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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Year 2 homework only consists a 'home learning log'

21 replies

laura2109 · 15/02/2014 14:09

Like the title says, the only piece of 'work' the school gives to my child is a home learning log. There are different activities in it each week, but the concept is the same: they have to draw things related to the topic. They insist on it being creative and sticking various type of materials to make it attractive. Now, I took the initiative to regularly work with my child on literacy, numeracy and science. But I'm fairly annoyed since there's the SATs in May. Any other parent are in similar positions?

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Huitre · 15/02/2014 15:04

I don't understand why you are annoyed. The SATs are for the benefit of the school so they can track progress. It doesn't matter to your child what he or she gets in them (provided you think they doing their best, which is a separate issue).

AgadorSpartacus · 15/02/2014 15:14

Good. Quite right too.

They're only 6/7 yrs old. Sticking a few leaves or something into a book is the most that should be expected for "homework".

As for SATs? If the school are doing it right those children shouldn't even be aware that there are such things as SATs.

mrscog · 15/02/2014 15:15

Sounds perfect - Real homework shouldn't start until year 5/6 in my opinion.

LoopyDoopyDoo · 15/02/2014 15:16

Sounds excellent

Original poster

laura2109 · 15/02/2014 15:36

Are you guys serious?? I find it absolutely ludicrous!!! What happened to writing skills, spelling, additions etc?? In fact my child had more homework in year 1, he actually had a workbook with a math/literacy sheet that was checked every week...

OP posts:

noramum · 15/02/2014 15:36

I would be annoyed as well but because I wouldn't have any opportunity to see what my child is actually capable of and doing in school. We don't see school work unless it is parent evening and homework is the only way to know what is going on.

SATS-please, they are based in teacher assessment and this is done all the time. The last I wanted to have is a Y2 child drilled to pass a test. I found the practise runs a friend's school did for the phonics test already far too much.

NigellasDealer · 15/02/2014 15:39

I think it is great - and year 2 sats have nothing to do with the child at all, they are a snapshot of the school

Huitre · 15/02/2014 15:39

What happened to writing skills, spelling, additions etc??

If you genuinely feel that your child is not progressing in these areas as a result of what he or she is doing at school, you should certainly have a word with your child's teacher.

noramum · 15/02/2014 15:41

Sorry, hit the button too fast:

Laura, my DD has normally a piece of writing or maths per week plus 3 books.

She is in a maths club and gets an additional piece per week which is designed to stretch them and work with the parents.

We also get Weblinks to practise what they did in ICT.

No spelling here but we have the HFW sheets if we want to do some work.

The only time she has to draw is for science homework, either diagrams or a plant or animal and labelling the correct words for separate parts.

SoonToBeSix · 15/02/2014 15:47

Annoyed? Are you joking? I would be relived.

catkind · 15/02/2014 15:55

Way back when I was at school we seemed to manage perfectly well with no homework in infants, the occasional spelling list or project in juniors. Scholarship to private secondary, top uni, blah blah showing off...

As a parent I quite like seeing the occasional bit of homework but that is purely my nosiness to know what they're getting up to at school! Much better to enjoy reading books with them and follow their lead at home I think. We end up doing a lot of mathsy and wordy games anyway because that's what DS enjoys, if it was "work" we wouldn't do it. Writing a birthday card, following a recipe, reading the signs at the supermarket, spending their pocket money - it's all learning!

frugalfuzzpig · 15/02/2014 16:05

Sounds great to me.

If your DD wants to do some extra stuff outside school then there's nothing stopping you providing it.

My DD gets hardly any HW - one piece a fortnight which could be a maths sheet OR some kind of simple project like a poster about something. Although I say fortnight, I think it works out as less often in practice.

She does number stuff with me, loves me to test her on spelling (they don't have tests at school so I just ask her random words) she writes stories and entries in her 'secret diary' (which she then shows to as many people as possible :o), things like that all support her learning and are certainly helping her progress at school but there's no pressure.

SATs mean bog all to the individual child I thought ? Especially in yr2, they don't even really know they're being assessed do they? Are there actual tests/exams?!

treas · 15/02/2014 17:13

Actually a learning log is what you make it, so can include what you want it to include.

e.g. work based around making a treasure map can include co-ordinates (maths) as well as art.
Christmas you could learn traditions of other countries (geography, re, languages)

Dd did a pop up shark once but included researched facts and fossilised teeth found in Highcliffe.

The only limits on learning with learning logs is a lack of imagination

frugalfuzzpig · 15/02/2014 17:52

The only limits on learning with learning logs is a lack of imagination

Posts like that make me yearn for a 'like' button :)

bonkersLFDT20 · 15/02/2014 17:59

I find it absolutely ludicrous!!! What happened to writing skills, spelling, additions etc??

They do these in the 6 hrs they spend at school each day.
Why would you want your 6/7 year old to do even more?

mintyneb · 15/02/2014 19:03

Have to agree with everyone else, I would be over the moon if that's all my yr 2 DD had to do at home! Despite being very good at reading she never picks a book up for pleasure so even daily reading is a battle field.

They are only young still and should be enjoying being children when they're at home, not doing more formal learning.

I never had homework at primary school and vividly remember being so excited when I went to secondary school that I would actually be getting some. Strange child I know!

Hulababy · 15/02/2014 19:09

I work in Y2.

Homework here:

regular reading - not set amount/time, record in reading diary, signed off after every 5 reads, certificate after 60 reads

learning menu - 6 activities per half term related to the topic. None of it is compulsary. Children encouraged to be creative with the suggestions. some activities are verbal only - talk to xxx about xxx. Some may be a poster, model, some research, etc.

We send no compulsary numeracy, literacy or spellings homework at all.

It is by far the better way - nothing compulary imo. They are 6 and 7 years old. They have a lifetime of homework ahead of them. SATS should be a non event for 6/7 year olds - nothing more important than their average teacher assessment done throughout the year. Even better if the school can manage to make sure they don't really know they are doing an assessment at all, and if they've never heard of the word SATs.

SATs make no difference to your child. It is just one of many ways the teacher assesses your child.

They should need no homework to achieve their potential in SATs either - all the required learning should be happening in class.

Pregnantberry · 15/02/2014 19:30

My DSS is Y2 (and I have worked in primary school), he has regular reading (no set amount, but I'm sure the teacher would grumble if he didn't do any) and has class access to this online 'matheletics' thing which he progresses through at home and gets certificates for, again he is supposed to do that a few nights a week but it's not really checked up on.

Also every weekend he gets a slip with a vague sentence on it like "this week we have been learning about Italy, please find out three things about Italy and write them down/draw pictures. Not everyone actually does this homework.

We could, technically, spend a couple of hours a night doing this lot so it is quite a lot.

For me, when my DC is in school, I don't think I'll mind either way. It doesn't necessarily matter if they get set your DCs 'learning log' thing, the load my DSS gets or nothing - if you care about their education and encourage them to learn at home as well as school, they are likely to get ahead, or if you do the bare minimum and don't encourage them to learn, then they are likely to fall behind.

IMHO my DSS learns far more from spending an hour visiting a museum with us or by reading one of the non-fiction books he likes than by doing his homework. If he were, for example, behind with his writing, then we could get him to work on his specific problem rather than doing a blanket exercise that the whole class had been set.

Ilikepinkwine · 15/02/2014 19:48

It is so refreshing to read all of the responses on this thread. Sorry, OP, but I completely agree that Learning Logs are the way forward for homework.

Gileswithachainsaw · 15/02/2014 19:57

Why would you be fuming? They shouldn't even get homework IMO! They do six hours of all that stuff in school why would you want tk ur child forced to so it at home too? Reading is plenty .

All homework does is bring out the competitive mums who expect teachers to believe the pages of work were really done by the child

Smartiepants79 · 15/02/2014 20:09

Completely agree with previous posters.
Maths sheets etc teach nothing but rote learning.
Properly done, a learning log teaches so much more, especially and most importantly independent learning skills. Researching and making their own decisions etc.
I'm presuming that the topics are varied. I doubt that ALL she is expected to do is draw. In a good learning log should have used several literacy skills and possibly maths, science, history, geography etc depending on the topic.
We use them at my school. They are the most comprehensive and useful kind of homework I set.

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