Where do your children do their hw?

[Overthinker33]

I am redecorating my child’s room (starting primary in Sept) and am wondering if they will need a desk in their bedroom; space is an issue so I need to plan carefully. I like the idea of a dedicated and quiet study space but can also see the benefit of supervising homework in a communal area eg at dining table. It would be helpful to know where your dc do their homework and their ages. Thanks!

Dining table/living room at primary age.

I like to see what DD is doing, and she sometimes needs me to be on hand to help.

Once dd1 got to secondary she started doing her homework in her bedroom. At that age I believe it's her responsibly to make sure it's done. Although I'd always be available for help.

So for starting primary, do it in communal areas. She isn't going to be able to do it by herself for a few years anyway.

Dining room table downstairs. We don't supervise the homework (other than to check it's been done and remind about best handwriting) but I usually end up doing some paperwork at the same time. DC wouldn't want to go off and do it alone.

DD has always had a table in her room but rarely used it for homework preferring the dining table. She did use it a few times in primary if she was working on something she wanted to leave out for a couple of days.

During primary, downstairs in the kitchen. For secondary, they get a desk in their room, but they’re still welcome at the kitchen table/dining table if they want support. My only primary aged child has SEN and I suspect will continue to need 1-2-1 parent support for homework i to secondary.

Going against the grain, DD loves her desk in her room. She often does her homework there will I do bath time with her younger brother. But homework aside she also spends ages colouring, writing in her diaries, writing notes to the rest of the family... I'm glad we added it.

Anything requiring parental aid or messy gets done at the kitchen table. The rest at their desks in their rooms.

They’ve always had desks. I found when both of mine were little they liked to read at them. As well as draw or play with smaller toys.

DD is y6, throughout primary she’s done homework at the kitchen table, her bedroom is too small for a desk and the ceiling is too sloped to put a high sleeper in there. We are having some work done on our conservatory to make it (hopefully) a useable space rather than too hot/freezing cold. Once that’s done we plan on setting up a desk in there.

My DC are 9, 11 and 13 and all do their homework downstairs in the kitchen. The 11yo has a desk in her room but never uses it. I remember using mine as a kid though.

Both DC have always had desks but didn't really start using them for homework until upper primary. Most lower primary homework it tends to be useful or necessary to have an adult about. So think you will be ok without for a good few years. DD has a small room so she has a desk that folds away.

DD has a built in table in her room where she does homework, crafts, eats with a friend etc. She's preferred tge privacy since about 11

Oh & DDs has a dressing table built onto the back of the table too, which is space saving & where she's spent most of her time since about 12 🙄

All dc do homework at the dining table in the centre of the house. A desk for a child in primary would be nice if they tend to enjoy drawing and writing stories (but my two primary dd’s just have clipboards so they can draw on the bed. X

Thank you all, this has been helpful. I will just see how things go x

Seeing how things go is a good Plan in my view. My DS1 did his homework at the kitchen table until he was 9 when the kitchen became too loud/busy for him with younger DS, cooking etc going on. We bought him a desk for his room then and he has done it there since (he is now 15). When DS2 turned 9 I asked if he wanted a desk in his room too and he said No, he prefers the kitchen table so he can ask for help. It is quieter for him because no younger DC to distract. He is now 11 and still uses the kitchen table.

Until Y6 downstairs at the dining table. In Y6 she had homework under the week and as DH works in the study next to her room all week we encouraged her to do it upstairs so he could help if necessary.

Now in Y7 she is permanently upstairs unless the laptop needs charging.

She got her own desk when she turned 8 and used it for colouring in and as a surface to drop everything. Her room was created (loft extension) when she was 5 and we already made plans where the desk would go etc.

I think it is better to have a decent space in her room as she also has shelf space for workbooks she doesn't have to bring to school each day. I don't want my dining room more cluttered than necessary.

Mine did homework downstairs at primary.

DD1 move to her bedroom at secondary but I ended up going upstairs a lot to house. DD2 was 6 academic years behind and I didn't think it fair she couldn't be noisy downstairs.

DD2 is y9 now and does 90% of hw downstairs as sadly still needs help, but also no younger siblings to keep away from.