Opinions please - Homework in Reception. Dd's teacher has asked to see me - tell me what to say to stop me being rude to her!

[Littlefish]

First of all, I am an experienced Early Years and Primary Teacher. Dd is my only child and is just reaching the end of Reception.

I have tried very, very, very hard to remove my professional hat in all matters relating to dd's teacher and Reception year, in spite of there being numerous occasions of poor practice. The children are basically being taught like year 1s, with very little play.

However, the matter of homework has really got me vexed.

I absolutely disagree with homework for Reception children (actually I disagree with homework for any children until year 6), beyond reading and phonics work. I read with dd every night and we practise her sounds and tricky words.

Last term, she started bringing home a photocopied maths worksheet each week which we were supposed to do with our child and then return to school. The homework is unrelated to anything they're specifically doing that week, and the same homework is given to all children, regardless of their stage of development.

Sometimes we do this sheet, and sometimes we don't. Dd is really strong with numbers, problem solving and reasoning, can recognise, write and sequence numbers up to 100, knows all her doubles up to 12 + 12 and all her number bonds up to 10 etc (Sorry, I'm not trying to be smug, that's just what she can do). The homework is frequently much too easy for her e.g. count a group of up to 10 objects and write the number.

We haven't done the homework for the last 3 as it was all too easy. I sent a note to dd's teacher explaining why we hadn't done it and she has asked to see me.

Added to this, the children were told that their homework was their responsibility and that if they did not do it, they would be moved down on the zone board (behaviour board).

I'm already heavily biting my tongue on all the other issues, and I'm really worried that I will be rude to her! She is a very brusque character, not parent friendly at all. At dd's last parents evening, she told me that dd "isn't pushing herself in writing"

FFS! She's only 5!

Is it worth voicing my objections to the homework, or should I just shut up and let her tell me off, for the sake of the last 4 weeks of term.

My DD invents her own homework... And I don't think homework is fun, it's work.

I am that you are that children might be expected to work - or even worse, wish to work

I think the homework can have advantages. It helps the teacher get extra feedback from all of the children, to see where they are struggling, and it also helps parents to see where the children are struggling. Clemettethedropout asked a great question about how she could help her reception DD to do extra work over the summer, that her DD was very keen on doing. The homework is a useful guide for the parents. Just because the OP's DD finds the homework easy doesn't mean that all the other children find it easy. All in all I think it is positive, and as Bonsoir says, helps to establish a routine and acclimatises the child and parent to the routine. I think there would be many parents who would pay good money to have their children educated like this privately, so it is good to see that some state schools have teachers who do the same thing.

I don't think I am alone in believing that learning should be fun, Bonsoir - it's quite a popular teaching concept, thank goodness.

We've had homework which was too easy, which I wasn't that inclined to do but did anyway.

I think this was a wasteful activity, would have been better off skipping and enjoying herself. The worst thing about it is that she kept remarking on how easy it was too - I'd prefer for her to do something challenging if she had to do anything at all.

We told the teacher was we got the eye rolling, pushy parents thing going on, so we just moved her in the end. (Not only for that reason, but that was just one of the many things that didn't feel right).

A lot of learning is not fun, like a lot of life and work is not fun. The important thing is is to see the not fun bits as a means to a better end, rather than to sacrifice hard work and effort at the altar of fun.

But claig, the homework has nothing to do with what the children are learning that week, so would not necessarily inform teaching. In fact, if it is exactly the same level of difficulty for all children, it will tell her next to nothing.

You don't need death by worksheet to establish a homework routine.

" I think there would be many parents who would pay good money to have their children educated like this privately"
Really? Well, more fool them! Atrocious practice, and nothing to do with good teaching.

At 5 years old, all of learning should be fun, Bonsoir.

It's a well-established fact that children learn better when their learning is enjoyable.

A lot of children get very bored by "fun" and want something more structured and focused.

Littlefish, you could go in there and first apologise profusely for not knowing that the homework was compulsory all time and thank her for now clarifying - all this, in order to start off disarming any possible anger from her.

You could then go on to say how much you value the joy of learning, as a teacher yourself and perhaps suggest that your daughter could bring in higher level maths she might have done, for fun, with you - as the classwork is much too easy for her.

You could suggest that this might then inspire other children to do the same and bring them all on in that last 3 weeks of term and then tell her some good Maths websites that you've used - assuming that this is something you already do and enjoy with your daughter.

You could pepper your points with lots of praise for the teacher - regardless of what you really think - and this should also help get her onside and you could drop in some anecdotes showing her how much you understand life as a teacher....Then you could lead on to querying the concept of homework for children so young and get her thoughts about this and dialogue....?

just some thoughts. My DCs got homework from age 3.75 yrs and the idea was both to encourage the homework ethic, the parental support for education and for the school and stimulate the children to further their interest and move on as well as consolidate what they already knew. Some parents would also do lots more 'home' work with DCs, bringing in stuff that then made the other childrne think - oh that Maths game looks like fun - where do you get it?

By Reception, I'd often spend 1.5 hrs a night with DCs (twins) over homework. On the one hand, it was a nuisance, especially when they were tired, on the other hand, knowing the competitive world they're in, I felt it would give them an advantage, both in terms of tolerating doing things they didn't want to do and in furthering their education.

Now they're 9 and will do most homework unsupported and can get about 2 subjects a night, every night, plus weekly 20 spellings and book reviews of all the books they'll have read that week. All their peers are doing this and so by the time they reach GCSE revision etc, it'll be ingrained and normal to work hard.

I know this is only one philosophy and the complete opposite of the another approach that suggests leading them in gently. So far, all the children my twins know are happy and thriving but this may not work at all for all children.

There is no reason why structured and focused should not be fun, Bonsoir. You are confusing enjoyable learning with learning through play.

I'm not confusing anything. Lots of 5 year olds (and I have a 5 year old DD in a year group of 90, so I know plenty of them, and their parents) are desperate for proper structured learning and the feeling of achievement that they get from it.

I agree that it is not what they are currently learning. But it extends what they are currently learning, it is an addition to it, so it increases the learning. It seems that it is easy for the OP's DD which is not a bad thing, because the DD will then receive stars and feel a sense of achievement and her confidence and enjoyment in learning will increase. For other children, it will highlight areas that need more attention, in addition to what they are doing in class. It is the same level of difficulty for all the children, probably because it is a base level and the teacher wants to establish the routine and see which children are having problems with the base level. Motivated parents will then be able to give their children extra help.

I teach using 'proper structured learning', as do most teachers.

Proper structured learning is not the same worksheet for each and every child. Worksheets used ad nauseum are a cop out, used by poor teachers to disguise their poor teaching.

Claig, the teacher should know exactly what they can and can't do - if she has to rely one crappy worksheet to tell her that information , then she is in trouble!

I don't like worksheets at all, I agree that they are a cop out.

But I hate the idea that all learning should be "fun". Children don't want endless fun.

What an odd comment! Perhaps what the children perceive as 'fun' is not the same as your perception? I've never come across anyone who thinks children don't want their learning to be enjoyable before. Are you saying children prefer to be bored to tears?

"fun" is not synonymous with "enjoyable", and "enjoyable" is not antonymous with "boring".

I think the problem with criticisng this teacher is precisely because the OP is a teacher. If I were a teacher and a parent, who was also a teacher, started telling me how to do my job, it would have me climbing the wall. It is much worse than just an ordinary parent telling me how to do my job, because I would probably think that the ordinary parent was offering their best advice but was just misguided. If another teacher started offering me advice and pointing out websites and fun games that I could use, then I would see this as arrogance and an insult to my professionalism. That is why I think teachers should be careful about critcising other teachers.

You've lost me, Bonsoir. To me and the children I teach, 'fun', 'enjoyment' and 'work' all mean pretty much the same thing.

My original point was that if homework has to be established as a routine (and I dispute that personally, but that's by the by), then why can't it be an enjoyable ativity instead of a worthless worksheet?

I think you're right aout that, Claig - but I also think Littlefish is quite aware of that. This situation has arisen through the teacher asking to speak to her about it.

at fun, enjoyment and work being synonymous...

yes you are right. Let's hope it goes well.

Bonsoir's in Paris and her posts constantly point out that they do things differently there.

Littlefish, I sympathise, cannot see the point of homework in reception. Think our school hands it out because there are lots of pushy parents who would moan if there wasn't any. Thankfully the reception and foundation stage teachers are intelligent enough to do it well - three different options to suit all abilities and always something that is engaging rather than deathly dull. In reception ds had things like taking different sized containers into the bath and seeing how much liquid each held for volumes.

Think he had spellings too IIRC but he happens to have a flair for it so we just used to look at the sheet and he always knew them already.

Now in Year 2, he gets to go on the More Maths website and play games which he actually enjoys while learning mathematical concepts. Or he can go out and look around the streets and spot various objects or something ? I forget the details. There's always something he's happy to do which doesn't take too long.

My sister took her ds out of an allegedly outstanding school which had a terrible attitude to homework - in his first weeks of reception, when he was only just four and falling asleep after his tea, he was getting all stressed as he hadn't done THREE pieces of homework every night.