No spellings, hardly any homework - Y1

[Ginmummy1]

It seems from a number of threads on MN and talking to friends that most children get sent home with weekly spellings to learn from Y1 (sometimes YR). DD’s school have recently had a school-wide policy change and are no longer sending weekly spellings to learn and sentences to write, as they don’t feel it is working for the children.

DD’s Y1 homework currently consists of reading books and a maths game (both changed weekly).

While I’m grateful that DD isn’t drowning in homework (other friends say homework takes their DC 4+ hours per week!) I am uneasy about her having almost nothing.

If the school is no longer getting children to work on spellings and sentences at home, either they’re doing more of that stuff at school (reducing the time available to cover other learning), or it’s not being done at all. How much will the kids lose out as a result?

How can schools differ so much from each other in this matter?!

I suppose I’m a typical MN parent: a bit on the pushy side, with a child who is ahead of the curve academically. We’ve arranged our work hours so I pick her up from school every day, and in between after-school activities and playdates we do have time for homework (which we were expecting her to receive by this age), and DD would happily do a bit more ‘learning’. I would like to do some ‘work’ with her at home, but would prefer anything we do to support the learning at school. I do not want her to get ‘ahead’ so that lessons at school don’t teach her anything, but I would like to give her the opportunity to consolidate what she’s learnt at school.

Of course, she is learning in day-to-day life, and we talk about interesting things and try to give her a range of experiences. I am not looking for “she’s only 5/6 – let her be a kid” types of comments. I am sure I’m not being unreasonably pushy by saying that DD is very eager to learn, enjoys writing and maths, and has ample capacity for a 20-minute ‘homework’ session with me twice a week after school on top of her other hobbies, playdates and downtime.

Any suggestions what sorts of things we might benefit from doing together at this stage? (my dream would be a link to a website containing suggestions of weekly homework activities for Y1 to support national curriculum…)

Any comments on the school’s change of policy – pros and cons?

Thanks, all. Lots of reassuring comments.

She does French as one of her extra-curricular activities and loves it. She previously tried Rainbows but really didn’t take to it, which was a surprise to me as she’s very sociable.

We haven’t started her on an instrument yet, but we both loved music as children and I have two music degrees, so this one is coming! We’d like her to start on piano but want to find a very child-friendly teacher, so we’re asking around.

The school doesn’t do Read Write Inc – I believe it follows Letters and Sounds but the reading material is a mixture (and not all phonics-based). They have only just (a few weeks ago) stopped doing spellings/sentences.

I will try to relax – but it’s hard when other friends’ children seem to be doing so much more!

You need to relax. Seriously. She's in Y1. All the research shows homework in primary school age children has no benefit at all.

The area it sounds like you need to work on is her social interaction with other children. As the saying goes; all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Also; doing housework rather than doing homework isn't a waste of time, it teaches your child responsibilty.

My yr 1 son doesn't get any spellings either. I am not concerned at all. He has 1 piece of homework a week (usually connect to their topic), reading and they are expected to practice and know how to spell their high frequency words (which he does).

Lots of good ideas on this thread, will make a note! One thing I got recently was a 'Picture and Story Sketchbook' from WH Smith - each page has a blank top half and 6/7 wide spaced lines in the bottom half, so my daughter has been doing stories and illustrations.

My Y2 kid has reading homework and is encouraged to practice tables. Nothing more. He doesn't do that half the time but reads his own choice of novels instead. Compared to the reams of homework friend's kids have, it's brilliant: he has time to rest, play and do after school activities. Plenty of time for heavy homework when he's older.

Does she do any sports? You don't mention any OP? Round here the Yr1s all tend to do gymnastics, dance, multi sports , footy, hockey, rugby, tennis etc - both girls and boys in equal measure. We are lucky though as we have loads of local sports clubs and all start juniors early: from age 4 generally. Physical literacy is very important and helps the social skills too.

She’s an only child but very much a people person: while she will sit and read or do some solitary activities at times, she would always prefer to ‘work’ with someone, whether it be playing out a made-up story or just talking! She crams play into any space she can, and her social skills are well developed for her age. There is no risk of all work and no play in her life – the only ‘dull’ bit is an adult’s perception of her endless invented stories that she wants to act out with people.

In terms of physical exercise, she does ballet and tap, and she’s just started going parkrunning with me most Saturdays (that’s jogging a 5K). She used to do swimming when she was little and can swim in the basic sense (20 metre badge) but doesn’t currently have lessons – we go occasionally of course. The school doesn’t do many clubs, but sometimes offers ‘multi sports’ or ‘multi skills’ for a few weeks, but she is very ‘girlie’ and hasn’t wanted to do any clubs that might involve football – she is changing her mind about this and we will sign her up to the next one. She can’t yet ride a bike without stabilisers so we are working on that. I’m aware that physical exercise is important and would like her to get keen on another physical activity and will work on finding it.

Most of the yr1 here do all their extra sports out of school, with local clubs. I'd get her doing swim lessons so she can learn to swim proficiently before she gets too old and starts to dislike it. I'd also concentrate on bike riding as with that comes the ability to go on bike rides and maybe ride to school. Balance bikes are more popular here so most ride by age 3/4/5. Balance is an important skill and bikes given them freedom. Look at gymnastics if she doesn't fancy team sports or tennis as that's great too for overall development of physical competence and awareness

My Y1 child gets a bit more than that, but only a bit (it's meant to take no more than 20 minutes a week) and I'm happy with it. It helps that it worked for her big sister... And it does give time for music practice, lots of extra-curricular stuff etc, which I'm really keen on them doing.

Anyway, if you like more structured stuff how about planning a library trip once a week (to keep her topped up on new and potentially slightly more challenging books), plus maybe one physical thing you do together (swimming, cycling, ball skills like tennis if she's not keen on football)? If you had set days for those things you might feel like you're actually doing more. And maybe think about starting an instrument, and fitting in practising?

There is a maths app that I can recommend, but the issue is that it follows the National Curriculum so there's a danger she'll get even further ahead. I tend to save it for the long summer holidays, as that way it doesn't seem to matter as much (or maybe the new teacher just doesn't notice!).