Y2 homework.....

[Makinglists]

Getting fed up with this, Ds2 is 7 he has reading, Spellings which consisting of about 10 words you have to copy x3 write 4 sentences and learnng for a test each week as well as a numeracy task to do eg.learning tt. Ds2 tries hard but finds particularly the spellings hard so we have to practice a lot. He's been invited to maths booster classes at 8.15 on wed which we have done. Ive now got a letter saying he hasnt been completing the online maths games set on abacus and asking him to stay in on monday lunchtime to do them. I knew about these and we do dip in and out of them when Ds2 wants but General concentrate on the other numeracy task. Im minded to say no to this lunchtime session its his playtime. I know this is about y2 sats but getting fed up with it hes 7!. He has an active time outside school doing football, Beavers, swimming and tennis (each about 1hr) we also try and spend sometimes at the weekend walking/cycling. When are we supposed to fit all this work in? ds2 isnt the fastest - we could spend hours every evening on this! Never had this much when ds1 was in y2 and i swear he has less in Y7.
Sorry about any typos as using my phone. Just needed to rant

I feel for you!
Would it help if you had a "fun" times tables tape in the car, so that you could both sing along to it in short bursts? My DD had one from ELC, which I think was useful.
If school think your DS needs the extra lunchtime session, I would probably agree to it. But he does need his playtime too!

At our school homework wasn't compulsory in ks1, they don't get into trouble. So, I think it's a bit harsh to keep him in at lunch time to do it.

Having said that, it will be compulsory in ks2, so if you haven't done it, children will be kept in at break time to finish in yr3 upwards.

I think if he is struggling with maths, it maybe a good idea just keep up with tasks when you can find the time rather than totally ignoring them. How about in the morning when he is less tired?
All the works in ks1 is foundation to work in ks2, so finding even just for 5-10 minutes to do the task regularly will add up and help him in the long run, imo. It's not just for sats. He will benefit from doing it too.

I can't see any reason to spend a long time trying to drill spelling (indeed I can't see any reason to do spellings, is there any evidence anyway on it?) but if you spend 3 hours a week on some spellings that are expected to be 10 minutes, will the teacher still recognise that your DS is struggling as much as he is? You're covering a problem with extra work, you will not always be able to do this.

I'd say don't rant, talk to the teacher, say 30 minutes a week (or whatever you actually think is appropriate) is all you'll spend, and you will not do more.

The evidence for primary homework is extremely weak, and because of that people tend to talk about it as "getting into the habit", rather than actually learning things. If the habit is useful, 30 minutes is enough to build it.

Personally I just wouldn't do any homework unless DS wanted to, but I appreciate everyone isn't the same.

sir, I can understand what you are saying, but I do disagree that homework in primary has weak effect. It may be so for more able, but doing basics regularly with children will definitely adds up in the long run. Of course not to the extent of children being distressed, but if your dc is actually struggling at school, doing a little at home regularly would help, imo.

I feel like a parrot, because I'm constantly repeating this, but in many countries (look at Scandinavia), children of this age would only just be starting formal schooling, yet the educational outcomes in those countries are invariably better. Homework and pressure in the UK = too much, too young. I would encourage your ds to do as much as he seems to be comfortable with, op. And I wouldn't let him miss any more playtime.

We have had some of those battles ourselves. For spellings, maths and Times tables we won the battle by getting the squeebles apps, which turn it into a game. I recommend them - they’re all pretty good.

Donkey, I am from one of those countries that start school at 6/7.
They do basics(reading/writing/numbers) at kindergarten, and when the school starts, it's very formal learning, including homework every day.

We are in one of those countries where formal schooling starts at 6-7 years. The children here have homework from day one of school which lasts around an hour each day. This is not optional. There is lots of pressure on the kids here too.

I agree with SirFred. Tell the teacher how long it is taking, and negotiate something more reasonable, perhaps with a limit on the amount of time spent on each task.

but I do disagree that homework in primary has weak effect

I didn't say doing work at home had weak effect, I said the evidence for school provided homework is extremely weak. ie if you look at the studies of this they don't find a strong correlation between homework and success. Of course it's an extremely difficult thing to study, how do you control for people who do the homework, what else they do etc.

Because homework has a negative on time spent practicing other things, I'd want to see large benefits in the studies that just looked at academic outcomes - but that certainly isn't there - and there's almost definitely no dose effect more homework doesn't lead to better outcomes.

Tightly defined, targeted work at an area of weakness for an individual child, probably useful. Minimally differentiated work continuing what was done in the class, I can't imagine the utility.

I'm far from against working at home, but then I fully believe intrinsic motivation will direct most children into learning what is interesting and useful to them, and providing time for that is valuable, if you're a kid who needs 11+ hours a night sleep then there's not a lot of time if you eat up some of those hours with homework.

Of course it's easier to not support school homework when your child finds it all easy and is intrinsically motivated to learn themselves as DD is, and obviously with personal experience of rarely doing homework even in secondary and still over-excelling at school biases my own views. That's why I looked hard at the evidence with DD (DP also excelled at school, but did much more homework, but different countries and parents)

My conclusion was targetted individual homework that takes a short time and doesn't detract from something else (ie not if you're missing out on an hours physical fitness to sit at a desk working) is probably good.

Learning spellings that the whole class has is not targetted, therefore I cannot see the value, obviously the child who can spell them without effort is not getting any benefit, and the child who spends three hours and still fails has wasted a lot of time.

If the teachers cannot provide those individual targets (and I wouldn't want them to unless as an intervention) then having the child lead, or just doing something fun would be more productive.

I'm so glad our school has no homework for KS1 except reading books. They sound very SATS obsessed ! All DC are encouraged to play outside or do sports, Beavers, rainbows and music etc instead

My youngest is in y2 and we do the bare minimum. My dc have an active home life with music and sporting activities / practise daily, so we don't have much time for homework...😬. I don't think homework is compulsory and would definitely let the teacher know that you'll do what you can, but you're not going to stress over it.

We are the same as snow. Mine do various sports, Beavers and music... out of school hours are used for their wider education and not worksheets

My daughter is in year 2 and we have daily reading and weekly spelling to do..
We did used to do phonic related work sheets but they have stopped now.

I know that in year 3 the jump is right high homework wise, more along the lines of what OP said they are already getting