Homework in reception

[BillywigSting]

Just looking for others opinions on this here and whether or not this is too much. Ds has just started reception and currently get two reading books a week, plus four a4 work sheets (some maths some phonics) plus an additional online peice of homework that is something to do with whatever they have been focusing on that week. Does this seem like too much or about right? It works out at two pieces a night for three nights and one on a another.

[user789653241]

30-40 minutes a night homework is more than what my ds gets in yr6.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

MN is broken. They’re looking into why paragraphs/the return key aren’t broken

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

are broken

[Chrisinthemorning]

30-40 minutes a night is more than DS does in year 2. Speak to the teacher.

[Parttimewasteoftime]

Wow my DS is in year 1 reading every night and just one homework sheet on a Friday to be handed in by Wednesday. Sometimes in YF it would be a make a castle type homework which I hated but 30-40 mins a night way too much 😳

[Earslaps]

That's more than my year five gets!

Our school doesn't give reception children reading books until half term, then they suggest reading five nights a week (judging by my experience as a volunteer reader maybe half of children read that often, some never have any signatures in their reading book ).

From year 1 onwards there are spellings and a weekly activity alternating literacy and numeracy. Takes about 10-15 minutes and you get Friday to Wednesday to complete it. Plus times tables practice from year 2. Over holidays they suggest research about the next term's topic maybe making a model or fact file.

I don't agree with homework at primary school- it isn't shown to improve results and can just widen the gap between those with supportive parents and those without.

[InDubiousBattle]

Ds has started reception this year and we have 3 reading books a week but he's expected to read everyday and we've been given a daily reading to fill in. We've then been given a half term homework folder with 2 work sheets in and 3 lists: numeracy, literacy and topic work, each with about 5-6 'ideas' on and we have to complete 2 off each list. So that works out at around 1-2 things a week. Then we have several sheets where we can fill in additional information about trips, visits, interests etc about ds. Tbh it feels like quite a bit alongside the 3/4 e mails a day, the pta meeting, the coffee morning, a phonics evening, baking money, 2 permission slips already etc, just quite a lot of 'stuff'!

[SparkyBlue]

Very surprised to see children of this age getting homework to do over the weekend. The school my DD attends has a no weekend homework policy.

[Nightwatch999]

Sounds about right, my DS2 is in Y3 and gets 2 reading books, Spellings sheet, Learning Journal and online Maths.

I do what i can depending on my shifts with him, but Reception homework is way way too much.

[maamalady]

That seems way too much. My eldest has just started reception and has had a new reading book every day since the first day she was given one, and over the weekends we have been asked to take in a particular 3D shape for class discussion. That's it. The weekly letter does have ideas for supporting learning at home, but it's neither "homework" nor compulsory.

[Misty9]

Way too much. Ours get reading every day as an expectation but that’s it. I’d speak to the head in your position and cite the evidence that homework in primary school has ZERO benefit. Maybe show them the book The Case Against Homework . Seriously though, I’d do say 5-10mins with dc and then send a polite note saying some was attempted but family life is more valuable/important. It’s shocking they can’t see that turning kids off to learning at such a young age is too big a risk to take

[Ahmawa]

My son has started reception and it seems all they do is play. He gets 3 words a week in his homework book using the jolly phonics scheme. He had a list of 10 words over the last weekend to learn. No maths work set at the moment. Is this too little? Not been sent a reading book. Should I ask the teachers?

[Rebecca36]

Ahmawa you may find your son does just as well as those who do have lots of homework. Mine never had homework at that stage but we did a lot of things at home which were fun and educational; he loved to read and write and was naturally good at sums, we also did painting and drawing - and cooking. He had friends and they always liked coming here and joining in. They put on concerts in the garden. There are other things though which are just as important like playing and generally having a good time. The Scandis apparently don't teach young children in the traditional way and the kids still achieve. They learn as they go. Sorry, I too have the para problem! When will Mumsnet fix it? Only happens on here - Mumsnet, why don't our return keys work on here but work elsewhere?

[moredoll]

Way too much. How to put a child off school for life.

[JassyRadlett]

Very surprised to see children of this age getting homework to do over the weekend. The school my DD attends has a no weekend homework policy.

Ours is weekly - so can be done at any time over the week. No weekend homework would be a disaster for us. Four nights a week we’re not home until 6pm, so there is only an hour before bathtime etc. If we had to squeeze homework in on those nights it would be grim.