Homework - 9 yr old -year 4.

maman

[QUOTE=MrsAnnie;30467447]Our primary school is pretty much the same. Althought I understand the arguement that children still need to be children. If NO homework and NO school work is EVER sent home, as in our case, it is very hard (if not impossible) to measure how well the child is doing.

QUOTE]

I believe that what is important is teaching children that learning doesn't stop at the school gate. What they do outside school is also learning. I think this should be a mix of 'fun' learning through projects/visits/clubs etc but also the basics of literacy and numeracy. Of course many children will try to get out of it but that's one of life's lessons- you can't always just do what you want and what you like.

Also, it's so important to start developing these habits young. Leaving it to 'big' school (how I hate that term) isn't good enough. Children spend 7 years at Primary and only 5 (maximum although a lot of Y11 is spent on exams) at secondary. Children who aren't in the habit of working outside school will find it hard to suddenly start at Y7.


2 last bits of advice:

• definitely talk to your child's teacher (and headteacher if you're not happy)
• spend time talking to your child, encourage them to use a wide vocabulary and (most of all) think!

Jumps off soapboax and runs off:o

Reggie_Rebel

milliebear00001 wrote: »

It isn't possible for a reading age to go down. If it appears so then the test (or marking) is at fault.

Reading age means little - what you need is the standardised (i.e. age-adjusted) score from a really good, comprehensive reading test. It is likely your school does these and you may or may not be given the scores - you can always ask though.

Although reading age shouldn't go down, the difference between reading and biological age can narrow, that's when you know no progress is being made.

Although if you are listening to your child read regularly that should be obvious anyway

Kandipandi

I would suggest your first point of contact is the school.
Speak to the head and ask why they seem to get so little homework.

If it is reading material you are after, the school should be able to loan you the appropriate books for your child's level.

starnight_2

My DS is in Yr4 and in a week he would do 1 literacy, 1 numeracy, spellings every day, reading every day and times tables every day. But every school and every child is different, I know my DS is in one of the lowest reading groups as I know his friends have harder books to read. Speak to the teacher if your concerned, but if your child is doing well in school is there really a need for more homework?

milliebear00001

Reggie_Rebel wrote: »

Although reading age shouldn't go down, the difference between reading and biological age can narrow, that's when you know no progress is being made.

Although if you are listening to your child read regularly that should be obvious anyway

The narrowing of the gap (should there be one) between reading age and chronological age is not at all the same as a reading age going down.

What you describe does not, in any sense, mean no progress is being made. It simply means the progress has slowed. This is completely normal and to be expected. Most children do not learn at the same rate all of the time, but more usually 'in fits and starts'.

milliebear00001

MrsAnnie wrote: »

Our primary school is pretty much the same. Althought I understand the arguement that children still need to be children. If NO homework and NO school work is EVER sent home, as in our case, it is very hard (if not impossible) to measure how well the child is doing.

Why is hard to 'measure' how the child is doing? Why not just ask for an appointment with your child's teacher? I (like many older people here) did not receive homework in the primary years and my parents certainly didn't expect me to do schoolwork outside school. I don't recall them having any issues with understanding whether I was progressing academically - the turned up at Parents' Evening and were updated via my school report.

MrsAnnie

milliebear00001 wrote: »

Why is hard to 'measure' how the child is doing? Why not just ask for an appointment with your child's teacher? I (like many older people here) did not receive homework in the primary years and my parents certainly didn't expect me to do schoolwork outside school. I don't recall them having any issues with understanding whether I was progressing academically - the turned up at Parents' Evening and were updated via my school report.

It is great that you excelled without the need for any work outside of school.

But unfortunately not all children are the same, some students need more support and work inorder to reach their potential.

My children have come on leaps and bounds since I started doing work with them after school. Their grades have noticably increased as a result.

I just feel that if they brought home either school work for the week or homework to reinforce what they have learned during the week that it would be easier as a parent to follow their progress on a day to day basis.

With class sizes at our school in excess of 30+ children, it is apparant that the teacher doenot have the time to make sure each student is understanding each lesson before moving on to the next. School reports are usually pasted and copied, so not a good indicator of individual progress. And IMO I 'should' not have to go into school each week to find out how my child has done during that week. Unfortunately, not all children go to schools that nuture them as individuals; some go to schools where average education is considered enough and no effort is made to help them achieve their full potential.

pingua

MrsAnnie wrote: »

It is great that you excelled without the need for any work outside of school.

But unfortunately not all children are the same, some students need more support and work inorder to reach their potential.

My children have come on leaps and bounds since I started doing work with them after school. Their grades have noticably increased as a result.

I just feel that if they brought home either school work for the week or homework to reinforce what they have learned during the week that it would be easier as a parent to follow their progress on a day to day basis.

With class sizes at our school in excess of 30+ children, it is apparant that the teacher doenot have the time to make sure each student is understanding each lesson before moving on to the next. School reports are usually pasted and copied, so not a good indicator of individual progress. And IMO I 'should' not have to go into school each week to find out how my child has done during that week. Unfortunately, not all children go to schools that nuture them as individuals; some go to schools where average education is considered enough and no effort is made to help them achieve their full potential.

That was really well put.

milliebear00001

MrsAnnie wrote: »

It is great that you excelled without the need for any work outside of school.

But unfortunately not all children are the same, some students need more support and work inorder to reach their potential.

My children have come on leaps and bounds since I started doing work with them after school. Their grades have noticably increased as a result.

I just feel that if they brought home either school work for the week or homework to reinforce what they have learned during the week that it would be easier as a parent to follow their progress on a day to day basis.

With class sizes at our school in excess of 30+ children, it is apparant that the teacher doenot have the time to make sure each student is understanding each lesson before moving on to the next. School reports are usually pasted and copied, so not a good indicator of individual progress. And IMO I 'should' not have to go into school each week to find out how my child has done during that week. Unfortunately, not all children go to schools that nuture them as individuals; some go to schools where average education is considered enough and no effort is made to help them achieve their full potential.

If your children's school is doing its job properly, there should be no need for you to teach your children yourself. Neither should you have to go into school 'each week' to assess progress. Once a term (i.e. Parents' Evening) should be sufficient, as it is for most parents. If there is an issue with your children's quality of teaching (and it most definitely sounds like there is to me) I would advise you start putting some pressure on the school to do something about their failures. You simply shouldn't need to teach your children outside school. It's a waste of their and your time if you're doing the school's job for them. Have you actually talked to the school about your concerns?

LJM

my daughter is 9 and in year 4 each week she comes home with 8 spellings and 2-3 sheets of maths work to do and each term they have a project which she works on alot at home.on top of that she has her reading to do i think this is a fair amount and so does she we even do extra projects,maths work at home