Homework for 5 year olds

FenellaWitch

Were you a teacher Mumps? I only ask because you sound that you are just the kind of person who should be teaching.

Mrs_pbradley936

mumps wrote: »

Do tell me how you make a sheet with 120 maths questions fun for an 8 year old. I am dying to hear.

Sooner or later they have to learn that not everything is fun. They have to develop a work ethic or else they will seldom succeed at school. They have to tackle a task purely because it needs to be done in just they same way as a housewife has to tackle a pile of ironing or defrost the fridge. They do it because it needs to be done not because they like/enjoy it.

FenellaWitch

In total agreement Mrs p Bradley,
Yes , life is not fun,but, it should be when you are 5.i hate ironing and defrosting a fridge .No one taught me how to do these things though.

ViolaLass

Mrs_pbradley936 wrote: »

Sooner or later they have to learn that not everything is fun. They have to develop a work ethic or else they will seldom succeed at school. They have to tackle a task purely because it needs to be done in just they same way as a housewife has to tackle a pile of ironing or defrost the fridge. They do it because it needs to be done not because they like/enjoy it.

Expecting a 5 year old to have that attitude about all of their schooling is a tall order. It's something they have to learn, not something they innately have (most kids, that is).

Mrs_pbradley936

ViolaLass wrote: »

Expecting a 5 year old to have that attitude about all of their schooling is a tall order. It's something they have to learn, not something they innately have (most kids, that is).

It was about an 8 year old not the child in the OP.

missbiggles1

ViolaLass wrote: »

Expecting a 5 year old to have that attitude about all of their schooling is a tall order. It's something they have to learn, not something they innately have (most kids, that is).

I think MrsPB was talking about an 8 year old, by which age they should be getting used to the idea.

bossymoo

My boy is just 7, in year 2 and doesn't get this much homework. I think his teacher is really laid back. The usual is 2 books per week, 8 spellings and a maths sheet.

We don't often read the books ("they're boring, mum") and teach is ok with this for DS - I explained we are bookworms at home, so we read every day anyway, and quite a variety of texts. I think this also makes learning spellings easier, his vocabulary is good, so most words on the lists he knows already.

So that just leaves the maths sheet, which is only 5-10 minutes work, plus a bit of thinking time - this week was fractions and how we might use them around the home.

This seems to strike a nice balance for DS - he doesn't enjoy writing much, so the writing we do is for fun, rather than prescribed. Neither of us feel it's too much, seems just right really.

DD is in reception- doesn't always bring books home - but again she reads to me every day (and I still read to them, Aww) and rarely has any other homework. She makes me do her a sheet of sums when DS does his

And then she makes me a homework sheet :rotfl: and marks it too

sooty&sweep

Hi
My daughter is in year 5 & she doesn't get much homework. She brings it home on a Thursday for hand in the following Monday. Usually 10 - 20 maths questions or some English plus usual spellings & reading.
Does the school indicate how much time they expect you to spend doing homework ? If its taking more time then do what you can & leave the rest. After a busy day at school a child needs some relaxation / play time and the time to do other extra curricular activities.
We often do mental maths & spelling practice when we're in the car.
Jen

mumps

Mrs_pbradley936 wrote: »

Sooner or later they have to learn that not everything is fun. They have to develop a work ethic or else they will seldom succeed at school. They have to tackle a task purely because it needs to be done in just they same way as a housewife has to tackle a pile of ironing or defrost the fridge. They do it because it needs to be done not because they like/enjoy it.

Oh yes, the practice being miserable tactic. People used to tell me this when we home educated, "They might as well get used to getting up early and doing pointless stuff, they will have to do it eventually." Funnily enough when they were older they seemed to adapt to this quite quickly. I suppose it was what Victorians said when they put kids up chimneys.

The funny thing is home educated children don't need to learn this, they learn to love learning and do it because they love it. At our local FE college they welcomed home educated teenagers onto A level courses with no GCSEs as they had such a good reputation as keen and self motivated students. When I look back I regret giving in and sending mine to school at 9 and 8. My older two went to school did the conventional route and it is as different as different can be. When my two started school they found some things baffling; only playing with your peer group, at home ed groups the 14 year old would happily play with the 4 year old, some things being boy things and some girl things - that totally lost them, doing things for a star instead of for the satisfaction of doing it. Children who were taken out of school took a while to adjust, it was harder for them to become self motivated than for kids who had never been to school.

Look at the study someone posted earlier, repeated studies suggest there is no benefit in homework at primary school level. It is different when they are doing GCSEs but at primary school they don't benefit from it, most teachers I know say the same thing, schools do it because parents judge the school if they don't.

mumps

FenellaWitch wrote: »

Were you a teacher Mumps? I only ask because you sound that you are just the kind of person who should be teaching.

No I'm not a teacher but I have home educated two for the first few years instead of school. One of the surprising things about home education is how many teachers have home educated children, in the group I went to there were two children the same age as my daughter who had mum at home with them but dad was a teacher, there were also a couple of older girls whose dad was a head teacher I think, or he might have been a deputy head, at a local grammar school.

I do volunteer in a local school and have a reputation for being very good with reluctant/late readers. It is lovely to see them progress and some of "mine" end up being better readers than the others, I have got to the stage now where the school is confident with what I do and if I want to spend most of the session with someone who has just clicked with reading or who is loving a book they are happy to let me get on with it. The class teachers and I have some interesting chats about what is working and what isn't. It is a lovely thing to get involved with.