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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

For those who dislike homework for infants ...

30 replies

Smithagain · 09/05/2007 22:20

... how do you approach things with your child, if they are being asked to do something that you don't feel is useful and/or necessary?

The specific case for us is practising phonic sounds every night. We are asked to do this, but have been slacking off on it because (a) DD1 basically knows them (b) the ones she sometimes forgets are not getting any better for practising them at home (c) her teacher told us she is near the top of the class for literacy anyway (although she is not one of the three who have allegedly been told they don't need to practise) (d) it is boring and I'd much rather get on with reading some decent books or doing something non school related.

I am happy in my own mind that we are doing enough practising to keep DD1 moving forward, without driving her mad. But she is getting the message at school that they must be done every night. And being a conformist little girl, she's a bit worried that we are not.

Am I giving her the wrong message by neglecting to follow the teacher's instructions to the letter? Or am I teaching her a reasonable lesson that sometimes it's OK to figure out what you need to do for yourself?

And why do I feel so rebellious about it anyway, when it only takes a couple of minutes out of our lives LOL!

OP posts:

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lizyjane · 09/05/2007 22:28

I would tell her that you are practising by using the sounds in the books you are reading together. I am a teacher who truly believes that small children should not be weighed down by homework, encouragement should come from integrating learning into real life situations.

Aefondkiss · 09/05/2007 22:33

oooh smithagain this is a subject vvery close to my heart, my dd gets heaps of tedious hw, which she is quite happy to do most of the time, but I am just fed up of it, I asked my neighbour (her ds is at the same school in the same year, but has a different teacher) she was amazed at how much hw my dd gets in comparison

e.g dd will have to read one whole OT book, plus do some writing/answering questions, plus revise all jolly phonics sounds or word matching game, dd gets hw everyday, plus a pack to do at weekends, I am SICK of it and dd doesn't like school at the tender age of 5....

lyrabelacqua · 09/05/2007 22:43

Aefondkiss, wow, that's STACKS of homework for a 5-year-old. That's way too much IMO.
My ds1 is in reception and he was bringing his jolly phonics sounds book home every day to practise sounds but now we don't need to do that anymore and he just has two reading books each week. he's ecouraged to read one of them every night but doesn't have to.
He does like to do handwriting practice sometimes if he feel like it but i refuse to push him at his age (he's not even 5 yet).

Hulababy · 09/05/2007 22:49

That is tons of homework!!!

DD (5) gets reading homework every night, but nothing extra for weekends. But you decide how much of the book they read. At the moment DD is getting ORT books and she tends to read a whole one each night. At holidays they get some written homework so far - mini book review, etc.

Tommy · 09/05/2007 22:51

my DS used to get HW in his nursery (I kid you not) - not a private one - just a nursery class in ordinary state school.

You got a certificate which was ceremoniously handed out on a Friday in front of all the children and parents if you did your HW which I thought was terribly unfair to the children - I mean, whose fault is it if a 4 year old doesn't do his HW?

lyrabelacqua · 09/05/2007 22:52

What are OT and ORT. am i just being stupid?

Hulababy · 09/05/2007 22:53

ORT - Oxford Reading Tree. It's a reading scheme. DD's school use a variety at different stages.

RosaLuxembourg · 09/05/2007 22:53

ORT is Oxford Reading Tree. A deeply tedious reading scheme that is used in many schools. Clearly not in yours for which you may thank your lucky stars.

Boco · 09/05/2007 22:57

Biff is bored. Chip is tired. Kipper is fed up. Floppy has had it. Lets give up and go to bed said mum!

RosaLuxembourg · 09/05/2007 23:01

Don't you ever wish the magic key would forget to bring them back and just strand them in Ancient Mesopotamia for good one day?

jeangenie · 09/05/2007 23:06

Boco you should find a publisher - that brought a smile to my face (when those bloody ORT books have almost ripped all the conviction I had that helping DD to learn to read was A Good Thing from my very soul)

TinyGang · 09/05/2007 23:09

I dislike homework for infants.

We don't do it every night - probably we should but I don't get into a discussion about it with the school.

Sometimes dt's have had enough school for one day, sometimes they are busy playing. No way am I going to interrupt because I think their fre time is important.

They are still so little, and 6.5 hrs a day at school learing a curriculum is enough at this stage.

I am interested that you have been told your dd is near the top of the class. I can never get a straight answer about where my children are in comparison to their peers. I would find it helpful though but the teachers are vague.

Original poster

Smithagain · 10/05/2007 11:17

Glad to know I'm not the only rebel! And thanks lizyjane for a teacher's perspective. Really, that's what we're doing. We spot letters and words all over the place - at DD1s instigation. And I'm confident that her teacher is happy with what she's doing. I think the "you must practise every night" may well be targetted at other families, TBH - but it doesn't stop DD1 worrying about whether she's doing "the right thing".

As far as being near the top is concerned, I've never asked where she stands, but her teacher volunteered the information at parents' evening that both DD1 and her best friend were flying high on the literacy front. I've no idea where she sits on other things.

OP posts:

frances5 · 10/05/2007 12:52

We had spellings, which were stupidly hard words like

limp
pram
drum
step
body

I can't remember the rest, but there were 10 in total. My little boy is partically deaf and still finds drawing his letters hard. My feeling is that if the teacher is too lazy to differentiate the homework for my son then I am not going to reduce him to tears by forcing him to do it.

Thankfully I had a word with the school's senco and his teacher and they have stopped giving him spellings.

We get two reading books a week which are stupidly easy. My son doesnt seem to mind. We read them once instead of every night because its boring. My sonprefers spiderman comics to the Oxford Reading Tree.

We are supposed to learn to spell the following words this week, "Because", "would", "should", "could", "put", again having poor handwriting and not hearing properly makes this hard.

I think my son would be better off not having homework. If a small child has spent 6 hours at school, why should they be given more work. If I want my son to do extra work I can always find him something constructive to do and at the right level!

We never had homework at 5. It didn't stop me doing well academically.

dontwanttogetoutofbed · 10/05/2007 12:56

if i practice any hmwk with dd1 she makes a face at me that says - i want to play what do you think you are doing?
clearly lizyjane is right - learning should be either integarted in play, or not at all, at this age.
Repeating like a parrot is the slowest and most boring form of learning.
i wouldn't want my own mother to do hmwk with me, so i wont do it to my dd either.
you are not ingonring the teacher's orders. she is not a doctor. you are doing what is best for your child. and that makes the most sense.

sandyballs · 10/05/2007 13:00

I don't remember having any homework at all at primary school (I'm 39). My DD's are in Year 1 and are expected to read their school books every evening and we are supposed to sign their book saying it has been done. I don't do this every day - I work 3 days a week and get home at 6.45 and they're far too tired to start reading, and I'm too tired to even contemplate Biff, Chip, Kipper, Wilf and Wilma. Those books are just SO DULL.

At weekends they get a sheet of maths and some writing to do.

bozza · 10/05/2007 13:06

When DS was in reception he only really got reading books. Now in Y1 he is getting the 32 page ones and we tend to read these over about 2/3 nights. He also gets homework once a week which is a single sheet that takes only a few minutes and he gets spellings.

WigWamBam · 10/05/2007 13:17

I'd be inclined just to tie it in with the reading - tell her that you're practicing phonics by reading. Although if it's worrying her then maybe spending a couple of minutes looking at phonics whenever she reads to you wouldn't hurt.

I am becoming increasingly annoyed at the amount of homework dd is getting. She is 5, in year 1, and last week she had to:

Research Shakespeare using books and the internet

Look at one of Shakespeare's sonnets, and see how far she could understand it

Draw a detailed picture of our house - which, as part of next weeks homework, she will use to make a model to form part of a "street" display

Read three reading books and a school library book

Practice 25 spellings for a test next week

Worksheets for French and Maths.

She hasn't got so much this week - apart from the reading and spellings, all she has to do is research Grace Darling and do a couple of worksheets.

I hate that she has so much to do, and that they are expecting her to learn things like this at the age of 5. A few weeks ago, she came home and told me what a preposition was, and how to use it ... why do they need to know this, when half the year struggle with the basics of literacy?

sandyballs · 10/05/2007 13:20

That is nuts WWB. Is it a state school?

WigWamBam · 10/05/2007 13:21

Yep - it's a state school.

Original poster

Smithagain · 10/05/2007 13:31

Wow, that puts a few minutes of phonics into perspective. That's an outrageous amount of work for a five year old.

Although DD1 also knows what a preposition is, and she's in Reception Seems they like to start 'em young these days!

OP posts:

DeviousDaffodil · 10/05/2007 13:36

The infants scholl Ds is a gives hw, when he moves up into the juniors they get none. The head in juniors bleievs the children work hard enough in the day and should do their own thing in their own time, which I wholeheartedly endorse!
I begrudgingly do DS1'a hw when I have time, other wise we don't bother.
I have put a note a few times saying we were too busy having fun playing outsied to do it!
DS is doing well enough I want him to enjoy being 6 while he can!!

ElenyaTuesday · 10/05/2007 14:10

I am a big fan of homework although I confess to being selective!!! I don't make them read every day - reading is for enjoyment, it's not for torturing them! Plus if I think the work they've been given is pointless I don't make them do it..... very bad.

lyrabelacqua · 10/05/2007 16:40

The only homework I had at primary school was reading books and spellings and even then not in reception. i don't remember learning much at all in reception except the alphabet and basic numbers. We spent most of our time dressing up and playing with sand and water.
I've got a decent job now so it can't have done me any harm. Wish it could be like that for our LOs.

twinsetandpearls · 10/05/2007 16:50

dd gets homework every day and we di it if she wants to and is she doesn't we don't. She probably does homework three nights a week. Although she doe slove to do thins on her own terms, so she has some exercise books that I ahve pinched from my own school and while I am marking she will do some sums or writing (she is 5) and she takes this into school once a week. Dd is being taught in higher classes for the core subjects so it is not doing her any harm.

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