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.

is actually

I liked spellings too but only because I was an obnoxious brat and always got 10/10 with zero effort. It is fun being good at things. I think there was a sense of achievement at being able to work out something that was obviously considered tricky straight away. It's like being able to spot how a puzzle works.

What was frustrating was maths - I could see the answer straight away, it was blindingly clear, yet we had to sit there doing page after page of the same kind of sum, I guess to reinforce it. Turned me right off maths. I am SO glad that maths teaching has moved on - ds's homework is fun and manages to teach concepts without boring the pants off any child who is quick to grasp whatever it is.

Have to admit though, being quick to grasp concepts didn't stand me in good stead for A-levels, which was the first time I'd ever had to WORK.

It is in my classroom, and in my school and many schools up and down the country, thank goodness.

"Have to admit though, being quick to grasp concepts didn't stand me in good stead for A-levels, which was the first time I'd ever had to WORK."

I winged it for years, too - apart from those subjects I found fun. Hence my determination to ensure that my children know that, and how, they must apply themselves, and not think everything is going to come easily. Life quickly becomes very un-fun indeed the day it all becomes more difficult but you haven't developed the skills with which to tackle difficulty.

That was to Bonsoir, obviously.

Love of learning is fun. There's pleasure in discovery. Especially if you are a curious child. Reading good books and coming across things such as unreliable narrators for the first time is fascinating. And that's fun. Seeing how simultaneous equations work and that numbers make patterns and do interesting things is fun. If you are made that way!

The tricky bit is if you have always been relatively bright, and things have come easily to you, how to cope when you get to a stage of education where you do need to work. I tripped up at that point.

(NB I am NOT outstandingly bright as an adult, there are plenty of people cleverer than me. And no longer good at maths unfortunately - I think these things take practice and in daily life I don't have to do much complex maths.)

As an adult, multiple advanced applied skills are often more important than general intelligence.

Fair point, Bonsoir. But I don't think you need to make education deliberately dull for 5yos in order to make that point.

My BIL teaches drama at a good comprehensive. The 'naughty' kids do quite well in his subject, because it engages them. They end up learning Shakespeare because they realise it is fun - storylines that put Eastenders to shame. (Obviously he doesn't start the lower sets on Shakespeare, they work up to it.)

And, incidentally, I think my DP is not as intelligent as me - but he has a lot of very useful skills that I don't!

"Hence my determination to ensure that my children know that, and how, they must apply themselves, and not think everything is going to come easily. Life quickly becomes very un-fun indeed the day it all becomes more difficult but you haven't developed the skills with which to tackle difficulty."

Again - enjoyable lessons don't preclude children having to apply themselves; rather, they want to apply themselves. Nor does it mean they won't encounter difficulty, extension and stretching or the skills with which to deal with all that.

Good teachers can do all of that.

Edam, if you never had to work, then your teachers failed to challenge you properly. My children enjoy challenge, and aren't afraid of it.

I think dh is possibly less academically intelligent than me, but he knows how to drive and I am finding really hard to learn. VERY frustrating as you can't learn how to drive from a book. You need hand-eye (and foot) co-ordination which is not my thing at all. Grrr. That's one of the downsides of having sailed through school (up to a point), any kind of learning that doesn't come easy is incredibly frustrating.

I don't think anyone has suggested that you have to "dull down" education for 5 year olds. My problem is with the idea that all education must be fun - I think this "dumbs down" education.

Feenie - only up to A-level! Messed up royally there, having never had to work. But it was a valuable lesson of itself, I worked VERY hard at university.

No dumbing down here, thank you - we achieve excellent results because the children enjoy their lessons.

Teacher here and am anti h/w.

Think they should do prep after school instead from about 8+, since I'm interested in what they can do, not what their parents can, and then they ought to go home and forget about school until the next day.

The type of h/w done at home ought to be learning tasks like spellings & times tables imo and as they get older, extension pieces at the weekend.

Dinah - good point about what They can do, not their parents. I still have this at secondary - sometimes feel like congratulating the parents on a good piece of work!

I am fairly determined not to get involved.

I wrote a brilliant reply yesterday and my computer ate it

Anyway, what it said was that as an upper KS2 teacher who also happens to be the parent of a Reception child I would follow my child's lead - we read with her at home (have special permission from the teacher not to do ORT drivel but real books as DD1 finds them tedious, as does the teacher), do lots of writing, cooking, counting etc. etc. as part of daily life but if she came home with a ridiculously easy worksheet I would expect her to do it and, if it was a regular thing I would ask the teacher about it...something along the lines of, "DD1 has been complaining that the maths homework is very easy and that it isn't the same as what she's been doing in class. I've said I'd ask you about it as Reception do things differently from Y5....?". That would give the opportunity to say all sorts of things e.g. it's just consolidation/it's aimed at children who aren't yet able to identify groups of 10/it won't do them any harm to practise etc. etc. If I hadn't already been told how this was helping my DD1's learning/progress I'd ask directly and take things from there.

There's nothing to be gained from undermining the instructions a child has been given by their teacher but sometimes teachers will feel forced to give out homework (yes, even for 5-year-olds as some parents want it) and will do whatever's easiest.

Personally I'm not a homework fan. I expect children to read at home and practise spelling words (for use in class, not for test purposes necessarily). I usually set home-learning projects for children to undertake over a half-term e.g. find out about Isaac Newton's discovery. We would spent time in class talking about learning logs or the type of activities they might want to do e.g. make a board game, do some writing, make a poster, produce a PowerPoint presentation. At the end of the half-term everyone who'd done something would spend half a day to a day trying out/looking at what others have come up with. Those who don't bring anything will spend that time doing research on the same topic. It works in terms of extending children's learning and is independent so no right/wrong, no worksheets and no real competition. Children who would like to produce something but have homes where it isn't possible can arrange with me to have some time during lunchtime/after school to put something together. Those who choose not to do anything will benefit from the research session the rest of the class will do whilst the contributors try out each other's things.

I think a large part of being in reception is getting used to being in school.I wonder if the teacher has set very easy homework in the last few weeks just to introduce them to homework in a very non threatening way.