'Family' homework

[Potatocycle]

Slightly put out to discover that (alongside spellings and times tables) the DCs' school is now setting homework tasks intended as a 'collaboration' for the whole family, which is optional but heavily encouraged.

As a family we are engaged with schoolwork, don't believe education stops at the classroom door etc but this feels like a bit of an imposition. DH and I both work full-time so weekends are our family time.

DS1 is pretty enthused though so hopefully it won't be too much of a battle!

That's really sad. I love a good nativity play. I'm lucky that my 13 year old is getting into acting because now I get to see a lot more of this stuff. I can't really justify the cost of going to the theatre for my own enjoyment but when ds is in the play then I can go and see it without guilt.

I always thought the class teddy was to talk about different things the children did at home. Ds4's class bear went to various different churches, the mosque, swimming, rainbows, beavers and all sorts of things. He helped out in one girl's family's restaurant too.

Not sure I’ve read it right but it sounds like there are several optional activities per term? Or are they not optional?

Personally I would prefer an activity I could do with my child every now and then to spending time on something like sorting out a costume. But only when they’re quite young and it’s as much about play/fun as it is homework

So fucking patronising. And a massive imposition and overstep. I don't need a school to set me family activities. Fuck off. I'll work out my own thanks.

At the end of one summer term ds was given almost an entire folder of stuff to do over the summer holidays. I handed it back, telling the teacher that this was my time with my kids and d we were spending the summer in the paddling pool and playing. She chased me down in the playground and THANKED me!! She said she hated setting it, it was an ofsted requirement and instructed us to have a fab summer.

Oh dear. Quality time has raised its head. I spent plenty of quality time with dc and didn’t need the school to intervene. My DDs did homework from y7 and certainly didn’t help with degrees!! How sad that parents cannot let go. I didn’t know sny French or Italian or Fashion design so my DC were 100% failed by me. Except they weren’t because they knew how to do things for themselves.

There is a problem setting homework that some parents see as a chore and lots obviously can assist their dc very well. Others really do struggle and we do have quite a few chaotic families in overcrowded conditions who really struggle with craft.

Our juniors tried similar to this one year.
The idea was every parent would think of 3 mathematical word problems every week for the children to do. Their example was "buy 3 tubes of smarties and get them to sort them into colours then do a bar chart of numbers."
This was before the days of Whatsapp groups etc so sharing ideas was not easy.

I think a couple of parents managed to get to week 3 before they gave up. Most gave up after week 1.
Nothing was said about it for the rest of the year, and the next year it was quietly dropped.

Meh! I’m a teacher and I refuse to do any of that shit. DD is lucky if I even sign her reading diary (she reads extensively, I just don’t see the point in having to sign a book to prove it).
My answer would be just ignore it. If it’s voluntary homework then there’s no need to even give it a second thought.
I really hate it when schools do things that just make more work for parents - like we haven’t all got enough shit to do already.

Sounds like a bag of shit. I’m a high school teacher and I would never set any such rubbish

My DC have an online system to assign homework.. for Reception!! In other words, they assign homework to the parents. No! Assign it to the kids and let the kids take responsibility. It puts so much pressure on parents and teaches kids that the parents will do their homework for them...

I never did homework as a child or a teenager. I have a very high paying job now. Its all bullshit in my eyes. Wont make a bit of difference if you do it or not. Its highly unlikely that your childs future success will boil down to whether or not you as a family made a model of the eiffel tower out of toilet rolls.

I’m a teacher and a parent (same school so I knew what I was getting myself into) we’re an outstanding school (not that that matters but Ofsted is due and that matters and a similar circumstance. Also we’ve done this for years…)

Our school scrapped typical homework that was either never completed, completed badly, resulted in tears (parents’ quite often), completed by parents and was hard to mark.

we opted for a menu of 20 tasks per term that the child could choose (4 of per term, average 1 per 3 weeks) - they range from making a Viking longship, taking a walk in the park to identify seasonal changes, creating a warm-up for PE, tying shoe laces and a ‘wild card’ so children could share their interests. Children then share this - so there is a social and communication skills developed here too.

most of these require some kind of parental input, which we don’t specify but encourage - we can all walk in the park for example. In the list of 20, there are several options which cost absolutely nothing except time (eg talk to your parent about their playground games)

we still get parents who say ‘it’s not academic’ ‘who are you to say what I do with my child!’ ‘We’re too busy!’ Etc etc. as educators we can’t win. We cannot appease each of our 450 pupils and their parents.

we want the best for your kids. The fact your school has to suggest it’s a collaborative task suggests they are struggling with parental support. Support your school for the benefit of your children. Choose the task you enjoy and do it. You have spent much time worrying about it and chatting about it so you clearly have some spare time - use it to help your child progress!

Seriously? Those activities sound ridiculous. Just teach! I had a 16yo work experience student who couldn't spell or complete simple tasks. Schools need to get back to basics and do the needful.

Oh we get one of those every month with a theme. I have one in reception and one in Y4.

I think I've done it twice since September.

Homework, reading, spelling, timetables all a priority, the additional stuff is a nice to have that I can't find the energy to do.

Oh god I’d HATE this 😭😭

Oh for christs sake 😂

Thank fuck my kids school haven't opted for this bollocks. I’d imagine you really grate on parents 😂😂

Oh god I remember this phase of parenting with mixed emotions! I am a creative person and would quite like all the tasks if it wasn’t that my life was already crammed with everything else… and it’s a shame to skip the ‘fun’ bits.

For models the kids often did them in Minecraft. Now I’d probably use AI for some of the other things - gets them thinking about prompts and hence good communication skills.

And very often we’d do play dates with families we were friends with and do a combined task.

Looking back I’m glad we did it, the kids are old teens now and they look back so fondly on primary school days. Costumes and nonsense homework and all.

Where I teach, daily reading and practising spellings and timetables are expected.

We also have an optional homework menu with 6 tasks for the term. It's on the school website and teachers also explain the new tasks at the beginning of each term.

Children who complete any homework are praised and can show it to the class but we don't chase up those who choose not to do any of the tasks.

To be honest, homework is an area where schools just can't win.

Some families think everything should be done by teachers and don't even see why they should read with their children.

Other families will say their children aren't being challenged enough if we only give reading, spelling and times tables and will ask for more homework.

Time is what lots of people don’t have. I do know schools that have a parents meeting to explain what maths they are covering so parents can have a heads up but I’m an advocate for practicing what’s been taught at home. It’s not always possible and homework isn’t shown to make any difference to attainment at primary level anyway, although I think reading is vital personally.

DC should not be asked to construct a Viking longship. Draw one maybe. I’m so glad we didn’t have all of this and I did educate my DC outside the school curriculum. I’m aware others don’t but that’s always been the case. Where dc struggle at school, it’s far more productive to work with them. And yes, teachers might have to work harder and mark work by these dc. Or help their parents. All schools do know which dc need more help so I advocate targeting it. Give an I review of the curriculum and let parents decide what they do to add to it.

Also schools just hand out these tasks and options but frequently never ask parents if they value them or review what value they have to the children in any meaningful way. Talking about a hobby for some dc would be a computer game. At least talking about something is a benefit but what happens if dc do nothing all year? Probably nothing.

I agree with these. Although there'll be children who don't read and don't practise their spellings and times tables, but the teacher will know as some children will improve and others won't.

The thing is doing homework with your child is not "quality time"! A lot of kids hate it and cannot engage with the work set so it becomes a battle and why should our time with our children be spent fighting them on something...DD's teacher (Year 5) told the kids once "i have to set the homework but you don't have to do it" 🙄

I'd hate that. Things like making a model viking longship, that's the kind of thing the parent ends up doing so the child doesn't learn anything. Have them make it in school instead, so they are actually doing it themselves and learning, and can then bring it home full of pride to show their parents - that's what they do at my DD's school. This year they made model ships, based on the Santa Maria, amongst other things.

I suspect that the person who said that she sets “making a Viking longship” as homework is being funny.

More seriously, I remember a thread where someone’s child had been set something like that and it totally wrecked their Sunday. I think people told her to write to the teacher alongside the model of whatever it was and set out how long it took, how many times the child cried etc. If parents do this stuff, it creates an expectation that it is reasonable for children to bring in architect-designed models.

YOU hate that but many parents and kids love it which is why we do a menu of 20 things with a huge range of choice. You pick 4 in a whole 14 week term or a wild card. You can pick what you want to suit.
as it happens ours is due Monday and my son has picked to do a chore around the house and my daughter has chosen to make a sandwich.

Also, just to add, I have 34 kids in my class, the Viking longship idea you have to be completed in school - imagine making 34 of them, you say you’d hate the idea of making one, 1:1 with your own child. Also meets no criteria in the national curriculum so we can’t.

!