Homework - 9 yr old -year 4.

patchwork_cat

milliebear00001 wrote: »

Well, forgive me if I like to have a bit more to rest my opinions on than just your (or my) personal experiences. I am not sure though, why it would ever be a shock 'at GCSE'. Surely by then, they've had homework for at least three years!

Prep schools have always been much more focused on piling on extra work - the clue is in their title 'preparatory' (i.e. for exam passing). State primary schools have not traditionally given homework. My own gives very little today.

How rude. If you read the link to the article I provided you will see that I am not alone in my belief and my anecdotal evidence supports others believes.

Lunar_Eclipse

milliebear00001 wrote: »

It is not essential to success and is often counter productive when it turns children off their learning,

I don't buy the idea that homework is suddenly a big 'shock' if they haven't had it before secondary.

Nothing chills the blood more than the sight of a 7 year old poring over some dull, awful workbook at the kitchen table, when they could be chatting about their day, being read to, talked to, learning through play, having fun etc etc...

I couldn't agree with you more. My eldest is in Y5 btw.

Lunar_Eclipse

patchwork_cat wrote: »

How can we instill a good work ethic in primary age children without formal working at home.

Kids have to learn that they can't always only do things that interests them, but that doing them is a means to an end.

Surely a good work ethic can be instilled at school. Does it really need to extend to the home?

There are many things that kids need to learn; that is not one of the things I would prioritise teaching mine. Anyone should spend as much time as possible doing what interests them and as little as possible on what doesn't.

milliebear00001

patchwork_cat wrote: »

How rude. If you read the link to the article I provided you will see that I am not alone in my belief and my anecdotal evidence supports others believes.

Your article does not relate to your point I was referring to (and disagreeing with) which was that homework is a 'shock' in secondary if children have not encountered it before.

milliebear00001

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

Well that's me! I'll try to explain why:

I send my children to school to cover the contents of the national curriculum, otherwise I would home educate (which I have considered.) I do not expect nor wish to support a long (enough) school day by doing what I consider to be the basics at home, certainly not at primary school level. If my children cannot master reading comprehension, punctuation, long division etc at school then I believe the school and teachers are failing them and I would reconsider my options. As a non home-schooling parent, I believe I have other things to teach them, so it's nothing to do with lazy parenting, it's about expecting schools to perform their function and having faith in their teachers to do so. Children need down time and to recognise that there is more to life than academics; it's about balance. I also feel this is particularly important for those children who do not excel academically, because they need to find their own strengths and outside interests, yet interestingly they are the ones most likely to be given extra work by their parents, private tutors etc.

I am in my late 30's and do not recall homework until my O Level years. I coped well. I graduated with a 1st and am by no means gifted academically. I do however have two gifted children, so perhaps that has shaped my view of academics being covered during their school day and hobbies, quality family time, playing, sport etc being for outside school hours. The day is too short for homework.

My parents were not involved in my education apart from the occasional bit of homework help for my A-levels; Maths primarily. In contrast to this and despite the above, I am heavily involved and very on the ball as far as my children's attainment and progress is concerned, but I honestly wish I didn't feel the need for this to be the case.

I would be in favour of no homework (and personally I have never seen reading as homework.) The Head of our school has said on more than one occasion that we get homework because parents ask for it; I have never understood that. Is it because they feel it's a form of communication from the school, so they can see how easily/quickly their children do their homework, or some kind of parental anxiety and insecurity being projected onto one's offspring - fear of them failing?

Where has the freedom, fun and adventure gone for today's children?

I can't tell you how nice it is to read about parents who acknowledge they have far more to teach their children than the narrow constraints of the National Curriculum. Thank you for writing such a clear and succinct post. It sums up just about everything I, and many other teachers, feel about the pattern of ever-increasing academic-style work outside school.

It has been a battle over the last couple of decades for teachers to foster any sort of fun, freedom and adventure inside school - please don't let's lose it outside as well - otherwise what's the point of being a child at all!?

Lunar_Eclipse

milliebear00001 wrote: »

It has been a battle over the last couple of decades for teachers to foster any sort of fun, freedom and adventure inside school - please don't let's lose it outside as well - otherwise what's the point of being a child at all!?

From an objective point of view I worry about this a lot.

As a society, we are becoming obsessed with education, in its narrowest school/academic sense, interestingly at a time when standards and attainment is historically low. Even with all the homework, pressuring parents and out of hours teaching/tutoring, we have crisis levels of non readers for instance, leaving primary schools. It's shocking.

I've been thinking about this thread a lot as I tidied up the kitchen this morning (:o). I was reflecting on the signs that I picked up from my children, during their infant school years, as to how they were doing at school. So besides homework, I knew whether or not they could tell the time, understand and handle money to pay for their sweets, read (road signs anyone?), work out how to divide up toys, cut things during craft sessions (fine motor skills), skip or play hopscotch etc.

Now that we are at junior school, I can assess their Maths skills whilst shopping. For example, I might ask them if they can choose the best value kitchen roll ; they need to work out how much they are per roll taking into account different pack sizes, offers etc. Also, I know whether they understand percentages via the tiny amount of interest they receive in their bank accounts for example. Spelling/punc/grammar I see reflected in thank you notes, stories and letters they write, birthday cards etc. I hear them read and know that they're reading well. I know there's a difference in reading skill and comprehension required to read a classic versus something like a Roald Dahl for example.

I don't feel that I need homework to help me gauge this in the slightest and I would much rather my 9 year old spends time outside school either enhancing her social skills by spending time with friends, choreographing dances or making clothes for her doll (choosing fabric, working out a design, using her sewing machine etc) than writing sentences to show she can use her spellings list for that week. And that's before long walks to spot trees or birds, cycling etc.

Anyhow, off to Starbucks now. Not very MS I know.