Homework assigned by tutor

[User647647]

Hello,
I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind sharing how much homework you get from your son/daughter’s tutor.
We feel a bit overwhelmed by it, since my daughter also get daily homework from school.
I have to disclose that she is a bit slow and some things she should be able to do faster, but in all, it amounts to 3-4 hours minimum
Per week.
At the moment I’m trying to get it over with during the weekend, but we feel she’s not getting a break from school...
Thanks a lot!

We don't have a tutor at the moment (I am the tutor ) but when DC had some, it was never more than ~1h-1h15 (for a full paper) and usually closer to 30mn for some maths questions, a creative writing task or some comprehension questions.
3-4 hours sound excessive to me but then it depends on the level she is at vs. the schools she is applying to and timing of the exams. If this amount of homework is necessary to pass the 11+ I'd be concerned about whether the schools targeted are the right fit for her.

We don’t have a specific school in mind yet and neither do the other girls in her group. I think everyone is given the same homework.
She does maths fast, but this week she was asked to show her working (30 questions), so that added time.
Then there’s usually 2 comprehension papers (one having to write answers, the other multiple choice) and some verbal reasoning.
I think writing sentences/creative writing is what takes the longest.
It’s her weakness and it’s really like pulling teeth.

Just to be clear, the amount of time is not because she finds it hard, but because of the sheer amount of work she is given.

I just checked and this week it’s 12 pages.

A mixture of maths, verbal reasoning, Punctuation, vocabulary building (plus write a few sentences), 2 comprehensions and one creative writing.

I'm an 11+ tutor, and I leave it up to parents to decide how much homework they want their kids to have...

12 pages sounds absolutely ridiculous! I've never set more than one verbal and one non-verbal practice paper a week. Some parents choose for the kids not to have homework and that's fine by me too.

Why not just ask for less work? Surely the tutor should oblige?

11+ tutor

I set my students between 4 and 8 pieces. I expect some pieces to take 10 minutes and some to take 30, so approx 2 hours per week.

Some kids whizz through them in no time at all, and for some it take longer.

If I find a child is really taking ages to do the work and it is too much, then I would cut it back.
I think 1-2 hours per week is plenty, especially as they have school work as well.

I am not sure why you woudl do 2 x comprehension in a week. It seems to me that it is better to do 1x comprehension, and then some other work around vocabulary or grammar.

And, check your 11+ paper, because in our area there is no writing in the 11+ at all, so I do very little.

Thanks @steppemum

One comprehension was to work on inference (multiple choice), the other just a ‘normal’ comprehension.

I may have a word with the tutor and ask how long she expects them to take to complete all the homework.

We are feeling pretty guilty and are not aiming at a Grammar so it may be a bit unnecessary.

This tutor sends lots of kids to grammars or independents with scholarships, I think she may be highly demanding.

Thanks @Crocodilian, I’ll have a word with her.

I think that either we are given less worksheets or we decide on a maximum of 2 hours and see how far we get.

As I said previously, my daughter takes forever to write sentences/creative writing, hopefully she will gain some fluency (and confidence...) soon.

Maths is her strength, that’s not an issue.

How old is your DD? Mines are summer born and their level of creative writing and comprehension dramatically took off in the autumn term of Year 6, just on time for the 11+ exams and my youngest is now passionate about creative writing. I think maturity plays a big role in literacy so I would not despair!

That’s what I’ve heard @Oceane11plus. Fingers crossed!

She is in Year 5, will turn 10 in early Spring.

OK, so you are not tutoring for the 11+ test?

Look very carefully at what your tutor is offering, and see if this is a good fit, because 11+ tutoring is quite niche.

For example. I am tutoring for kids to pass the test. So, while all the work I do also helps them in their school work, that is the goal.
That means that some things I do are very focussed on that, and that other things are not covered.

So, we work on non verbal reasoning. Comletely unecessary for a child who is not taking the test.
We do no work at all on writing or writing skills, as that is not in the test.

The homework set is based on the need to get through the curriculum and then do enough practice papers before next September.

You sound as if you are looking for a general tutor to support your dd.
In that case, I would be looking for someone to address her weaknesses, and encourage her in her strengths. If writing is a weakness, then looking at things to support that.

But if I was doing that, I would be approaching it from a different angle. So shorter, more focussed tasks around writing.

And there is less need to push on through a curriculum.
Homework shoudl always be practise of what they have done in the lesson, consolidation and it should be a manageable amount

@User647647 She still has plenty of time but it is a good idea to practice regularly and it will gradually come. If you're interested I can PM you the name of a book which has helped mine tremendously with creative writing (I don't want to advertise on a public forum).
In comprehension, we did something very useful to boost her analytical skills in a relatively painless, enjoyable and time efficient manner. Instead of doing endless papers (which as you flag are very time consuming), we would pick up a book or news article (any type, but it's important to vary the genres vs fiction/non fiction etc), we would read a page together and I would ask her questions on the passage to which she would answer verbally. It doesn't help with the writing and the structure but it helps developing critical and analytical thinking in a fun and painless way.

[quote Oceane11Plus]@User647647 She still has plenty of time but it is a good idea to practice regularly and it will gradually come. If you're interested I can PM you the name of a book which has helped mine tremendously with creative writing (I don't want to advertise on a public forum).
In comprehension, we did something very useful to boost her analytical skills in a relatively painless, enjoyable and time efficient manner. Instead of doing endless papers (which as you flag are very time consuming), we would pick up a book or news article (any type, but it's important to vary the genres vs fiction/non fiction etc), we would read a page together and I would ask her questions on the passage to which she would answer verbally. It doesn't help with the writing and the structure but it helps developing critical and analytical thinking in a fun and painless way.[/quote]
absolutely, best way to improve comprehension.

@steppemum
What we’ve decided to do is tutor her and depending on where she is by next summer,
make a short list of schools we would apply to.
The tutor would hopefully give us an honest opinion about what she thinks my daughter can achieve and also what would suit her personality.
I have a couple of schools in mind but I don’t want to obsess with the selective one or settle for the ‘bank’ one without knowing where she will be in a year.
The tutor knows that we are not interested in the super popular grammar around here, but there is a more ‘achievable’ grammar that she wants my daughter to apply to and she thinks how she performs on the first stage exam would give us a clue of how she can do in other schools.
This is my first time doing this, I have no idea if this is the right approach but I’m very open minded and am not one of those people that seem to have a very clear school in mind.
Hope this makes sense...