IYO - should homework be something your DCs are able to sit and do alone, with minimal intervention from a parent?

[MegaLegs]

Or should it be the case that you sit with them, quietly tearing your hair out because they don't understand what they are meant to do.

I thought that hw was an extension of what had been learnt at school and so should be something the child can sit and do without lots of help.

Tonight I have almost come to blows with DS2 who utters the imortal "I don't geddit." before I've even begun explaining his, to be honest, bloody difficult Y2 maths hw.

DS1 on the otherhand (Y3) tears through his in 5 mins and then always has a bloody maths game that needs two or more players, a dice, a pack of playing cards, a roulette table, a troupe of acrobats,a herd of elephants etc...

I'm on a mission to get DD1 learning to do it herself (only Yr1, so trying to set up some good, sanity-preserving habits).

BUT they keep sending home jolly "here's a game you can play with mummy in order to learn some thinly-disguised mathematical concepts" worksheets.

We have plenty of games at home, thanks, and most of them are decidedly more exciting and educational than anything that emerges from Orange Class.

Thankfully, DD1 lost interest in the last one just before I started climbing up the walls. Checked she had understood the concept "duh! Yes, of course mummy" and called it a night.

Oh the games - my heart sinks at the games. DS1's teacher has children similar age to mine, she goes easy on the hw and never gives them holiday homework. I heart her

Hey fourboys - I too have four boys - fun isn't it.

Oh thanks Megalegs - will the Anderson shelter have to be life-sized? I will have to get my father to come down for a visit as he spent many a night in one during the War.Perhaps I will have to start on it now as year 6 is only 3 years away.
Have to say that dd's teacher this year is giving more of the type of homework I like - this week's is a paragraph of incorrect comma use which they have to correct.She can do this entirely under her own steam and ask me if there is anything of which she is unsure.

in senior school i think kids should be able to get on with it and ask your help

when i cant help - and they dont know what to do.

i write in homework diary - i cant do this and ds/dds instructions were not clear. we did attempt it so i dont think a detention is deserved!

I often find with my DS's homework (yr 3 and 4) that they can't just be left to sit and do it. More often than not, they need a lot of supervision and input from me or DH. Quite often a lot of what comes home is clearly something that they're going to need a lot of help with and I find myself thinking what's the point of sending home work that the parents are obviously going to have to do?

oh ok we're talking about MATHS hw!

No the idea is you sit there and tear your hair out

The aim is obviously to put hairdressers out of business. I think they fail to teach it at school (because it's weirdo NEW MATHS) and so they hope you'll do better at home

Has anyone worked out how I can explain the way I arrived at the answers for DS2's maths hw further down this thread yet? Then I can help him work out the other 4 problems on the sheet without telling him the answer but rather how to find the answer himself.

Also, what is the concept being taught do you think. (Missed his teacher this morning )

megalegs my ex has a maths phd, I could forward the problem to him for perusal

problem is he lives in Barcelona so I don't know when/if he'll respond

ds1 is only 4, his (private) reception class already gives him reading and writing homework. He tries to get me to do the writing for him and his teacher told me a lot of the other parents are actually doing that!! incredible!!

I would never actually do their homework for them (not much point), but I do find I need to be around as an enforcer, and for dd (11) I need to do quite a bit of extra explaining in maths, as she missed a whole term last year due to some silly idiot putting her set in the classroom at the top of the stairs she is disabled) and failing to provide any teaching for her. So she is now in her SATS year, minus one term of maths+the 5 weeks she was in hospital last term. I could spend my energy suing the school for their lack of access, but I've decided it is better spent on ratios and protactors.

I was pondering this last night. Dd1 has just started reception, last week. We have already had a lot of worksheets come home. They are not homework as such as I don't think they have to be returned, and they are quite fun to do, but I did find myself wondering when on earth a working Mum would manage to find the time to do these with their dc between dinner bath and bedtime (at 6.30 for my exhausted dd1). I suppose there is the weekend of course but actually we didn't manage to find the time to do two single page letter worksheets this weekend and I am a SAHM. I hope I am more organised by the time the real homework starts!

Absolutely, VanillaPumpkin. And what about parents who are illiterate so can't help their children? There's a serious equality of opportunity problem here.