Is it a silly idea to ask the school for a homework diary (sorry, long for very simple question !)

[Gorionine]

I am in a real strop with DD1 as she never actually seems to know what her HW is!(She is in Y5 but is a real day dreamer).At the start of this school year we were given the following time table "homework every Friday to be compleated by Wednesday morning".

Now it seems that she does more and more often have daily homework (presumably to catch up with things she did not finish on time in school).

Now, I do not mind her having daily HW but I would appreciate actually knowing what it is she has to learn/write down.

When I was little we had a little diary to write ll the stuff we needed to learn and when it was due in (monday: read book until end of chapter 2, learn the 3 times table, write 5 lines about your last holiday....)

Do you think I would be regarded as a loon if I was to ask her teacher to write on the board what they have to do for them to copy it so parents would actually know what HW here is?

[moopymoo]

thats exactly what happens at my dcs school. Dont think its a bad idea at all. (Thinks..did I sign it this morning??)

[Gorionine]

what ages are your dcs? I am a bit worried they will tell me that at her age she should be able to remember thins like that!

[Jeffa]

When i first starting nannying the eldest child was year six. She was often like this, and reguarly had homework to catch up on as she didnt finish it in class.
We found that she DID have a homework diary, but did not use it as she ran out of time to write stuff in it.
Can you ask another parent how their child remembers what they have to do? (ie. the teacher may write it but your DD doesn't copy it, or the teacher may be very vague about the homework.)
If she has a rough book at school see if she can write into there what she has to do. we used to send the eldest back into school to ask the teacher if she couldn't remember it on a Friday afternoon, or to collet books she had forgotten.
Maybe also mention to the teacher, to make sure she isn't getting into trouble for not doing the right thing.

[twoluvlykids]

No, I'd just chill out about it, homework is (mostly) rubbish, kids hate it, parents hate it.

When DD1 gets to 2ndary school, she'll get a homework journal type thing, and will be able to use it to record homework.

[ingles2]

That's what happens at our school. Ds's wouldn't have a clue without it. Much more important things on their minds, football, match attax and playstations, you know!

[Gorionine]

I will ask the otherparents how they deal with it. for now I might just get her a funky little note book and ask her to be responsable enough to write what the teacher said on it.

[WynkenBlynkenandNod]

DD is Year 5 and has something called a Personal Notebook (PNB) for short.

She is supposed to record all her homework in there and when it is due, write down letters as they are handed out so that I know I've got them and there a space on each week for the teacher to note down anything I need to know and the same for if I need the teacher to know things.

I was a bit dubious at first but it is actually very handy.

[Hulababy]

At DD's school the reception class have a reading diary.

Rest of school use homework diaries.

In Year 1 and 2 the class teacher sticks in the week's homework at the start of the week. Year 1 and 2 also have a simple reading diary too.

From Year 3 onwards pupils are expected to record their own homework during the day at school, and to record any reading they do at home (expected to do 20 mins a night) in it too.

The diaries are also used to convey messages from parent to teacher.

It has only been introduced into Y1 and Y2 this academic year. This was at request of the junior school teachers - in order to get the children (and parents?) used to using them, before having to take charge of them once in juniors.

Makes a lot of sense to me.