Extra homework

[Tim58]

I thought I'd post on this board for some advice re our teenage daughter. She's 15 and coming upto a really important year at school yet seems to do the bare minimum and last term actually skipped some homework. We only found out because the lady teacher concerned gave our daughter several hunderd lines which took her nearly all weekend to write. I thought it was a pretty severe punishment but my wife told my daughter that next time she would request the teacher assigns an essay which would take even longer than the lines!

Anyway, my wife has now threatened to request extra homework for a month if my daughter doesn't generally buck her ideas up and work a bit harder this term. She has told our daughter she is on her final warning - hence one surly teenager. Hopefully it will act as a deterrent and keep our daughter focussed. Would be interested in mums views as to its likely success and whether its too harsh etc. You can probably guess my wifes a lot stricter thn me!

TBH, don't think it will work, sorry :(

Does the school run a homework club? Ours does, & they can stay every night Mon to Thurs till 5pm. means that they have the time & opportunity to do the work, with all the books & staff on hand, then just veg out when they get home. My youngest is on report this year & we have been asked by school to ensure that he stays at least twice a week.

Also not convinced that the teachers will want to set & mark extra work (see other school threads). Probably your best bet (though very boring for you) is to insist that she writes down all homework due, & shows you finished article EVERY night, so that you can see she's done it. (Really want to do this myself but once home from work I can't be bothered )

I'd advise that you keep a very close eye on her homework diary and use that as a means of fast communication with the subject teachers.

I have set exrea work in the past, hoever in my sad experience this if often not completed. I realise that this may not be the case with your dd, but such experiences do leave the average subject teachers rather jaded.

I would recoment that you get some of the CEG revision books for your dd. They do work books, full of well pitched questions. the answers are in the back, so you could mark her work yourselves if you don't get ant joy with her teachers..

The school have set homework amounts etc. As a teacher, to set and mark extra homework isn't something that we've got time to do- unless there's an academic reason or it's school policy.
Personally I would never offer to set extra homework for my pupils- the job's got enough work. As your dd's teacher did I would however set extra work as a punishment for non completion but personally I would never give out lines. Far better in my opinion to set an essay task entitled 'Discuss the importance of homework' or something similar- so that the pupils actually have to think and respond and they're getting some use out of the punishment.
If she's going into year 10 or 11 she'll have plenty of coursework to keep her busy- plus exams etc. Is there a parents evening coming up? If she's in year 11 there will be one after Xmas sometime or year 10 is after Easter normally or ask dd's head of year for a list of any outstanding coursework (this only applies if she's going into year 11 as year 10 haven't started yet)Keep in touch with your dd's head of year and ask to be informed if she's late on any coursework. Teacher's are under pressure to ensure all coursework is completed as well so a little help from the home is greatly appreciated.
She'll have set texts for English, modular exams in science and loads of coursework.
Perhaps if dd won't discuss course requirements with you you can go to the exam boards web site and download the syllabii- have the facts and info at your fingertips- beat her at your own game. Sorry for going on but had to be very general as don't know exam board or year dd going into

Thanks for all the good advice! The main theme seems for us to keep a close eye on her homework and rely on the teachers to punish her for any missed work. Will let you know if it works!

Mamerin, I was interested that you don't assign lines. Our dd was given 300 lines which took her hours, particularly as it was a long line! My wife wants it to be an essay next time. One of our friends is a retired teacher who told us today that she used to set essays of six sides of A4 on a topic of her choice. She also gave lines but reckoned an essay was harder to complete. That sounds a pretty long essay to me and certainly made dd take a sharp intake of breath! Any thoughts on how long an essay should be for a year 10 pupil?

Depends on her ability. If she's in the top sets then 3 or 4 sides of A4 would be adequate, if she's in the bottom sets then maybe one side. I set work according to the childs ability.
As your dd is going into year 10 I would check her books at the end of the first week- that's when the teachers give the kids the syllabus info for most subjects.
Personally I'd copy this down myself and then you've got the info to hand and you can ask where she's up to on a particular subject.. etc. E.G In English she'll have 6 or 7 courseworks if she's doing language and lit plus 2 set texts. With that volume of work she'll have to start the coursework in the first term- at Christmas you can ask for her mark or perhaps you'll know as you'll have helped her along.
The important thing is to take an interest- help her along- maybe by buying or borrowing from the library any books to help her study-that way there'll be no nasty surprises at parents evening if you know what she's doing. Easier said than done with a teenager I know as they can be so moody. Don't be afraid to contact the school if you're worried about her progress- her head of year should be able to send a quick note around her teachers asking if she's behingd in her work. Good luck- I don't envy you

Thanks Mamerin - youv've been really helpful. Clearly we are going to have to pay close attention to her coursework and progress from day one. There's a parents evening in October which should be interesting!

Our dd is very unhappy at the prospect of four page essays. We've had the 'Oh mum its not fair' and 'They take ages because the teacher will make the topic really hard' etc. She actually did get a 1,000 word essay last term so knows they're very hard work. Apparently the teachers give a set number of words to write rather than pages in case the children have the idea of only writing four words a line! Something for you to watch out for!

Glad to be of some help Tim58. Wish a lot of parents were as concerned as you are unfortunately rather a high percentage of mine aren't. I teach in a poor area, almost classified as a sink area- a lot of drug abuse and unemployment