Have you ever challenged the sheer volume of homework your child gets at parents evening?

[jewel1968]

And if so how was it met. Any tips? My child is getting way too much I think.

Don’t wait for parents evening, talk to head of year or deputy head.

Are they following the homework timetable?

Bear in mind, they will also consider those parents who say there is not enough and try to find a happy medium.

How old is your child and how much does s/he get?

How much are they getting.

Tbh my beef is not so much the homework as that was to be expected to a degree but the homework app.we seem to have moved from kids writing down their homework at end of lesson and then being able to ask the teacher anything they understand to suddenly getting multiple updates on an app at times they wont necessarily get it.you go to bed with one piece you planned to do the following day then wake up to 4 more pieces .

Would the volume be ok.of it was spread out more or is it just all too much?

Some parents complain it’s too much, some too little. If it’s from one teacher, raise it with them, otherwise parents evening is not the time.

Is your child spending too long on it? If I set a task for half an hour, stopping at half an hour is fine. Some kids will go overboard and try to produce something perfect.

In year 10. I think it is a mixture of a lot and DD having very high standards. I have tried to encourage they are a bit more relaxed (or slap dash like I was) about the standard but they find that very hard. I would say 3 or 4 hours an evening and every day over the half term.

It is pretty much every subject.

We get given a feedback questionnaire at Parents' Evening. I filled it in and wrote some positive things but i wrote that I thought my Year 7 dd had had far too much homework over the Easter holiday and listed what she had. Didn't expect a reply but the head teacher replied next day and thanked me for the positive comments and said he had passed them on to the relevant people and said that the homework did sound too much.
Probably nothing to do with it but the homework has been fine since then. Dd now year 11. Year 7 was ridiculous for homework though.

That sounds like far too much to me.

At my children's school they set a limit of 1hr a day in year 7. (20 minutes work for 3 subjects). That went up a bit as they progressed through the school.

I can't remember exactly what it was by year 10 but I'm pretty sure it was only 30 minutes work for 3 subjects. There was a homework rota so every subject set homework at least once a week and some, like English and maths, set it more often.

I will ask some of the teachers roughly how much time she should spend on homework per subject or per evening and see if it is anything like what she is actually doing. I will look out for the questionnaire too and see if I can feedback. I looked through one of her exercise books and noted that the homework has not been marked since end of November. What is the value of homework if it isn't marked fairly soon after completion? Some might ask what is the value of homework at all.

That's a massive amount . DD is y10 and doesn't get anywhere near that amount. I know she is in lower sets and higher sets get more, but that still seems excessive.

I'd personally email the head of year for guidance on how much they expect to be being set prior to parents evening.

But definitely maybe monitor a bit more to see how much time is being spent by your DD. e.g. if she has a history exam question to do that should take 20mins in an exam, she should be spending 30mins tops on it for homework, not an hour.

Thanks folks. Yes, I will monitor a bit more.

Unless they are in exam years, I limited what the school sent to 1-1.5 hours a night (none at weekends) so they could still fit in after school sports activities and have some down time.

@Parker231 did they get all done in that time?

Sometimes but regularly not. Still managed to get all A’s at GCSE and A level. Both are at Uni and still managing to fit in their sporting interests.

@Parker231 when I try to get her to shorten her time doing homework she gets very upset as she is convinced she will get into trouble at school. I agree that having more balance is desirable but she seems convinced it is not possible.

My dc can spend 3 hours for a task that teacher set for 30 minutes. It's her, not the teacher, who is making it harder, she is a perfectionist.
I really think you should ask the teacher for expectations. And if she/he says 20-30 minutes, and your dc is spending 3 hours, it's up to you to let her, or tell her not to spend so much time.

Maybe she needs to hear it from the teacher directly what their expectation is. There will be others in the class handing in sloppy work week in week out too. Over conscientiousness and perfectionism can be a big problem during Year 11

We have a 7 day policy in place too which means that the students can manage their workload a little better and not have a sudden pile of homework to do that's all due in at once.

@CalamityJune - Over conscientiousness and perfectionism is I suspect the problem. I will see if teachers can reinforce my view (and others here) that it is counterproductive to spend too much time in homework. Thanks

That's a lot. Are you sure she's spending all that time on homework, and not sat in her room on SM? Is she in the same room? Can you see that she's actually working all that time?

With our son, he has always claimed he spends several hours on homework, but he's sat in our dining room (no desk in his bedroom), and we often walk through (or peer round the door) and he's actually watching youtube videos. I think he genuinely believes he's spent "all evening" on homework, but in reality, I think it's more like an hour or so of actual work.

Interesting thread. I have issues with my DS also Year 10 who has gone from being a bit slapdash to being a perfectionist in the last few terms. He doesn’t necessarily get that much all the time but it’s erratic and difficult to plan. There’s clearly fuck all of a timetable. Some weeks there’s very little and then loads. Badly explained, badly administered. He also has ASD and has trouble with organisation and no concept of time. And trying to fit in music activities which are his big passion. I find it exhausting.

I hope you get somewhere. I suspect the teachers will be happy to tell her to relax a bit. I've seen it get to the point where students are getting too upset to come to lessons or getting really anxious before assessments - really upsetting for all involved. Rest, downtime and confidence is just as important.

I also get pissed off with teachers who set homework for the next day. DS got maths and history today, both of which need to be in tomorrow. No regard for what other things the kids might be doing. Not everyone has a free evening in front of them. I’m going to bring that up at parents’ eve.

@deepflatflyer i've worked with a student with ASD a few years ago who was very similar- went from really disorganised throughout school, to hyper vigilant once he hit y11. He took all the narrative about this being a really important time, and trying your best and pushing yourself really to heart, and ignored all the stuff about striking a balance and doing things to unwind.

Yes pretty sure she is focused on the homework. Believe it or not she is not really on SM. I see her work and it a perfect example of perfectionist outputs. The teachers give very positive feedback which only rewards her efforts and so the cycle begins.

And yes she too responds very much to the talks from the teachers about pushing herself. Takes it very literally.

She has been like this for years but definitely worse this year.

With my year 10s and 11s I'm normally setting exam qs which have set time limits - ie 8mark q should be done in 12 mins, 12 mark q in 18 mins. I tell the children they can have x amount of extra time to prep the question but it is not to their advantage to spend a much much longer time than they would have in an exam. The only exception would be revision for end of topic/paper tests. Art/music would be different I guess but there is no way homework should be taking that long.