Studying? Primary

[OmarsMum]

Hi,

Omar is in grade 2, he doesn't get any homework other than the daily reader, they should pick a book every day. They have reading eggs as an app, Omar works on the reading eggspress, they also work on mathletics for math.

I'm relaxed when it comes to studying but I'm not sure if we should do something more at home? At school they learn loads of stuff but we don't get anything at home, they focus a lot on writing, and Omar started to keep a diary which is cute.

Do your children do any school work at home? I'm curious to know how it goes in other countries. He used to go to PYP school that uses a British curriculum but I moved him this semester to an Australian school.

My friends' children get loads of homework and they have quizzes & exams, we have individual assessments only and those are done randomly throughout the year. It was the same in his old school but they used to get weekly spelling, and some math sheets in addition to set tasks on Studdy ladder.

 

[caz_hills]

My son is jn year one. We are getting loads! We have about three books to read a week, spellings every week to learn for a test and then homework which is maths currently - two paws of a workbook every weekend.

You could buy some books for handwriting or maths etc at home and maybe do two pages a week or something? I also go to the library and get reading books for him as we try ans read one a night. School never give us enough so we supplement by reading nightly. Some nights he really doesn't need want to so we don't every night but most days we will.

But if he isn't tired we don't. I still think they are so young that having fun and down time is important too. I feel school give us enough with spellings, reading and homework so we don't do any extra workbooks. Some times like your son my son will ask if Jen can write but not often. Mostly he just wants to play and I don't blame him as e is tired after school!

 

[SarahBear]

I don't believe in making primary grades kids do homework. I think it's great that his school sticks to what's age-appropriate.

 

[george83]

My son is in year 1 and has the expectation of reading 5 times a week, spellings to learn for a weekly spelling test and then a handwriting worksheet which should be completed. To be honest there's no value to hus handwriting sheet (the teacher just collects them in from his book bag and there's no acknowledgement that he's completed it).

I also teach year 2 and my school sets more homework they also have daily reading, weekly spellings and literacy homework (15 minute writing activity) and an online maths activity (should take 20 minutes). I actually think children below year 2 definitely and possibly an argument for children up to year 5 shouldn't have homework but an expectation that they read each evening as this is so key to everything.

 

[sabby52]

Declan has always got homework, from primary 1 right up to now primary 5, he actually enjoys getting homework and (almost) never complains about doing it, every night he will have spellings, started at 5 in primary 1 and now he gets between 20 and 25 each week, they have a spelling test every week, he has reading daily as well usually its a chapter or 2 each night, they will also have a weekly task for a test at the end of the week, the weekly task can be anything from a certain set of multiplications to certain measurements, they will also have a daily homework on top of that either a maths sheet, world around us sheet, a topic sheet or a literacy sheet. They have a mental maths quiz every Monday morning and a literacy quiz every Wednesday. From Sept onwards Declan will be getting double the amount of homework and extra transfer practice sheets as he will be preparing for his transfer test.
I know a lot of people really dislike homework but Declan thrives on learning so it works for us, we also have our own work books at home that he works on at weekends, he loves learning new stuff and tbh there is only so far the teacher can take them within the classroom, there is 5 different group levels within Declans classroom so their teacher cant let one group go too far ahead, he is already working 12-18 months above his age in both maths and literacy in the classroom but further than that with me at home.

 

[LoraLoo]

Ours get too much imo. I spend most of my weekend doing homework with my 3 little ones (3,5 and 7) - they all have reading, then 5 year old has phonics, 7 year old has spellings, maths, literacy, sometimes several pages. Quite often we havecto go out and find things they need to take in. Then we have to do their home/school diary .
All this, is taking time away that I could be spending helping my 16 yr old that is sitting her gcses in a couple of months.

kids are learning all the time, they don't have to be sat with a pencil and piece of paper to learn. Playing on the x box, role play, cooking, baking, days out... They're constantly developing life skills, social skills and problem solving. That's good enough for me. Shame schools put so much pressure on children.

 

[jensonsmummy]

My son p3 gets either maths or english homework, spellings, tables and reading. No weekend homework tho.

 

[jd83]

My older son is in 1st grade, and his typical homework is one worksheet (rotates subjects each day. One day is math, another science, etc), which takes him maybe 5 minutes at the most, reading a short book or one chapter from a beginner chapter book, and practicing any spelling words he isn't confident with yet. The whole entire process takes 20-30 minutes at the most. I don't feel it's too much. We usually do it right away, so he can be done with school work for the rest of the evening.

 

[lau86]

My son is in reception, he gets a reading book twice a week and he has a work sheet on a weekend. The work sheet is maths one week and English the next. That's enough for me!

 

[CaptainMummy]

Paige gets everything on a Monday to be handed in by Friday.

One reading book
One maths worksheet
Spelling - write new words x3, write 3 sentences and one other spelling strategy.
Sometimes a sound worksheet.

More than enough for us, and I don't even mention school work at the weekend.

 

[zorak]

Paige gets everything on a Monday to be handed in by Friday.

One reading book
One maths worksheet
Spelling - write new words x3, write 3 sentences and one other spelling strategy.
Sometimes a sound worksheet.

More than enough for us, and I don't even mention school work at the weekend.

I'm a Scottish Teacher and this sounds about average for Scottish schools. No primary school aged kid should get homework over the weekend and it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes a night. Homework should really be used to reinforce learning.

Personally my eldest is only 3, we do lots of reading at home and he and his 19 month old brother have stories as part of their bedtime routine. I do firmly believe in homework where it is used appropriately by the teacher. It allows for a home/school partnership. I see so many young kids in our school whose parents don't bother doing any homework with them. These tend to also be the parents who don't read to their kids and the difference in the kids learning and attitude to learning can really be seen.

 

[redneckhippy]

My son is only 2, but reading this makes me sad that he will have so much homework so soon. We were touring some preschools and I was shocked at how academic they have become. It seems like they get so little time just to be kids.

 

[loeylo]

Paige gets everything on a Monday to be handed in by Friday.

One reading book
One maths worksheet
Spelling - write new words x3, write 3 sentences and one other spelling strategy.
Sometimes a sound worksheet.

More than enough for us, and I don't even mention school work at the weekend.

I'm a Scottish Teacher and this sounds about average for Scottish schools. No primary school aged kid should get homework over the weekend and it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes a night. Homework should really be used to reinforce learning.

Personally my eldest is only 3, we do lots of reading at home and he and his 19 month old brother have stories as part of their bedtime routine. I do firmly believe in homework where it is used appropriately by the teacher. It allows for a home/school partnership. I see so many young kids in our school whose parents don't bother doing any homework with them. These tend to also be the parents who don't read to their kids and the difference in the kids learning and attitude to learning can really be seen.

Another Scottish teacher here, but I am secondary school.

Personally, I dislike issuing homework. IMO it widens the gap between those from a "good" home background and those from chaotic homes. I issue maybe 3-4 homework pieces a year for each class (aside from upper school obviously!) but those are "project" type tasks, and I always offer to take the kids to the school library for books, and give them the use of my classroom before/after school, at break and at lunch.

IMO, reading books which your child is interested in at home is far more valuable than enforcing the reading of school issued books. I was an avid reader from an early age (I remember reading the entire babysitter club series back-to-back when I was maybe about 7-8?) yet I hated school issued reading. Similarly, I loved writing when it was something I chose to do myself (I remember writing a letter to the local animal sanctuary to thank them for my dog, for example) but I hated when I had writing homework.

Also, particularly with maths, I got really confused as my dad helped me with my homework but used a different method than the school.

When my daughter goes to school (which is a long time off, admittedly!) if she chooses not to do her homework, that's fine. They spend so long doing formal learning at school, I think it is far more important they develop in other areas when at home. As Lora said, they are always learning, even if it is informally.

 

[Pearls18]

My son is year 1, he gets spellings once a week and is expected to read 3 x a week (we do everyday usually) I'm fine with these, but then he gets a project book that we have to do 3 projects each half term. Excessive, very little value, feel like its testing us more than them. Reception was worse as it was so much writing, multiple times a week, it was difficult keeping up and my son got bored.

I think just reading and spellings is plenty.

 

[OmarsMum]

Thanks ladies for your input , it seems that the majority are not really happy with homework. We read a lot, he loves to write, I'm encouraging him to work more on the math app, it is not graded but I think practicing some extra math without pressure is good for him.

He goes to sports classes, and to piano classes and he has free time to play. I just needed to see what sort of homework other children his age get.

 

[DCS]

My ds is year 1. We get 2 homework sheets on a friday. One is spellings and the other is maths, english or topic. This takes him about 10 minutes. He usualy does it after a quick snack on a friday ( i also photocopy it for dd who is 2 so she can do her " homework" and not scribble over ds work. ) he is meant to get a reading book a week, his teacher said she would increase it to 2 books a week, however we have had the same book for almost a month now. Luckily we have a wide range of books at home, ds picks a couple to read at bedtime himself, and one for oh to read to him. We do lots of reading, i enjoy reading and the kids do too. Ds is loving science atm so occasionally, we do one of his science kits, or do a couple simple experiments. Nothing is forced though, all done if he asks. Same with work books. He enjoys them and will sometimes sit down and do a couple pages, or ask us to write out sums for him, or ask us to help him learn his times tables. All of this is done because he wants to, we dont ask him to do any of it. He genuinely enjoys learning, almost as much as he loves power rangers and lego.
Sorry for the typos. On my phone.

 

[Symphony7]

I teach grade 1. We do not give homework. It has been proven to be ineffective below 5-6 grade. I ask my kids to read at home, but I work in a high poverty school and I know that doesn't happen. Either my kids would not do their homework or do it wrong because they are doing it alone. I want to make sure they are practicing their skills perfectly, that cannot happen by handing them a worksheet to do at home alone.

 

[Pearls18]

My ds is year 1. We get 2 homework sheets on a friday. One is spellings and the other is maths, english or topic. This takes him about 10 minutes. He usualy does it after a quick snack on a friday ( i also photocopy it for dd who is 2 so she can do her " homework" and not scribble over ds work. ) he is meant to get a reading book a week, his teacher said she would increase it to 2 books a week, however we have had the same book for almost a month now. Luckily we have a wide range of books at home, ds picks a couple to read at bedtime himself, and one for oh to read to him. We do lots of reading, i enjoy reading and the kids do too. Ds is loving science atm so occasionally, we do one of his science kits, or do a couple simple experiments. Nothing is forced though, all done if he asks. Same with work books. He enjoys them and will sometimes sit down and do a couple pages, or ask us to write out sums for him, or ask us to help him learn his times tables. All of this is done because he wants to, we dont ask him to do any of it. He genuinely enjoys learning, almost as much as he loves power rangers and lego.
Sorry for the typos. On my phone.

That is SO complacent of them to not have changed his book in a month??!!

 

[weedle]

My sons in reception. He has a reading book changed 3 times a week and 3 tricky words (changed when he can do them). He also has 2 phonic sheets a week but they are nice and easy (mainly colouring) and not compulsory. He also has homework for school holidays, this half term was a diary where he had to write a short sentence and draw a picture each day of what he's been doing. I think that's plenty! I think year 1 is similar only they have spellings instead of phonics sheets.

 

[DCS]

My ds is year 1. We get 2 homework sheets on a friday. One is spellings and the other is maths, english or topic. This takes him about 10 minutes. He usualy does it after a quick snack on a friday ( i also photocopy it for dd who is 2 so she can do her " homework" and not scribble over ds work. ) he is meant to get a reading book a week, his teacher said she would increase it to 2 books a week, however we have had the same book for almost a month now. Luckily we have a wide range of books at home, ds picks a couple to read at bedtime himself, and one for oh to read to him. We do lots of reading, i enjoy reading and the kids do too. Ds is loving science atm so occasionally, we do one of his science kits, or do a couple simple experiments. Nothing is forced though, all done if he asks. Same with work books. He enjoys them and will sometimes sit down and do a couple pages, or ask us to write out sums for him, or ask us to help him learn his times tables. All of this is done because he wants to, we dont ask him to do any of it. He genuinely enjoys learning, almost as much as he loves power rangers and lego.
Sorry for the typos. On my phone.

That is SO complacent of them to not have changed his book in a month??!!

I actually give up waiting for them to change them. They put a note in his reading log asking us to coment on his reading, seems pointless to me since me and OH are the only ones who read the lig and we already know how his reading is, ( its great, he reads everything, and understands what he reads. If he doesnt he asks and re reads till he gets it) his reading books seem quite easy but its taken me from sepetember to just before half term to get them to asses his level and move him up. We have enough books at home ( possibly have way too many) that he can read whenever he likes.