Yr3 homework all going online - not happy!

[ZucchiniPie]

DD's school has announced that from now on all Year 3 homework is going be done online. They're using BugClub for reading and MyMaths for maths. I haven't seen either of these yet as the log-in details haven't come home (I'll see them later today) but I'm instinctively very unhappy about what this will entail, on a number of fronts. Most of my worries are about screen addiction (which I, like most adults, suffer from myself, and want to delay the onset of in my children for as long as possible). But I'm also very far from convinced that this is the best way for a child to learn and truly understand maths. And certainly for reading, DD loves reading, part of which is the pleasure of curling up with a book, which I really don't want to take away from her.

Has anyone else with a child in Year 3 had this imposed on them and did you try and resist?

mrz "As a teacher I'd expect a parent to be with the child not leaving them to get on with it ...using paper based books never mind on line. There's really no point in reading scheme books if there isn't anyone supervising no matter how good a reader."

You must be joking! (of course I don't leave my kids with computers), but I leave my free reader daughter in Y3 (who will turn 8 in March) completely alone with her books. And I left her with her reading scheme books when they became sooo long that it was no longer sustainable to supervise it (have 2 more children). She reads books for 2-3 hours a weekday, and lot longer during the weekend. (No television in our household). She comes up to me if she doesn't understand something.

I only check the books (a quick glance into language and content) that enter into the house and if they are not age appropriate tuck them away.

Research is pretty clear that homework for primary school children has no benefit, but reading with children and times tables are important. Your children's teachers and the head will almost certainly agree this is the case, but usually give homework due to parental pressure, or so parents can see how their kids are getting on.

My kids have used MyMaths for years, at primary and secondary. It's great. The primary school trialled a few others along the way but have stayed with MyMaths. On-line is an ideal format for maths practice as far as I am concerned. The instant feedback is helpful. Children can re-do the work until they get it all right, but get different questions of the same type as they re-do, so it's all extra practice. I have one child who is very able with maths and another who has struggled to reach average. MyMaths has mostly worked for both of them. It certainly highlighted to me how much extra help my child needed, and I was able to get the school to address his needs. With written homework, I would not have 'marked' it but just made sure he did it.

Children do need computers for homework now, and if you can't provide them schools usually offer homework clubs at lunchtime for children to use school equipment. I struggle to understand why anyone who can afford one would refuse to provide their children with what is now an essential academic tool. Just shove 'em outside for an hour's running around before and after the homework session. Job done!

I struggle to understand why anyone who can afford one would refuse to provide their children with what is now an essential academic tool.

I equally struggle to understand why anyone thinks that at the grand age of 7,8 etc (primary school aged children) computers are deemed as essential academic tools.

Not at 7, but it's really not long before it's needed.

Mine were regularly set 'researching' type homework projects from Year 4. I can't remember further back than that. I always offer books for research if we have them, but we don't have books to cover every topic in sufficient depth. A library visit isn't always possible in the timeframe the homework is set.

"You must be joking" no I'm very serious. I'm as guilty as the next mum in believing that my children didn't need someone with them once they were reading fluently ...I was wrong!

I hate it being online. We have 1 computer and 4 kids, it's bloody ridiculous. They have to wait to do their homework instead of being able to just get on with it when they get in

I totally agree. Education should be a level playing field and not disadvantage those who don't have multiple computers (or who have none).

OP, I completely agree with you. At my dd's school (she is Year 5) there is a mixture of written homework and online Maths. They use Mathletics which I hate. Children shouldn't be encouraged to look at yet another screen for getting homework done. There is quite a bit of playing around on Mathletics, games and changing your character profile etc, it can be quite addictive. And Maths often NEEDS to be done with a pencil and piece of paper so children get used to writing down each step.

I equally struggle to understand why anyone thinks that at the grand age of 7,8 etc (primary school aged children) computers are deemed as essential academic tools.

I'm assuming you're not aware of a Computing National Curriculum then...

My problem with online homework is that I think it encourages teachers to set the available online tasks for a topic without really assessing whether they are appropriate.

My DC is in Secondary now but I noticed this both with Tasks set in Primary and Secondary. Often the tasks were far too lengthy or included content that had not really been covered in any great depth at school.

This would not happen if the teacher had to physically comment and mark the work, IMO.

I'm assuming you're not aware of a Computing National Curriculum then...

Just because I am told (in this case by the National Curriculum ) that it is essential, well, that alone is not enough for me.

I would want a choice and not being forced.

Again,

The Pen Is Mightier Than the Keyboard Advantages of Longhand Over Laptop Note Taking

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797614524581

Abstract

Taking notes on laptops rather than in longhand is increasingly common. Many researchers have suggested that laptop note taking is less effective than longhand note taking for learning. Prior studies have primarily focused on students’ capacity for multitasking and distraction when using laptops. The present research suggests that even when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may still be impairing learning because their use results in shallower processing. In three studies, we found that students who took notes on laptops performed worse on conceptual questions than students who took notes longhand. We show that whereas taking more notes can be beneficial, laptop note takers’ tendency to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words is detrimental to learning.

The only essential academic tool at that age is a good, competent teacher.

Nothing motives more than a good teacher. Nothing surpass real human interaction.

I have been sharing £50 second hand laptop with my ds for about 5 years.
It's a great learning tool for both of us. My ds self learns MFL, programming, maths online.
He had research homework since yr2, which we couldn't find adequate info only from the books. We have 4 different encyclopedias at home(all second hand), but still.

It's just an addition to other learning, like using pen and paper.
Same for reading, just because school use bugclub, children can still read real books. I just don't see why some people make big deal out of online homework. A lot of parents say primary children shouldn't have homework. It's easier for teacher to set homework, without making their already busy life even more hell.
If you don't agree, just don't do it. I'm sure primary don't give detention for not doing homework.

I would want a choice and not being forced

The national curriculum is statutory. You could try an independent school, a free school or an academy, but they're unlikely not to follow some sort of computing curriculum.

Mackon the computing curriculum isn't about "word processing"it's about designing, writing and debugging computer programs.

By law it must be taught in schools but that doesn't mean parents need to have computers in the home.

Online homeworks will free up the teacher to either do more planning and marking of other stuff, or to have a better work life balance which will probably impact positively on the classroom experience for your child.

I'm sure they aren't saying that they can't read books too, just that there will be a reading task to do online.

Online homeworks will free up the teacher to either do more planning and marking of other stuff, or to have a better work life balance which will probably impact positively on the classroom experience for your child

This is the root cause of the problems, I think, which I outlined in my earlier post.

It is too, easy to set without much thought. If it is innappropriate either because it is not properly differentiated or the work has not been covered adequately in class or too many lengthy tasks are set, it ends up just being 'busy work' and having little value educationally.

I say this because I believe tasks that are specifically designed by the teacher, with their particular class in mind, is always going to be more individualised to their needs.

With some online systems a teacher might also just be tempted to look at the results. Lots of 'lovely' data, with which to impress, is produced. It looks so methodical and scientific. Except so much parental input has been given to save tears and frustration, when tasks are not set appropriately - this data is rendered meaningless. There is not always time to raise this with the teacher either, if appointments are tricky to schedule and emails stay unanswered.

Rockpebblestone , I think online homework works well, because it's easy for teacher to see how each children are doing and differentiate.

Yes, the teacher can set tasks without much thought initially, but it's easy to adjust afterwards.

For bug club, ds' teacher game him set amount of books at first(5?). But since he was using it regularly, she put 50+ books for him to choose from.
Same for maths. She gave him 4 tasks to complete at first. Now she gave him access to whole year's curriculum.

It's a lot more freedom for him to do, compared to written homework.

We used bug club when my DS was younger..

I loved it..He is a book worm but it asks questions through the text so stopped him rushing through and helped with comprehension.

We haven't used my maths but he does use online games which certainly have helped him with speed he works things out times tables in particular.