Yr 3 homework

[Llareggub]

How much is reasonable?

DS has twice weekly homework. I've chatted other parents at school and we're all finding that the weekend homework takes between one and a half and two hours. Wednesday homework is around half an hour.

Additionally, we are expected to read for 10 minutes a night and complete a book related writing activity at the end of every book. This can take around 15 minutes on top.

Is this normal?

We get about 15 to 20 minutes every day, so probably adds up to about the same, just more spread out.

That sounds like a lot to me. My DD gets homework once a week, which takes about half an hour, plus about 10 minutes reading per night, and a project every half term which takes a few hours.

Time wise, over the week, I would say that DD has a similar amount of work - she gets the following each week:
Reading (every night). There is no writing activity, but DD is on long (200-300 page) chapter books, so it takes her a week to read most books unless they're Roald Dahl, in which case she devours them in a couple of nights.
Spellings: comprehension and context (Mon - Thurs) - a set of 10 words to give a definition for and use in context within a sentence, tested on Friday.
Times tables and associated division facts (Mon - Thurs) - tested on Friday.
Maths (Monday) - a full worksheet.
Literacy (Wednesday) - a full worksheet.

Weekends are left homework free, with the exception of reading.

30 mins a day plus reading & spelling here - nothing at the weekend though

Thanks for sharing. We're struggling to get it done. I work full time and my sons are in after school club daily. By the time we get home and eat it's nearly 7pm. DS1 has an IEP for literacy stuff and we've had lots of tantrums over the years. Recently he has turned a corner and will get on with it but it feels like he could snap at any moment.

It's really hard to give him the support he needs without neglecting his yr 1 brother who also has homework to do twice a week with daily reading. I need more hours!

I also forgot to add that he is supposed to do 10 minutes of daily spellings.

Reading - at least 3 times a week
10 spellings for Friday
1 piece of homework to complete rotated between writing, maths and topic to hand in each Monday

Sounds like a lot less than some of you (which TBH I'm thankful for)

My DS has reading, spelling and times tables (left to our discretion how often we practise, I get DS to do spellings and tables three times a week, and he reads maybe 5 times a week), then he has a weekly homework task which takes 20-30 minutes. I think that's perfectly adequate, especially given that the teacher doesn't have time to mark the homework in depth.

20 mins reading a night, spellings for Friday , literacy, maths and topic work for weekend takes between 2-3 hours . Too much Imo and no benefit from it.
Year 1dd gets spellings, a book a night plus nightly homework for next day. Different school .

1 reading book a week and 1 page of homework, normally just a few sums, or write 5 interesting facts on ..... Type of stuff taking about 10 minutes.

Feel your pain....my ds gets 1 or 2 pieces s night which is due back following day-generally takes about 30 mins, 3 pieces over the weekend which depending on tantrum levels cam take up to 3 hours. On top of this we have weekly spellings, daily reading and times tables. I feel it's too much and I also work full time, although we get home at 6 and my children have had all their meals at school. Also trying tofit in ffootball training and matches which he enjoys. I support him to do it but I personally don't feel the benefit and just want him to be able to be a child and play! I do place à v high importance on education but at 7, really? All this?

I set spelling words at the start of the week, which they have the whole week and weekend to work on, as well as whichever times table they are up to. I'll also set a small task to do over the week (mostly in the form of a homework grid, so the students can pick what they want to do) related to a unit of work. I do say at the parent/teacher evening at the start of the year that homework should take no more than 15 minutes x 5 times per week and they should stop and write a note in their diary if they are regularly taking longer than that.

Plus I recommend at least 15 minutes of reading each night (on their own is fine, it doesn't need to be out loud to a parent), but I don't consider this homework. We do a reading challenge where students log the time they read and each week we announce which class in each year has won, so they are quite motivated to do reading anyway.

Your name suits you Midnitescribbler!

In view of the long hours kids in the UK spend at school, it is insane to expect them to do more at home.

I would not count reading for pleasure homework, but for the rest - i would encourage kids to do only the absolute minimum to keep stupid teachers of their backs.

They have become so intimidated by government targets and league tables and lost all sense of proportion, and the appreciation that education is for life - not just to pass silly tests.

DS2 is in year 3 and other than (non-documented) reading/choice of doing online maths he hasn't been given any homework this year.

What I find difficult is that though a teacher may say spend no more than 15 minutes, this just doesn't work when your DC is not motivated and creates a huge fuss / has a tantrum. Because just getting my DS to the table to do homework could take over an hour when he was in KS1. While it's true that the actual homework did not take too long, if your DC is not interested in schoolwork, and DS hates schoolwork, just wants to do sport all day long, it is a nightmare until the child is 10 ish and can do the homework with less / no support. DS would spend literally half an afternoon doing 1 short comprehension and even then he would not do it to the best of his ability. Thankfully DD is more biddable and tends to just get on and do her homework, and because of the difference in attitude it's less of a strain all around. Though DS is the academic one - DD finds schoolwork hard and does need support to complete it well and get anything out of it. DS could generally do any primary homework easily, he just did'nt want to.

Apologies as my previous post doesn't answer your question, primary homework seems unnecessary to me until yrs 5 and 6. My yr 4 dd is in a mixed yr3/ yr 4 class and gets the same volume of homework as when in yr 3. She gets
Reading daily
Continuous practice on times tables ( she is struggling with these so I am trying to do 10 or 15 mins a day which is oh so slowly paying off)
Spelling sheet weekly for test on Thursday or Friday, DDs spelling is poor and this takes another 10 or 15 minutes each day from Monday to Thursday, and poor DD still scores poorly in the test
Maths set on mathletics weekly, should take about 30 minutes a week, but not always related to class work and when DD has no idea where to start, can take a lot longer, I do sometimes wonder whether her real teacher or me teaches her more maths.
Usually a weekly piece of literacy, a comprehension worksheet or a short story, or research on a given topic, or practicing grammar. DD usually has a good go at this on her own in about 20 minutes.
Project every half term, often making something quite elaborate. This drives me to distraction. Last half term we had to make a model of a rain forest. It took forever.

I work and it is an ongoing strain getting all this done. We also get home at about 6:10 in the evenings, then I need to prepare supper, and there are evening sports clubs, all in all it's very stressful. And she needs to be in bed by 7:30 most days, or gets very tired. I do time tables every morning in the car driving her to the child minders, and spellings in the car on the way home. Maths and literacy we try to do Saturday am so not hanging over us the rest of the weekend. Reading is before sleep, luckily DD will read to herself before going to sleep, I do listen to her but only 3 times a week on average, sometimes 4.

Llaregrubb:

What is the 1.5 - 2hrs homework at the weekend? Is it a project/ extended essay/ research report?

In terms of the weekend (although I'm not sure whether you work or have a busy schedule of clubs/ family visits/ etc...) - try splitting up the homework into bitesize bits instead of doing it all in one go. If you have dead times at the weekend (periods of time that a quiet like in the morning as people are slowly getting up and getting breakfast organised/ whilst you're making lunch or dinner) try to use those times effectively by having your DC nearby - at the kitchen table working away on their project whilst you're getting things done.

During the week - in terms of nightly reading/ spelling/ worksheet type homeworks - try doing them with one child whilst the other is having their bath - we've found this a really useful way of giving both children our full attention (DH & I took it in turns).

The good news is from about Y4 - reading at night tends to be done as part of the bedtime routine - with reading to you becoming less and less of a nightly feature (I'm down to 1/2 times a week with DD2 who's Y5).

To be honest having come from a primary that didn't have this kind of thing - I've genuinely found DD1 (now Y7) is at a huge disadvantage when it comes to KS3 homework. Children who are used to writing essays/ researching projects/ building models just take Y7 homework in their stride. DD1 is often freaked out by the assignments and has no idea where to begin - quite simply because she didn't have anything along these lines in KS2.

So although it is a bit of a pain now - try to bear in mind these are all good skills come senior school.

HTH

The amount of homework secondaries set is often even more insane.

Of my two kids, the one who never did more than the absolute minimum did just as well as the one who slogged away for hours.

On PastSellByDate logic schools should be starting to set long assignments in reception.

That sounds like a lot to me. Ds1 is in Year 2 and gets one homework assignment on a Friday to be completed by Wednesday. It can take anywhere from 5 minutes to half an hour, with maths homework being done really quickly and any literacy or writing a bit longer.

He has one reading book and one free choice book a week, and they both have to be read (we're on stage 10 ORT so they're 36 pages long I think). We usually do the free choice book on a Friday and then the ORT book in about 3 lots, reading ten pages or so at a time when we have chance over the week.

Mashabell:

Please be so kind as to not put words in my mouth.

I'm saying from KS2 lower (Y3/ Y4) - having assignments which include a written component is helpful. I also think gradually increasing the challenge (so that Y5/6 homeworks are significantly more challenging than Y3/4 - as in our case DD1 had the same exact homeworks in Y6 as Y4, with no homework at all during most of Y5) is important.

I get that in some areas the schools are very good and what happens during the school day is challenging, demanding, tiring, etc....

but Mashabell....

that isn't everywhere.

In my little corner of Birmingham - I'm watching an intake which includes DD2's primary (where homework like Llaregrubb) describes is typical vs. other local primaries (like the one DD1 attended YR - Y6) where homework is limited or non-existent. DD1 went to a primary in this latter group - and genuinely is finding the expectations of an ordinary state secondary (around 30 minutes of homework a night) a 'big ask'.

Obvious skills like being used to write an essay/ answer over one side of A4

being used to researching (knowing to look up several sources/ citing your sources/ marshalling your facts to support your view)

planning work over an extended period of time

coming up with ideas for very open projects - which require creativity/ artistic flair

etc... have all been totally 'new' for DD1 - we've had freak outs/ panics/ and pouting - but eventually got her to calm down, look at what the teacher is asking for and plan an appropriate piece of work to fulfill the assignment. Sometimes teacher's provide 'success criteria' and sometimes they don't - but gradually DD1 is getting a sense of what makes for a good essay/ project/ report.

I genuinely believe that gradually preparing a child for these expectations over KS2 isn't just about doing homework for homework sake - but is about tooling them up for the expectations of secondary schools.

And Mashabell - there is no doubt that homework at secondary (additional 30 minutes) makes a statistically signficant difference to outcomes: www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar07/vol64/num06/the-case-for-and-Against-Homework.aspx and the data on primary is very limited.

However - one could simply look into the statistics on those preparing for the 11+ and their performance on KS2 SATs. That's a lot of extra work - many families do quietly - which does result in better students/ outcomes for schools.