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.

I think it's the spectre of Ofsted hanging over them, which makes schools set homework.

I've hated homework in the past, but this term the DC's school has abandoned worksheets and handed out a homework pack, with a list of projects to choose from (or invent similar of your own) all based around the term's topic. There was no real marking, because it was all displayed on the day of the deadline, and all the parents and children looked at everyone's work after school.

Some did it all by themselves, some did it with their parents. It didn't matter. They'd all engaged with the topic and those who'd worked together as a family got a great experience out of it.

It still doesn't suit everyone, but it was much more engaging than the stuff we got before which was almost always at the wrong level.

Forgot to say they got almost all term to do the projects.

No, it's pointless in primary school (except reading books), hate it, they should be out playing.

My 6yo was once happily playing, doing loads of writing and drawing all about Dr Who, he kept on stopping and asking us how to spell certain words. I had to ask him to please come and do your homework, which was some writing and a picture about something else. Cue half and hour crying and protesting, homework never got done, he got sent to bed early. I did suggest he just stick what he'd been doing in his homework book instead, but he wouldn't have that because that's not what it's meant to be. This is an typical scene in my house.

Having said all that my 5yo loves doing it and will write for hours, which is fine, but we could always just give her a writing book, it doesn't have to be homework.

Let's start a anti homework campaign and put an end to the misery.

I'm another mum who likes homework even though it's the last thing I need when I get home from work. Homework gives me an insight into what my kids can do, where their strengths and weaknesses are. They get maths and English every night plus reading. It's not all about the school but school and home need to work together to produce results. If my children couldn't settle and concentrate to do their homework I would be seriously concerned and worried about their behaviour in school. Also I like to see my children's homework book to see how their work is marked and annotated. Spellings also need to to be practised every night for their Friday spelling test, although we don't always manage that. Homework reinforces the learning which takes place at school and allows me to see what my children can do. You have to be involved although it's a nuisance. You need to teach good practice and not just send them away to do it by themselves. Homework should be done around the kitchen table (or centre island!!) with all helping each other, although sometimes the usual personalities can't get along or the baby scribbles on someone's book. It's part of family life and connects us to what our children are doing all day when we are not there.

Utter waste of time. Causes more stress than it's worth. I understand that there's no evidence out there that it has and effect on achievement (but I an say anecdotally it just detracts further from DS's ever dwindling love of learning) The teachers go on about having 5 whole days to do it, including a whole weekend - families are getting less and less time to do anything but run around like headless chickens. Hate it. Wish it would be banned until 11+

DS2 (also year 5) gets a few bits of homework but he does ech of them in 5 minutes, so in that sense its a waste of time as its just about scribbling down a few answers.

However, his teacher clearly doesn't like doing craft-type things so she's very fond of telling the children to design something at home, bring in all the bits to make up their design and then build it in class during the week. Then at the end of the week, she sends them home with the recycled rubbish!
All she has to do is provide the glue and stand supervising them. Its ingenious!!

It's interesting that reading seems to be an exception to the 'all homework in primary is awful' rule.

Posters accept that regular reading with parents is important.

So why would that not apply to maths? Or MFL?

It seems that people place reading as a. superior in the skills basket and b. fun.

No wonder as a country we lag behind in maths and MFL .

Word perhaps reading is more accessible? Most people can read adequately, but I guess not so many of us feel competent in maths.

I like homework!

It helps me to see where my son's weaknesses are instead of relying on parents' evening. It also helps me to keep up with what they are learning. In terms of learning spellings and times tables, and doing reading, it's just a structure that we probably wouldn't get round to doing otherwise. But the repetition of these things does make a huge difference. It's only 10-20 mins per night, which is hardly ridiculous.

It doesn't bother me if it's not marked. The only benefit of the marking is for the kid to see it's been looked at, not some detailed comment about how it could be improved.

wordfactory I think that parents recognise that they are reading with their children. Perhaps parents just need a bit more confidence to recognise that helping with change at the corner shop and working out a recipe are every bit as useful for their child's maths.

It is easy for a school to say 'read a book' harder to say 'do some sums' without making it all 'homeworky'

We had a homework once which was to create a shop and buy/ sell things in it.

Ah, now I know why I hate recipes!

And another post...I know spellings are supposed to have limited value, but again it is how they are done. Ds1 is getting spellings which all follow certain rules, or don't eg. disappear/ disappoint. He is learning the single 's' and the double 'p' and remembering these rules. He will probably forget again, but at least next time it comes up, there will be a foundation.

Worry I agree.

That's why I was always happy for my DC to receive homework.

Short, purposeful tasks to consolidate learning in maths and MFL. They kept everything progressing nicely, just like the reading.

Then in year 4/5 small tasks in other subjects, revising for tests etc were introduced.

It just meant that there was always forward motion. And my DC never minded!

Numeracy " homework" certainly in Key Stage 1 should easily fit into ordinary life at home. Like other posters said, shopping, cooking, water play etc is fun, unlike worksheets. It isn't time consuming to do "half full" " more than" etc in the bath, to tip your purse out and let them sort the coins, count the lamp posts on the way to somewhere.
Oh dear I sound a very old fashioned sort of teacher.

I have 4, now adult, children who all went to a Junior School which set homework every night from age 4! I hated it with a passion. It was a battlefield every night, particularly with the 2 dyslexic ones.

But

The did eventually become used to doing it and the battles lessened so when they went to secondary school there were no homework battles at all, they just did it! So, really I am quite grateful for the early battles!

story it should happen like that, of course it should.

But for many young children it doesn't. That is why numeracy is pretty poor in the UK.

A bit of direction from school is very helpful. Often the homeworks we were given had both a worksheet and a practical example aspect. The worksheets were very quick, and the practical aspect could be as long as you wanted it to be.

I don't mind it's just i think it's a lot for young primary school kids. Over here it starts from 6 years old. 3 tasks are compulsory and there's 6 other tasks which are optional. I feel if my son doesn't do at least 2 of the optional tasks the teachers may think I'm a lazy parent that does not care about my child's academic future. Of the two children in school they're 6 and 7!years old. My son detests homework, my daughter loves it. But I do think its an important discipline that my son needs to learn because it will only get harder as he gets older. My only bug reduce it. How about 1 task, worksheets are good and could be done in the evening easily,that's as much as I got as a wee child.

we get 2 weeks for the homework. I've set aside the weekend for homework as they'd be going to bed at 9pm if they did it in the weekday. straight after school they have dinner -arabic classes for 2'hours -snack -bath -bed. There's no time.

Wordfactory, I know, in an ideal world it should happen like that. In fact as I wrote that I realised that the best homework in Key Stage 1 would just be to talk about things more. It is more fun learning about odd and even numbers, for instance, by looking at numbers on doors and talking about what might come next, than filling in a work sheet.

story ypu are right of course.

And that reminds me of a homework where we were asked to draw our door number, say if it was odd or even etc.

And it being a poncey school, at least half the class had a house name .

There is so much practical maths that can be done around the house and garden without schools having to set written stuff, but I do understand what you are saying about direction from the school being useful.
Of course, when my children were infants, back in the day, board games, cards, dominoes, darts etc gave them all the numeracy homework they needed in a fun way. I am not against technological progress for children though before anyone comments about my old fashionedness!

I'll be honest, maths and later, science, were the areas I always felt at sea; lacking the skills and/or the imagination to teach my DC through everyday life.

Once someone advised me, I was off.

Literacy, languages, history, geography etc came much more naturally to me.

I love homework!

My DD in reception has the memory of a fish as to what she has done that day so it gives me a chance to see what she is doing. She gets 3 books a week (2 on a Monday and 1 on a Friday) She also gets some homework on a Tuesday to be in for the following Monday (usually maths and something on sentences, full stops finger spaces etc).

I have actually asked (shock horror for some ) for more OPTIONAL homework as my daughter is always asking me for things and rather than trawling the internet and printing something she shouldn't be doing or it teaching in the wrong way. We do this extra homework when she asks for it and don't push her to do it.

As long as she is enjoying it I don't see the problem with it. She is learning, we as parents are learning and enjoy seeing the progression she is making and wouldn't know about what she was doing at school all day if we didn't have it.

Oh she also gets words to "learn" They are what they have been learning at school so are brought home more for reinforcement.

I think the point is that schools don't explain the purpose of the homework.

It might be 'we want your child to get into a routine for secondary school' - in which case it should come in year 6.

It might be 'we want your child to read and enjoy fiction' - in which case we should be told to read 3 chapters, or a book in a limited time, not '15 minutes per night' which doesn't suit everyone (imagine if you have five children).

It might be 'we want your child to learn how to google photos and stick them onto a bit of card' which is fine but

it might be because 'We want your child to consolidate their understanding of the Victorians' so don't make them do an effing poster which the parent is just going to do for them anyway.

Schools - be clear about what you want and why you want it.

I never had homework in primary school. And that was fine but my memory is very lacking as a result.

I think fwiw there should be a lot of fact learning, by rote, of dates, cities, all that, as that can be worked on at home quite easily, with or without parents, with a mini-test at the end. All children have memory and all should be learning to use it. All the rest depends on parents to get involved and results in unequal learning among different children. Spellings should NOT be learned by rote but that's another discussion.