Should I be giving my son in year10 extra work?

[TracyHooper]

Hello!

My child is currently in Year 10 and has started his first year of GCSE's do you think its reasonable to be making him do 45 minutes extra work every night Monday to Thursday?

What do you mean by extra work? More than homework? Work towards targets the teachers have set?

Why? What's the aim? Is he doing his homework? Are the teachers saying he's doing OK?

I feel quite strongly about this. My son is in year 10. I hated O-levels, they seemed to go on for ever. If your child is broadly doing OK, leave them alone to have a life, see friends, ride a bike, watch stuff on Youtube. If not, that's a bit different, but I would still get advice from the teachers first.

No

Good grief no. Let him have a life.

I also have a year 10 ds. His school give minimal homework. He struggles in English so he goes to a tutor 1 hour a week plus I get him to do 10 mins of Tassomai 4 times a week. If he has no other homework I try and persuade him to do half an hour of study.

Depends. Provided it is not making him anxious and stressed I think this is a good idea. It is essentially spacing revision for gcse out - which avoids the need for cramming at last minute.

Think carefully about what kind of work you would ask him to do though. Spaced repetition is useful for improving retention of material. Maybe make short revision notes with him on things he’s covered in class and test him on it 2 weeks later (and then 2 weeks after that). For maths, doing a couple of practice questions on each area covered in the past few weeks would be useful - ie 2 simultaneous equations, 2 geometry, 2 stats etc. If you identify a topic he has trouble with, spend 40mins going through concept and drilling in that area. This will pick up problems early - when there is time to improve. But above all, show him that you are proud of him for working hard - whatever mark he ends up getting.

mathagogy.wordpress.com/2017/07/29/the-best-we-can-do-7-the-spacing-effect/

I suppose ds learns the piano, his extra work is probably his music practice but in fact i don't make him do that, he wants to.

Let him follow his bliss.

I had enough homework in year 10, as do my siblings currently and recently in year 10.
Giving extra work of the sake of it, unreasonable.
If he's struggling with something then helping him learn it and understand it and expecting him to work with you - reasonable - as long its in the context of time to breath and relax as well as work.

Is this just random stuff, or have you actually got a copy of the spec for every subject? Or are you thinking of e.g. reading around the topics in History, to aid his understanding?

The phrasing, do you think its reasonable to be making him... is telling, though.Why do you think that he needs this?

What does your ds want to do? 45 minutes extra work for 4 days a week I think would make a difference to his GCSEs, but only if it is something he wants to do.

Talk to him, let him decide. He perhaps only wants to do half and hour or a couple of hours at the weekend instead.

Getting them to realise if they want to succeed it will need work, I think is a good message to get across. However, if he says no, you have to accept that. You do not want to put him off study for year 11 when he will need to put the time in.

Based on how much homework my DDs got in yr 10 it's a resounding NO from me. 2 hours a night plus more on weekends was nothing unusual for them.

If your school doesn't give homework I'd be encouraging some structured revision, but not 45 minutes a night. Get the right revision guides and workbooks for the exam boards he is doing though. DD2 has them all and finds them really useful.

It depends on how much work he is already doing at home. DD (also Yr10) has enough to do with homework and revision as they are having a lot more tests this year.
DD wouldn't would be furious if I tried to give her more and am sure it would backfire massively.
However, if there are times she really didn't have any work to do at home (and I don't mean the odd evening, I mean all week or 2) then I would definitely encourage her to do some extra work.

Maybe make short revision notes with him on things he’s covered in class and test him on it 2 weeks later (and then 2 weeks after that). For maths, doing a couple of practice questions on each area covered in the past few weeks would be useful - ie 2 simultaneous equations, 2 geometry, 2 stats etc. If you identify a topic he has trouble with, spend 40mins going through concept and drilling in that area

Wow, are parents that involved?

I assumed that the teachers at school set appropriate homework and revision. My dd is in year 12 and for the past several years I have virtually had no input in her studies. I'm available to help anytime but there hasn't been a need (or want!). Her GCSEs were very good.

I think Namenic's suggestions are good. Each child is different, but modelling good learning and revision techniques can help. I used to do mindmaps with dd. Still having to do it at A level, I would question if a degree were right for them, but in year 10 I do not see a problem.

I have always thought my dd's education was more my responsibility than the school's and too important to leave to the vagaries of the latest education policies. So yes, some of us are that involved.

Haha - maybe I do sound a bit draconian! But as Richmal said - kids are different. Myself and one sibling were anxious workers who needed someone to tell them to take a break and not to worry - our best was enough.
Other siblings thought they knew the material already when actually there were large areas for improvement. I tutored them and found that when you sit down and actively engage they are more likely to learn than just telling them to ‘go study’. Most of us developed independent study habits over time.