Homework in reception -WTAF?

[Moanranger]

Speaking to a friend today with DD in reception, she v concerned as her DD would not do it. (As an aside my DC are 23 & 24 & I have had every experience going with homework) I said to her "just don't do it & tell teacher you won't." She said other children bring in computer generated graphs, etc.
I mean, what is going on here? Study after study has shown that homework has no effect on outcomes, but especially for the early years.
The only rationale I can see is that it is yet another outlet for competitive mummyhood " ooo - let's see which mummy can do the best computer-generated homework & pass it off as their child's!"

I'm a secondary teacher and I am really shocked at the amount of homework young children seem to get. My eldest is just 3 and autistic and I am dreading this already.

DS1 is in reception. He has 1 reading book, 1 library book and 1 homework task a week. So far it's been draw your family, draw your house type tasks. This weeks he had a very basic maths/counting task. He loves school and is very keen to do any school type tasks.

My 3 year old at nursery is sent a book home each week and they're learning phonics so a sound each week that we have to write down or draw letters using that sound. He's 3 and he goes to nursery 4 days a week. I think that's enough for him without homework. But I do it because he gets a sticker and I'd feel bad if the rest of the kids got one and he didn't.

But irvine they start on reading way too soon! Much more common to start reading at 6. Some will come to it sooner(I was a spontaneous reader at 4), but do not expect or push it til later.
I think the early push in U.K. Is counterproductive

I agree, OP.
My country do teach basic letters, reading, writing, and numbers in kindergarten, but never in school kind of way.
They start school at 6/7, so they have basic knowledge of things, and are ready to enter formal learning straight away.
I am very shocked to see the comment they have homework in some nursery.

The evidence is that "homework" in primary has little impact on attainment, however parental interest/support is desirable.

My DD is year 1 age I think (turns 6 in Feb) and her "homework" is to spend time with me every evening to cuddle and talk about our day, that's it. I think the idea of formal homework for such young children is insane - I didn't have homework until year 6 and that was just timetables once a week.

DS is in reception at a private school and gets quite a lot of homework.
He gets:
Monday- reading book - songbirds/ biff et al or similar
Tuesday/ Wednesday- packet of approx 10 high frequency words. These are gradually changed as he gets the hang of them.
Thursday- words plus school library book as bedtime story. We keep this for a week.
Weekend- words, handwriting- a worksheet plus 3 lines of practice of the letter of the week, "About me" book- page a week about our weekend. At the moment he draws a picture and I write a few lines.
Spellings- 2 words to sound out and practice writing. At the moment cvc words.
None is compulsory, if no time, no worries.
It's too much really, but we get it done. We couldn't manage any more.

We get a lot of different homework, most nights but it only takes 5 mins a day.
Mainly reading and chatting about numbers and a few flashcards.
We do 2-3 days after school and some at breakfast.

We get no homework until KS2 except a bit of reading. Our HT sends out a list of suggested 'homework' such as got for a walk, climb a tree, talk about seasons etc. I laugh at the local private schools that set tons of home work as it looks good but doesn't seem to produce better results

DTs (aug born) are in reception and don't get homework. They have yet to even get a proper reading book home. They just pick a library book twice a week and we read it at bedtime along with the other 50 million they want to read.

On the newsletter at the start of the week it tells us what phonics they are doing and any new tricky words they are learning so we can practise at home if they want to. There is absolutely no pressure at all yet they are both able to and want to read some of the song birds books we have at home.

I don't have issues with homework as long as it is age appropriate. I think it teaches them how to plan and manage their time and that sometimes they have to do something even if they don't like it. But i don't think even at Y6 they should have more then 30 mins a night. Seems pointless to me.

My DC is in pre-school, just turned 4.

From this term he has had weekly books sent home (3) and a poem or rhyme or song per week to "learn".

We try and make it a fun thing to do - there is no pressure from us on DC nor any pressure from teachers on parents I guess its just trying to get them into good habits?

DD1 is in reception. We do not get formal homework. She gets one book a week in her bag and we have a logon to a maths site provided by the school.

After our first parents evening we have learned a lot. We just read the book prior to parents evening and ignored the maths as she can add and subtract anyway.

Her teachers were very enthusiastic about the books, said we could make 10 minutes fun out of two pages. Not reading the story but describing the scenes, getting her to use language to describe the story in her own words. Duh, we didn't think of that.

The maths we've tried this week and it's fun too, using numbers before and after. Counting on fingers. Getting her to read bus numbers, car number plates and how many tomatoes we put in a meal etc, etc.

DD is absolutely loving it and feels very important counting out ingredients and recognising bus numbers. They told us to just make it fun and made some great suggestions.

I was taught in the 70s and everything was rote. I went in ready to tell the teachers my daughter could read and write (with my stroppy I know better than to give my five year old homework face on) but their enthusiasm inspired me to look at things differently.

Today we've done 2D and 3D shapes while cooking dinner. She enjoys it and her teachers have taught me that homework doesn't mean just reading the book in the bag.

I reckon ImNotReallyReal has it right: well chosen homework is a good thing - the best way to develop independent thinking. The galling thing is how pointless so much homework is, at any age. If teachers could limit themselves to setting things which actually develop skills and keep children interested (and just miss it out the rest of the time), kids wouldn't learn to see homework as a waste of their time ...

Our school has just scrapped topic homework..Huraah..They are told if they want to do something on the topic it will be shared in class..My DS made a lego model he took in and a powerpoint.. ( he is year 5)

He has always loved reading and tried to read his book before he got home in reception.. At the minute he is making giant leaps in maths and tonight when I sent him up to read he was doing a maths test.. Then wanted to stay up late reading.. but this is on his terms..Ask him to learn his spellings and you might as well ask him to pull his eyelashes out one by one.

I know our school have said to reception parents although the EYFS hasn't changed the expectations of year 1 have changed so they have to do more in reception to help them in year 1.

As for homework in nursery ..I can't imagine why? I am a childminder and free play is imporant, been school ready is not been able to read and write but take turns, work on fine motor skills, be able to listen to instructions.. I think parents accepting homework from nursery are crazy. You children need to just be play with there toys at home.. Learning should all be through play at this age.

irvineoneohone Sat 03-Dec-16 22:03:06 I think homework in yr2+ is actually good for child getting into habit of doing some work regularly,

Do you not think that attending school every day achieves this?

Yes, Mum.
I don't think just learning something new at school is enough to retain the knowledge. I think revision makes the learning long term memory.
So, I think ideally, children should have manageable amount of revision type homework, and get used to do some work at home, especially the struggling children, when they reach the age other country start school.