to keep "plate spinning" and expected the poor loves to be brilliant at everything, why not spend time developing their talents?

I have with withdraw my DS from school hwk. His KS2 levels flatter him greatly. I have taken charge of his English and mathematics. Comparing the school hwk provision to the off the shelf age specific books I can see his literacy and numeracy levels were substandard. Collectively, we have arrested the slide and are now looking to make step change improvements to get him ready for grammar school 11+ exams.

No to projects that involve a large amount of parental input and building models
No to online research...find out about xyz

Yes to -
Reading
Spellings
Tables

In KS2
Maths - based on current topic at school
Literacy -topic or comprehension etc.

EndoplasmicReticulum (I've had to learn all about your user name for HW)

Has it exactly, HW before Y5/6 is HW for parents

(If it isn't, it's pointlessly too easy or pointlessly tedious)

In a classroom environment younger DCs get a lot of support talking on the carpet, brainstorming ideas, questions on the board or on the work sheet.

They ask their friends, they look at the posters round the room, they put their hands up.

And most importantly often they don't right a lot and frequently don't finish. It doesn't matter, what ends up on paper is only a small part of the learning experience.

With HW the parents focus is on handing in a finished bit of written work because they feel judged as bad parents if they don't.

Parents view of amount and standard and child's is frequently wildly at odds. Tears, tantrums and parents ending up doing the HW to get it out the way, tends to be the result.

Write a lot (sorry I need food and it's refusing to cook).

I had one DD at a school which never set homework, except for one really long drawn out project every year, and one DD at a prep school which set regular homework based on what they were learning at the time. The latter was preferable. It was not over long and was relevant with only one project in Year 5 which was relevant to the topic they were covering. Both did lots of after school activities so they were well rounded people.

The only problem with not doing any homework at primary stage is that if the children then go to the local grammar school (and we are a grammar school county) there is a marked increase in homework in year 7 to get the DC's into good habits. This was a shock to the system for some and, of course, it is homework in all subjects, not just SATS type work. Some children were vastly underprepared for this and should have had a gentle introduction to homework from about year 5. If it is relevant, reinforces learning, is marked with comments for improvement and has no parent involvement , then it is suitable. There will always be brilliant musical children etc but at my DDs prep school, they also did the homework just the same as my DD who did three lots of dancing lessons each week and other children who were in the sports teams.

If so many children from private schools populate Oxford and Cambridge and have had a regime of suitable homework from an early age, perhaps it does pay off?

Mydoorisalwaysopen, old teacher here, yes I hate homework for primary, especially Infants. If I ran things it would be only reading or sharing a book at home nightly.

I've never considered reading to be homework so, by that token, we do homework every night! I may build up my courage to let school know we're not going to let homework cause stress at home so that the DC don't get punished if it's not done.

ThreeTomatoes btw, those of you saying how will they get used to doing H/W in secondary - well I never did homework in primary, did any of you? Didn't affect my ability to H/W at secondary. I don't remember really thinking much of it! It just became something we had to do.

Yep, this

The same way as they got used to going to school every day at 5, the same way that they got used to staying in their own bed, the same way they got used to eating solid food. In other words, they mature and move on to another stage in life.
There is plenty of time to get used to homework.