Fed up with "project" homeworks...

[Canadawet]

...because at then end of the day I am the one having to do them. If I don't my daughter ends up with the lowest mark in the class because the other kids had tons of help from their mum and now she is traumatized by the whole idea. The latest one is a PE project. They have to produce a booklet with the sports clubs available locally during the summer. Our council has a nice PDF ready, I feel like printing it and handing it...

I agree with you! There is too much of this kind of homework that parents end up doing especially for younger ones. The ones I hate the most are the posters that are essentially often just so that teacher can have something impressive to put on walls of classrooms especially at private schools. Prospective parents come for a show around and think WOW how impressive is this school? Little do they know the work has nothing to do with the school and teachers but has been done at home by parents!

Yes yes bloody yes.

Dd has to choose from a list of ‘ideas’. Every other suggestion is ‘ask an adult to show you X’ or ‘ask an adult to take you to X’.

No no no. We both work full time and want to do our own things with the children. Not ‘take photos of different types of bridges in you local area’ shite.

I don't like them, and I don't help with them either. I think it's easier to let them do the best themselves from early on, and encourage them that it's better than the ones helped by parents. It makes life so much easier later on.
And if the teacher gives better mark for the ones obviously done by the parents, then I will lose respect for the teacher.

I've threatened to send my 6 year old in with all her joke books in retaliation if I get asked to make another model this year for homework! (Done in a good natured way with a teacher I get on well with)

She gets a "mark"?

At my kids primary, they always emphasised that it was to be the kids work. Occasionally they would do a “ family activity” like making a space rocket from reused stuff.

We get a "we have discussed this homework" stamp. That's it! I'm happy skirting along at minimal effort level doing this stuff... the kids have bloody aspirations for something on the level of the Sistine Chapel ceiling!

Our school stopped these. I am so glad . I am happy to sit down and listen to Ds read , help him with his maths . Have my weekend dictated due to craft activities

Tell the school that you as a family have no need for 'holiday sports clubs' because your summer will be a busy six weeks of many many activities like the library Summer Reading Challenge going to the seaside, country walks, baking days, local festivals, visiting Granny, staying at home and playing board games, bike riding in the park, going to the swimming pool, doing some gardening, doing a car boot sale......
Of course none of that could be true but it seems a daft homework if you have children who have no interest or need for a summer sports club. I hate 'project' homework but surely a better one would be to come up with Ten Ways to Keep Fit in the holidays or something.

I think it can be good for schools to provide a starting point for the parent to work on something with the child. Not all parents take the initiative to do something educational with their kids. However I do think it shouldnt be every week and should be something fairly simple and not time consuming. And kids shouldn't be marked down because their parent hasn't put in as much effort!

(PS that is my fantasy summer holidays. Reality is telly + Nintendo)

I really don't understand the parents that do this for their kids. I have never done. And yes it looks sloppy and less professional than the other kids who's parents have done them but the teachers can see that. Help with input by all means but stop doing it for them. What do they learn otherwise? My kids love doing them now and the teachers always comment positively

Neither do I. As a teacher who unfortunately has to set a project homework once a year, it's awful when the parents do it. In fact, the ones that are clearly done by parents are mocked in the staffroom (not by me, I might add).

I'd much rather a child made the effort.

I think one project a year is fine. We also make suggestions to parents with our termly curriculum handouts. So if they can manage to look on a web site, get a book, see an exhibition or even look at bridges, then that’s not a bad thing to do together. It’s not meant to replace everything you do as a family but most parents like to try and expand knowledge in some way.

I was at school many many many years ago. We had two or three projects each school year. The only help from my parents was driving me to the local library ... I'm guessing projects are very different now that there are home computers, printers and the internet

I think the school I work at has found the happy medium - weekly maths and spelling homework, and then a termly sheet of "project homework" which is entirely optional - nobody cares if they don't do any, but they get housepoints for each piece they do. Usually, a handful of children will do a couple of pieces each for the first few weeks (which is great for displaying!) and then everyone forgets about it. Occationally if a child is close to an award number of housepoints and asks how they can earn one quickly I suggest doing some project homework.

They get a mark??
Sounds a bit bizzare to me. Dd gets a craft project each term but its stated as an opportuunity for parents and children to work on something together. Besides that its reading and maths which is just ticked with a smily face to show that teacher knows its done.
Why do they get graded?

Our school don't give marks either! Surely they're too young for that kind of knock-back? We get lots of praise ESPECIALLY for those where it's clear parents didn't help, and everything gets displayed.

They stopped them at our school when a new teacher joined the school who was also a parent of one of the children...

I don't do the home work for the kids, but I will facilitate it, in that I provide a table and some materials for their ideas. I think sometimes they feel a bit sad that their stuff looks like it was made by a 5 year old (because it was) and others looks professional (because their dad is a designer and he made it really)

I don't really get why the teachers give high marks to stuff parents have been involved with because they do genuinely know what the child is capable of in class.

I hate them.
‘Wow James tell us all about how you did this’
‘Well I decided I wanted to make a model ww2 plane/Roman armour/globe so my dad made me one at work using his special machines and then these bits we bought from the shop and my mum painted on the letters...and I painted this bit red’
‘Right...great.’ And then James has all the kids flocking round saying how amazing his is and looking disappointedly at their own.

The worst I’ve ever had was a research one where a child actually said ‘my mum researched, printed it out and I copied it in my best handwriting’ - I mean seriously what we’re they thinking?

I also hate that any homework becomes a presentation, rendering actual ‘prepare a presentation’ homeworks pointless.

I am not planning on making my children do homework in primary and if they attend a school that gives consequences for no homework then I can foresee long conversations with the Head. I’m a teacher.

I does fill me with dread when I open my sons book bag at the end of term to find the craft homework. It's like pulling teeth as he doesn't enjoy craft, I keep it as simple as possible so he can do it and I spread it over a number of days, he will not sit for hours doing it in one go, but can handle painting one day and sticking or cutting he next.

He doesn't enjoy it and like others have said when he carries his paper plate dinosaur in and sees someone's huge immaculate diamanté studded papier mache stegosaurus it's so disheartening. The fairy gardens were the worst, so many were obviously done by the parents, the teachers now always include a note stating all work should be carried out by the child.

They are so much better than maths or english worksheets and so overwhelmingly better than any sort of spelling learning that I cannot imagine criticising them. They're either ignored like any other homework would've been, or they provide the opportunity for the adult and child to discuss and do something together. Given that adults and children doing things together outside of school is well correlated with academic success it might be a good thing - it really depends if gets people who wouldn't otherwise be together doing stuff.

And yes, I'd be much more concerned with the marking, than the homework.

Hate them. We get half term key projects. It’s painful enough getting dd to do her daily maths homework, daily reading, weekly spelling, weekly times tables and weekly English homework. And then we have to do some jolly project together which is NOT optional. 3 years of blood, sweat and tears - we’ve made Egyptian pyramids, done a traffic survey, done a river survey, researched local history, made loads of dioramas it’s endless. My heart sinks whenever she brings another assignment home.

They are so much better than maths or english worksheets and so overwhelmingly better than any sort of spelling learning that I cannot imagine criticising them. They're either ignored like any other homework would've been, or they provide the opportunity for the adult and child to discuss and do something together. Given that adults and children doing things together outside of school is well correlated with academic success it might be a good thing - it really depends if gets people who wouldn't otherwise be together doing stuff.

This.

I am sure that you all talk to your children about what they are learning / take them to the library / encourage their independent research skills / encourage their small motor skills like cutting, but loads of parents don't do this as a matter of course and this hugely disadvantages their children. Project homework can spark this sort of activity and discussion.