Reading and homework in reception

[ShoePalaver]

I have a 4 year old in reception. August birthday so one of the youngest.
She is doing fine in school according to the teacher and is meeting the targets.
Each week she comes home with 1 or 2 reading books and about 6 homework worksheets.
We are expected to read each book right through 2 or 3 times in the week.

My child isn't particularly keen on doing either the homework or the reading. She can do it without too much trouble - needs a few pointers but is capable. But just doesn't want to. Some days refuses altogether. On a good day will do a reasonable chunk. Takes 5-10 minutes to do each worksheet

I feel like this stuff is hanging over me all week, I have a younger child as well and the usual work and household chores etc. Its a battle trying to get it done each week getting it out every evening.

What do other parents do with their 4 year olds? How much reading, how much homework?

That seems a lot! We get one reading book a week at the moment, that's all. It is a struggle to get mine to read it (he is capable but resistant), especially after the first time.

I aim to do it every other day, so 3ish times a week. We're meant to do it every school day but I don't want to put him off already.

Yes.. reading the same book repeatedly isn't popular even if it is supposed to "develop fluency"

I guess I'm wondering if it'd be better to just do the reading..but that's probably the least favourite bit!

Maybe I'll just try and do something 3x a week and if it doesn't get done then tough. It's now Tues and so far she's done one and a half worksheets and no reading, despite trying daily, it's due in on Thursday.

I mean I could enforce it a bit more strongly but don't want to put her off, and she's so young, is it worth the bother?

That’s way more compared to when mine was in Reception last year, we had just one book a week, no homework. Reception was much more about setting into school, learning through play etc. and we read the book at home maybe 1-2 times a week. That was it.
Now in year 1 we have 1-2 books, spellings and 1-2 pages of a homework book a week, which seems almost as much as you are already doing, but my dd is nearly 6!

My DS was always to tired to read After school so we do it over breakfast, 2-3 times a week or at the weekend.
I also don’t do homework sheets, I don’t see any benefit whatsoever of homework in kids that age. At school they learn through play so why at home is is via arbitrary tasks on paper? Pointless exercise.

*too.

That sounds like a lot. We have one phonics book and one ‘reading for pleasure’ book per week. You aren’t obliged to read either although obviously it’s encouraged (DS is happy to read every night but if he’s too tired we don’t push it). They also have an optional handwriting type book with DS refuses to have anything to do with as it’s boring, but he does loads of writing and drawing at home so I just send his teachers the occasional snap of a story he’s written or an annotated picture to show that he’s doing other handwriting type activities.

@ShoePalaver I honestly think just do the best you can. I have a close friend who's a primary teacher and she insisted her daughter read every day and says it's absolutely vital (and her daughter is now a bookworm and doing well, so it worked...) BUT... she was home every afternoon after school with her (we get home at 6pm) and also her daughter is quite quiet and naturally more into reading. My son is very active, loves building things and fiddling with Lego and cars, and loves numbers far more than letters. I try to encourage him to read in the 'real world' - so signs, easier words in books I'm reading him, etc, rather than focusing solely on the very dull reading books.

I am a bit concerned about how he's going to do later on when he has to do homework every day, but will worry about that more when I get to it! Right now he's not even quite five yet, and I really think is too young to push. And yet, I know I should and feel guilty...

We don’t do it. Use to aim to read 3 times a week but it fell by the wayside as each dc got older.

Got 2 still in primary (yr1 & yr5), we get homework sheets each half term, sometimes we do it sometimes we don’t, yr5 dd not interested at all. We do read at bedtimes and all read non school books when they feel like it, sometimes read school books but guaranteed we will forget to write in the homework diaries.

The only thing we focus on is spellings the night before a test.

i don’t think kids should get homework in primary school, yes fine encourage readings and spellings but don’t put pressure on kids to meet homework targets.

I told our last HT that I won’t be forcing my DCs to do homework, new ht hasn’t said anything but I’ve made it clear to their teachers I won’t be forcing it.

I assume the reading books are very short. If you only need to read each one 2-3 times, that's only 4-6 days a week to do reading which I think is fine. We read with DD (also in reception, June birthday) every day.

Her school doesn't send any homework sheets. This obviously makes it easier for us to do the reading, as there is no other stuff.

Also yes, we do the reading in the morning too (if there's time) - over breakfast when he's sat still! He's way too tired in the evening.

DS is in yr 2 and gets 2 pieces of homework a week (at most, given out on Friday, due in on Thursday), a reading book for them to read, a reading sheet (could be a recipe or a letter etc) and a book for us to read together.

I think it sounds like you're getting an awful lot. We don't get spellings to learn or anything like that either actually....strange

Six worksheets a week?! That's ridiculous! That's more than one every school night, on top of reading.

I teach Reception and I'm not a fan of worksheets at all. There's very little value in them at that age. Children learn much more effectively through playful practical activities. We don't set them, just reading, but out of the schools I know who do it would only be one per week. Six is extreme.

I would be having a word with the teacher and explain the negative impact this is having and ask whether the worksheets are compulsory or optional. If optional, explain that you'll do what you can but there's no way you can sustain a rate of 6 worksheets a week plus reading as it's causing burnout (for you both!) and impacting quality family time. Maybe agree to let your DD pick one or two each week that take her fancy the most. If it's apparently 'compulsory' to do all 6 I would take it further to the Headteacher and tell them this is an unreasonable expectation that wouldn't be found at any other school (trust me, it wouldn't). They're 4 for God's sake! Children need to rest when they get home. Ten minutes daily reading is plenty at that age and is all I expect of mine.

We don't get ANY worksheets at all. Had some optional ones over the christmas break but none for homework. They are expected to read every evening though, and get their book changed almost every day. It only takes 10 mins max. My son was very resistant in the first half term or Reception but now he does his reading very cheerfully, in bed, just before I read him a bed time story. (Independent school)

Reception here too. Ds has 3x half termly termly projects (baking, visit a museum, etc), weekly phonics and writing, 3x weekly maths app (we don't do this), 3x weekly read write Inc books x2, and daily pleasure reading with reading journal (i do the reading but not the journal). It's completely obscene, AND we get near weekly emails reminding us that it's all compulsory.

We both work full time and have a younger child too. I've told them we'll be doing what we can that supports him while not making him hate learning (the maths app makes him cry with frustration because it's just so shit - he's several years ahead in maths so it's not an ability thing). He's 4 years old, bright, but young for his age. Let them be bloody children, they've only just started school!

Woah 6 worksheets a week?! What's on them?! My dd is at a fairly uptight state school and in reception was just sent home with a couple of reading books and we were encouraged to read at least 3 times a week and a phonics folder. This has never been an issue with us as our typical routine for dd is for her to read a book and us to read her one at bedtime.

She's in Y1 now and has the same 2 reading books a week. She then gets a few spellings a week to learn and does a test once a week. Luckily for us she's a pretty awesome speller. We only tend to need to go over these once or twice at the weekend and the day before the test and she aces it. She also now gets Maths homework weekly but this is so ridiculously easy she's literally never taken more than 2 minutes to complete it. Also, often this 'homework' is just to go on a maths app that they use and play the games for 10 minutes. They do now have Maths 'targets' which are looked at from time to time which we can work on with them if we want to.

The 6 worksheets sounds ridiculous and I imagine is mostly just 'work for the sake of work'? which should be absolutely avoided in this age group and if it was my kid I'd be resisting . I absolutely don't mind reading with my dd or working on numbers etc and we do tonnes of this as playfully as possible. However, I think any formal work at this age should 100% be set around a clear target and in a way that can be done little and often, flexibly and playfully as from my experience this is what works best at this age.

My DC2 is a July birthday and was so tired after school in Reception last year. I ignored homework (they were set some each weekend) and we just did the reading - as others have said I found it best to do it in the morning at breakfast as he was just knackered in the evening and not in the mood. No-one ever said anything to us about not doing it.

Now in Y1 he’s doing well (and is much less tired!) so it didn’t do him any harm! I thought homework aged 4 was ridiculous. In my day we were never given homework beyond reading and times tables at primary school.

Going against the grain here. Firstly I don’t think it’s constructive for her to start seeing homework as optional, it’ll do her no favours and once you say “it’s fine we won’t do it” it sets the tone for later years, you’ll have made a rod for your own back. Theres loads of stuff I don’t want to do but is done because it makes my life better.

Secondly she’s not struggling with the work she just doesn’t want to, the books will be short and if she wants to develop competency then she should be reading regularly. If you have a partner/DH he needs to be allocated a bit of this, say listen to her reading. Best thing is to say “lets get this out of the way then you can relax later, first work then chill”. DD hasn’t started reception yet but I let her play/play with her for a bit when she gets in from pre-school and then we do reading practice then she has a bit of TV. Without reading practice there is no tv.

Honestly I wouldn’t budge on this as a parent.

I think that's great if your child can manage it, but my son has been so, so much more tired after school than after nursery. It's weird - he went to nursery four days a week, 9-6, so I thought he'd be fine. But school must be such a big step up in expectations, plus he's with people he hasn't known very long, and there are far fewer adults around to help... he's really struggled. There would be no point attempting homework when he he gets home at the moment.

Hopefully as he settles in more and gets a bit older, we'll be able to start saying homework needs doing before play in the evening. But right now, nah.

@ShoePalaver : is your at state school or private?
Sounds very much like the school my DS at. He is summer born as well. Same issues as you have. Plus does not want to go to school. This morning he was asking if it is school holidays already.

Is your child in an ‘Oustanding’ school?
I’ve noticed that they load a lot of homework onto families.

Do what YOU feel is reasonable for your child but any forcing will definitely put the child off loving to learn. Tell the school it is just too much.

Have a set time that you do it, stick to it and do one worksheet and read one book each evening. If you get her into the routine of doing it everyday then it will be much easier.

As a mum of a reluctant reader and as a teacher (currently Key Stage 2 but with plenty of Reception experience), I would insist on the daily reading but forget about the homework sheets. That's ridiculous for Foundation.

If you are supposed to read the same book 3 times, then the school is probably using Read Write Inc.

The repetition is frustrating but they're extremely effective in developing children's phonic understanding and reading fluency. They're also very short!

Find a time that works best (or is the least worst), develop a routine and stick to it eg get home, snack, reading and then chill or breakfast, reading, off to school.

Dd reads the school book first then gets to choose a book for you to read to her. Make sure she understands why you are insisting on this ie you will always read to her, for as long as she wants, even when she's a fluent reader but if she keeps practising with the school books then she'll be able to read all her lovely books herself and won't have to wait for you to finish cooking dinner or doing housework etc

By the way, to the poster who said that the only thing they are hot on is practising spellings the night before a test (sorry but I'm on my phone and can't see previous posts to tag anyone) that's an easy thing to do but not particularly helpful.

Children who only practise spellings the night before a test will get them right for a test but they are only in the short term memory, not the long term and children will continue to spell them incorrectly in their other writing.

The best things that parents can do to help their children at school is to talk to them, read to them and get them to practise reading themselves For Reception, developing self-help and social skills is also crucial. Never underestimate the importance of teaching a child how to blow their nose or wipe their bottom!

As children progress through primary school, helping them to learn number facts so that they have instant recall of number bonds, doubles and times tables will really help them with their maths.

I would emphasise here that the absolute priority in reception should be settting the foundation for the following years, getting comfortable with routines and behavioural expectations, learning how to manage and express emotions, learning about strengths and needs. Any decent curiculum should have this at the core and shouldn't be overly results driven