Not reading at weekends

[MyFirstName]

If you are a teacher that has asked (via homework folders) for your Y2 pupils to read every Thur/Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon would you be pissed off with a parent who repeatedly wrote "We do not do schoolwork at the weekends" on the folder?

DS reads to be/DH every Mon-Fri without fail. Weekends though? Meh. We may read. We may be watching a film/science programme/camping/tired from rugby.

In front of my children I support the school's homework policy, which I think was a response to parent demands. In reality I think it is wrong to give 6yos homework - but totally appreciate DS's teacher gives them reading and spellings and the odd teeny bit extra. So I feel bad about "flouting" it. I do not want to give that message to DS. Yes we could fit reading in maybe Sat/Sun morning. But it is the weekend FFS.

So teachers - would this make you feel pissed off? Think of me as one of "those" parents. Blame me is DS is not top of the class? Or probably just thing "meh".

We have reading journals. I just fill them in usually when kids in bed. It's just date, title and a brief comment. I usually put "DD read well. We talked about the rhymes in the poems.". As we finish reading I usually say "what shall we tell Mr/s X about the book?" and she usually say "it's funny/ sad/ good". If she's finding books too easy I say "DD found this very straightforward." and then after a few comments like this I say "I think DD is ready for something more challenging". I actually find a useful resource and the child don't really worry about the detail of what I right.

So really this about DS not getting stressed about muddling the rules. I have been there with my DS.

Suggest you get to the homework folder before DS. Tippex out the days. Forge teachers writing for replacement days. TA da.

Thank you waiting for getting it. Not a bad idea

Personally, I think reading is something to be done 7 days a week. For those just starting out or who find it difficult it is even more important to do it every day, to break through the barriers. If there is a gap of a day or worse still, 2 days, it is harder to get going again.
Most schools dont hear children read every day and certainly can't 7 days a week. I think it is once of the crucial things we can do. If it is done every single day, it becomes non-negotiable. For children who are not keen or find it hard, you then don't have the conversation about whether it is a reading day and the arguments or resistance which can come. It is just a way of life.
What a disaster it is when over the long summer holiday,parents stop reading with children because it is the holiday. It makes it seem like reading is purely work, not pleasure......to get to the point it is a pleasure requires a level of proficiency and I really think the stop-start approach massively delays that stage coming.

I don't quite get the objection to filling in the reading diary. The child doesn't have to be part of that,simply the reading itself. You can fill it in later. I agree that if they want reading to be done a minimum of 5 days a week then there is no need to specify exactly when and it is good they seem to be a bit flexible about it.

Hide diary completely? Or too hard for Y2? We have books with blanks for each day's reading and notes for schoool, with comments from school on facing pages. I try to write something weekly but assure the teacher we read almost every day, just I can't write most of the time.

I have solved it. DS was happy to cross out "Saturday" and write "Tuesday" and then filled in the title of the book he read on Tuesday. Sunday is OK as we read today anyway. I told him Mrs X is happy for us to do this.

His homework form will be complete. He is "finishing" what he has been asked to do. We are not handing in a piece of homework with blanks on it - which is not a start to school work I want to encourage!

And for those commenting on reading diaries, not getting him to fill it in etc, that would be all well and good but that is the whole problem we have had - it is designed as a homework sheet/reading table for him to fill in what books he has read that week. It is not something for me to fill in later.

And for the "reading must be done 7 days a week" and "to get to the point it is a pleasure requires a level of proficiency and I really think the stop-start approach massively delays that stage coming." Please, give me the credit to know my son, my family, our schedule at the weekend. Making a tired 6 year old read everyday come what may? Can you really, truly not see that as counter-productive?

And as a side note, since the homework-table stress was sorted early this afternoon, DS has taken himself off twice to read a Denis the Menace book (which is actually above his level, but he is giving it a really good shot) and just now asked to read again to DH. I know my son (and actually a bit teary about hearing him read to DH over on the sofa). I am delighted with today's progress. (And very glad his teacher was very relaxed and flexible). DS still gets to please the teacher but we can do it in a way that suits us.

I don't understand why you can't read 7 days a week. It can just be a ten min activity. Surely you have ten mins spare at weekend?

Not being inflammatory, I never understand why people can't fit it in. Do the morning if he's tired?

I do agree that every day makes it much easier.

I am not going into our weekend activities thank you.

The English obsession with homework, on top of long school days, is nuts.

Setting homework for weekends even more so. It's training children for a lousy work/life balance.

Do what u believe to be right.

If your DS is keen to tick the Saturday/Sunday reading box, can you just make weekend reading differently. Maybe you read with him during week day and ask questions. But weekend, maybe jus himself read 10 minutes on his choosen books for fun, also maybe not school book?

My ds2 using reading a resting tool, so will read when he come back from park, before dinner , actually anytime if he has nothing to do. But we never enter these into reading diary, the school is fine with this, as long as he is making progress.

MyFirstName, you bloody do what you want to do!!! It sounds like your DS is doing fine and 5 days a week for reading is plenty. DD has just started in Y1. She's quite advanced in reading and reads with the Y2s. BUT because of the requirement that they read 3 books per week PLUS their guided reading book, on the level that DD is on 10 mins reading would mean that it takes 2 nights to read one book. She was only 5 in June and it's just too much. What with that and learning spellings she is just exhausted.

Your son will NOT suffer because you give him a break at the weekends! I am trying to move towards this with DD, letting her have the weekend to be (God forbid) a CHILD!! I want her to run about outside, watch a film, play with her toys, go out for a family lunch etc. She gets read two stories every night by DH and I and has had since she was 3 months old. I firmly believe that having a break from her reading and being read to, makes her love books even more.

Agree with the PP, do what you believe is right with YOUR child. HTH

Reading is fun though not homework. I totally think children should just be children, we don't have any weekend commitments.
I think children are over scheduled if they haven't got ten mins to do some relaxing reading.

Can't honestly understand why anyone would be arsey about being asked to read everyday. My children's school are so not interested in reding, which makes me sad.

MyFirstName, I'm sorry if you did not like my post and thoughts about the benefits of reading 7 days a week.
You asked a question on a public forum and I answered it, giving up my time to try and be helpful.

As other posts show, people have different attitudes towards reading. Some see it very much as 'work' which comes from school. It is there to be done, when set and to be avoided when possible, for example at the weekend or in the holidays. Others just see it as a way of life and not as homework.

I understand what you are saying about the reading record being filled in, as the thing you do t like, rather than the reading itself. Schools will set homework though and it often is given for over the weekend, as that is often the time people have more available time. Yes,your child is young now. However, I just wonder how long you are going to be telling the school that you don't do homework at the weekend? Is that for another year,mor two or four? What about supporting the school in what they are doing and the message sent out to your children by not supporting the school?

I've no doubt that you will object to these things I've said. However,NI think your post isn't actually about the issue of reading, but more about the issue of doing homework at weekends and whether you should or shouldn't support what the school asks of you.

Oh, and by the way, I am a teacher.
You asked how teachers would feel about your repeated comment about not reading at the weekend. Personally, I would simply think you were an unsupportive parent who didn't want to work in partnership with the school. It would make me feel a bit sad for your son and perhaps I would try to ensure he had more opportunities to read etc in class. I would have low expectations of you as a parent.

Of course,from this thread, I can see that you do regularly read with your son and are in many ways very supportive of education. (As a teacher simply receiving the 'we don't do homework at the weekend' message I wouldn't know this). And I can see that you openly support the homework policy towards your child and have been in to speak to the teacher....all good. (Although a bit confusing for your son,that you say you support the policy,but then change the dates on the sheet,although he would like to do it in the way it is set)
However, you remain obstructive towards something the school is trying to achieve. I can see that you think you know best and have decided that your family should have the weekend off from homework. When do you think you will be willing to support the school and your son with weekend homework?

I know many parents who don't have time to read/do homework with their children during the week. CHild in childcare until 6:30, tired in the evenings, rushed in the morning to be in childcare at 8 am. I don't think they would write it in the child's book. At home, we read for pleasure, let the children choose their books, rarely read the books from school, and they read most days anything from 5 minutes to half an hour.

Having said that, we have a home policy that there is no homework or reading to be done on Fridays! I would never write that in their homework book though!

Why on earth would any family have a policy that nobody can read on a Friday? How bizarre!

I think that homework for a 6 and 8 year old set exactly and precisely for the weekend (or specific days) is wrong. I think children of this age should be being children and this means, to me, when they are not in school they are playing, doing out of school activities, building a den in the garden.

My DS 6. I think I can make a judgement call as to when I think he is ready for weekend homework. It is not when he is six. If a one-off piece of homework is set, then fine (and we have had that before and we have fully supported it, engaged in it, help DS/DD do it).

But for a 6 year old? Regular, weekly "tasks" for Saturday and Sunday?

Year 5/Year 6 at a push maybe. If the homework set takes, in total, a reasonable amount of time.

I am fully aware that come secondary school, the hours of homework required will be higher. What I am trying to establish with my children is, as PP have said, a work-life balance. Get the homework done before the weekend if you can, so the weekend is all yours. To do what you want. You chill in front of a film, play rugby, go camping, play in the garden. Because your homework is done, the folder can be put back in your bag and forgotten about until Monday. Is this really an awful, awful thought process to establish for a 6,7,8,9,10 year old? Is this really a bad start to their academic practices? Really? Don't procrastinate. Get it done. Then you can have you time. Yes, when they are older work pressures will increase. But surely having established good routines now they will be slightly more inclined to get stuff done (a bit) during the week so they are not just slogging over the weekend. There will be a time when it is down to their own time management. Time management that surely I have a part in teaching them. Now. Whilst they are young?

As a teacher do you truly thing weekend homework is a good thing? Truly? Even if it is "just" reading?

Set us spellings to learn between Thursday and Tuesday - fine - we can work it in. Set us the task of reading at least 5 times a week - fine we can work it in. Set us one-off projects about Wolves to do over 2 weeks - fine we can work it in. But our children are young. They are tired. Mostly at the weekend they should be playing. He is 6.

And the comment (which I did not, and will not write) is from a Parent Governor, PTA committee member who helps out 2-3 full days at the school. You can be protective of your children's best interests whilst still supporting the school.

Though to be fair, I would agree, just my slightly aggressive comment would probably make a teacher think I was not fully supporting the school. Whether that should make the teacher feel sorry for the child I am not so sure about.

And to re-iterate, I didn't write it even once - although I wanted to when I started this thread on a tired, grumpy Thursday night - facing a stupidly hectic weekend.

MyFirstName I think you sound like a great parent, just so you know. Personally, I think with reading I don't want it to be considered homework. But if your child sees it 'set' in the 'homework' book, then I can understand why it like homework. Personally, I also think it is great to read every day. But I think that you said somewhere that you do read, just not the school books.

I haven't worked out what I think about homework (Y1 child, and I don't count reading ), but I agree with what you are trying to teach your children. Even if I end up trying to teach them the same things slightly differently, when it comes down to it, we are all trying to give our children the best, and who knows which is the right method (for each child, because it won't ever be the same for them all).

I understood your post as a grumpy night post. And you do it one one, other people do it differently, hopefully ultimately it all sums to the same end. Children who adore reading, love to learn, study really well independently, manage their stress well and who are happy and fulfilled. Fingers crossed

Thank you Hoolies. And I think parents and teachers should support each other as surely their aim is the same? To teach, to instil a love of learning and laying the foundations for the myriad of challenges life throws at us.

I also know for some parents (as mentioned up thread, due to late childcare pickups/early starts etc) weekends are the best time for homework. I still believe though that, yes have a task and a deadline - but leave the specific whens to the family concerned.

I understand too, that it was a grumpy night comment, and that you hadn't written it. I think we can all feel cross with schools or other institutions at various points. Better to vent on here, than to the school, when it's just a case of feeling grumpy.

The thing about homework, is it doesn't really work if everyone chooses when it is convenient for them. Other posters have said upthread that their kids are in childcare in the week and not home until 6.30. For them, the weekend is the best chance to do it. Some people will moan if a whole week is given, saying it leads to delays, others moan if only a night is given, saying it is inflexible. Setting over a weekend gives 2 full days and a three evenings. You can still get it out of the way quickly on Fri night if you want to, or leave it until Sun night if you want to.
For me, the key thing thing is to support the schools policy, regardless of whether the homework is timed for the most suitable time for you or not. Once you are part of a bigger institution, doing your own things to your own timescale, just isn't feasible anymore. Think about the practical problems if everyone wanted to do something different. It is a long time until year 5 or 6. That's potentially 5 years of resisting or refusing to do what the school have asked for. As time moves on,some of those home works which are done over the weekend will be the basis for the lesson on the Monday morning. Not having done them will be a hinderance to your child's progress.
Homework starts off small in year 1. It is partly about getting used to the idea of doing it. It will grow over time, whether you are in agreement or not. Some schools don't set homework at all, so is one of those more suitable for you and your family, being more in keeping with your ethos about education?

In itself, this is a small issue and I can see you were just having a bit of a moan, as you said, on a tired Thursday night. But there is the bigger question of supporting the school, when you don't always feel like it, and realising that each and every family cannot set their own timetable once part of a bigger organisation.

heels99, just so you know, we don't do homework or read on Fridays because DCs play football after school and have karate from 6.30 to 7.30, they are zonked and can't concentrate so as a family that's what we decided. They are young, 7 and 8 yo, so it might change in the future obviously. They do homework/reading/practice musical instruments other nights of the week and at weekends so it's not bizarre at all.

I totally understand what you are saying Chocolate - and you are giving me a bit of pause for thought. For the future. So thank you.

For now though, I think the school/teachers should also be taking a bit of thought for the tiredness of their youngest pupils - and setting something more flexible surely is not going to harm the longer term goal?

I stand by my stand . And tbh I have the result I wanted. A rant on here. A proper, calmer chat with the teacher - teacher is happy with what we are doing, we have tweaked the form (with teachers OK) and DS is happy - getting his homework "done" - as far as he is concerned in a "fully supporting the school" aka not breaking the rules.

And huruummmpppphhh...if they evah, evah just give us one night to do homework - well then....huruumppppphhhhhhh welll......just hoiking hurumppphhyyness.