Reception Class weekly homework

[Pringle870]

My daughter started Reception last September and from the first week they get home work (home learning sheets) made up of maths task, writing, big thinking questions and practical tasks.

My daughter sometimes just doesn’t want to do any of it, even with encouragement. We sit together and do over a number of days. Some days she quite happy to do the maths tasks which she enjoys. But then other days it’s a real struggle and she then gets upset.

How do you all manage with home work and motivating your child?

How much is she expected to do a week? My kids also in reception and has never had any homework.

I wouldn’t make it a negative thing and maybe spend a few min a day doing it rather than all in one go?

I used to teach reception and honestly don't agree with homework for this age group.

Your child should be doing nothing more than sharing a reading book with you at this age. I would not force her to do any of it.

If she doesn't want to do it then she's got her head screwed on. Homework for reception is ridiculous.

Please don't encourage, or force it. She's only 4 / 5 years old. At her age learning should be through play, not home learning sheets, writing and maths tasks.

Oh no! Poor little girl. I agree it’s much too young for this.

DS is also in reception and we read his school book every night. He had homework for half term, but that was literally ‘go for a walk and find some leaves’. I wouldn’t be doing anything more strenuous with him- they’re only little and still getting used to school.

Oh thank you for replying.

I don’t believe in homework at this age and to be honest I don’t push her into doing it. We look at her book and as she likes doing the maths tasks (usually 8 questions like 1+1= etc..) the big thinking question is usually around the children’s act. Which I find is too much, my daughter looks at me when I explain and break down the questions each week.
Then practical tasks that they like you to upload onto learning journal and then questions on the terms topic.
Then over half term there was a project (you had to choose from 3 options on the terms topic) and over Christmas another little project.
Believe me, I feel it too much for a 4 year old.

There is also a bit of a big deal each week when handing homebooks in on a specific day in a box at drop off and then collecting on another specific day.

I’m happy if we’d just do the reading to be fair. She’s just getting used to being in school and making new friends.

I just want to see what others experiences of Reception was like. Sometimes I feel so guilty and a bad mum if we don’t do the work set as I feel there is an expectation from the teachers but over the last few weeks before Christmas I’m not giving myself a hard time about it anymore. I want my daughter to be happy and enjoy playing and learning gradually.

Thank you all, it’s been helpful reading your replies. The other mums from reception class seem to be happy with the weekly homework and quite proud on the class WhatsApp what their child has produced or writing etc…

So I’m going to focus on her reading and if she want to attempt any homework tasks we will, if not, then I’m not going to worrying about it too much.

I actually worried myself to a frazzle over Christmas holidays about all over this.

It's way too much IMO. It should be just reading in reception. In your circumstances, I would do the reading and at a push the occasional homework that either interests her or you feel would benefit a particular area she's struggling with (eg letter formation).
DD2 is currently in yr1 and gets less than your DC. They get reading (2-3 times a week is requested, but we usually manage x5), and a weekly sheet of 5 spellings to practice from the yr1 list plus a space below to write 2 sentences using at least one word from the list in each sentence. The sheet takes about 10 mins.