If it takes your child 10 seconds to do their homework (maths, 2 pages of sums), what would you do?

[scrooged]

please. He's just started there so they don't know much about him. Should I leave it?

TIA

He was a couple of points off level 5 when he was assessed at 7, he's 9 now I'm not sure where he is now.

you know he's gifted in this subject; the school will be assessing him - give them this half term to do it.... see them after Easter and get him on the G&T register. If nothing changes after that - go in all bells ringing!

was it only 25 and 50% ? You could ask for now - pre Easter, for extension sheets he could be getting on with on top? (so looking for say, 70% and a bit more obscure fractions of an amount) because 50 is half, he'll know 25 is half of 50, so he'll whizz through in no time (as proven!)

I don't know. They didn't have the policy at his old school. His science is also very, very good. He wanted to know about covalent and ionic bonds in chemistry on the way to school this morning, his literacy is also very, very good.

Homework used to keep him busy, he used to get it every night, now he has it twice a week so I need something for him to keep him off my laptop!

Sorry, you don't need to show workings for 50% and 25% as they're so easy you SHOULD be able to do them in your head.
If I were you too I'd let him get on with homework etc when he feels like it, it's his responsibility not yours. Some children need help, yours doesn't so let him get on with it. Why not send him off with a book when he's trying to get on your laptop?

I agree that it would be pointlessly tedious to show the working for something that should be done in the head. They probably haven't fully assessed him if he is new to the school. I would mention to the teacher that he found it very easy.

It's homework. Homework in primary isn't meant to stretch just reinforce.If they can do it quickly all well and good.
My DD yr6 was set online Samlearning maths homework and she was finishing it so quickly that the programme said that it was too quick and refused to store the mark, just told her to wait a bit longer before pressing the button.
They know she is very quick at school and we do have to slow her down to some extent as she does make the odd mistake because she has speed read the question and misread it.

We have to write how long the homework took. I include moaning time in the total .

Also agree, making him show workings just so his homework takes longer would just be irritating for him. He is essentially just halving numbers - a mental strategy.
The teacher will already know if he's whizzing through the work she sets. Give her a bit of a chance to make arrangements for him. I personally wouldn't send the more challenging stuff home for homework as I wouldn't be there to do any teaching.

My DC1 is 7 and is acheiving work to level 4. He has extra home work from school and we also use the BBC Bitesize and do work with him using that 2 or 3 times a week.

I don't think I'm explaining myself properly (quite usual for me )
so what I'm saying is, my ds1 is a yr 4, at the same stage your ds was at when he should have been a yr 4 (is that right?) but is doing the same work as your ds now, which means your ds needs to move ahead a year again....
I'm not sure all schools do this, but they should definitely be giving him extension work that will stretch him. Are you due a parents evening soon? I'm sure the school must be aware of his abilities from the old school. Has he settled in ok socially?

Hi scrooged!!

Find him something else to do - DD was like this - she used to time how many seconds it took her to do maths homework and write it at the top of the sheet. I was grateful because I don't think children should have homework anyway so I resented any time it took. My token protest at every parents' evening was my objection to homework; the standard response was 'other parents want it'.

Mind you, her English homework she'd spend hours on, writing page after page and now (Y7) her teachers in 'writey' subjects like history, are saying her writing is mature far beyond her years.

So DD had lots of after-school activities instead - she played three instruments at your son's age - sax, piano and violin. She did dancing one evening, horse riding another, out of school, and netball/cookery or some other after-school club at school. She started in a local orchestra, etc.

Round him by encouraging him to do things he isn't good at. I used to tell DD when she moaned about her swimming ability, she'd be as good at swimming as if she too spent 10 hours a week in the pool instead of 10 hours doing stuff she enjoys!

If there is not a parent's evening scheduled soon, then why don't you ask for an appointment to see his class teacher to check how he is settling in. Then you can address your concerns about setting appropriate work in class and at home.

Showing workings is a good habit to get into with maths because when you get to GCSE and beyond, in exams part of the marks are for the working out. That way if a mistake is made, if you show the methodology but made a silly error you will still get some marks.

I would think 50% and 25% is pretty basic for this age group though, my mum taught me 10%, 20% etc by moving decimal places at age 7 - and I was not and am not particularly good at maths.

I used to write notes on the homework - ie 'found this really easy and did it really quickly without thinking'. Never had a complaint from the teacher. Surely it helps the teachers?

My ds is in year 3 and could do 25% and 50% 0f simple numbers in his head. It doesn't sound like year 5 work to me!

seeker -do you know I was thinking that when I first read this thread but was a bit reluctant to post.
Ds is 6 and can half numbers easily.

Does sound too easy for top group in yr 5.

I think it's reinforcing the principle of what a percentage is though rather than just halving. Does your Y3 child know what % means?

Georgimama, surely you don't belive that this (bright) child really needs to labour at recording of a quick and simple mental calculation just so he doesn't forget to record his thinking in a few years time. Primary children also need to record their working in tests but for problems with more steps than this.

I don't think there is much point to homework myself at this stage. I reckon it's mostly for the parents.

'I don't think there is much point to homework myself at this stage. I reckon it's mostly for the parents'

I agree.

Well as I said I think it is a good habit to get into. Particularly if the OP's son is bright enough that GCSEs may not be as far away for him as they would be for the average child of his age.

If he is bright enough to be doing GCSE's early he doesn't need to waste his time finding 25% of numbers at home. If he is really keen there are lots of websites where he could really stretch himself.
as an example has lots of enrichment activities for 5-19yr olds. They have the problem of the month that you can send in.

We have progress, he now has a sheet on working out areas of a rectangle and has to draw a rectangle from just the area IYKWIM. He can do this though. At least it's getting harder though

Thankyou for all the replies

maybe it was a classwork that had to be finished at home and he finished most ofd it in class?

i agree with whoever said they don't need homework at this age, but you could get him some maths workbooks if youre worried about him

I'm not worried. I just don't see the point in me nagging him to do homework that takes him less then a minute to complete.

I have no idea what he's doing at school for maths, he said it's not classwork, just homework.

DD3's homework for tonight is 25% and 50% - she is in Year 2.