Homework for 5 year olds

mumps

missbiggles1 wrote: »

I first read that as "age 3"!:eek:

How awful would that be. I bet there is an academic prep school out there that isn't far off. I have a friend who teaches in a very pushy prep school in London and does some tutoring, some of those kids are doing a full day at school and then 3 hours tutoring at night and then their homework. She got into big trouble one day for letting an exhausted 7 year old sleep, he had put his head down on his desk and gone fast asleep and she left him.

Imagine paying the fees for a London prep school and then 15 hrs a week tutoring, I think she gets between £40 and £50 an hour. One family she was working with wanted Saturday mornings as well. She will only do an hour a night as she feels more than that is too much. Her last session finishes at 8 pm.

Just edited to say I think it is a preprep school, I never got my head round the private system.

Mrs_pbradley936

There seems to be an assumption that all children are equally capable. They are not. Some will struggle academically while others sail along able to tackle whatever they are given. The vast majority will be average and there is nothing wrong with being average. Well that was in the days when "average" meant that someone would get a grade C after 2 years of study in a given subject.

If you think in terms of average height or average weight people are happy to be described thus. Few want to stray far from average, normal, ordinary when in comes to height and weight but for some reason we want all children to excel at school work. No idea why, having a degree in maths or science does not make you "better" and contrary to belief it does not guarantee a high paying job!

FenellaWitch

Mumps,
Those poor kids doing so many hours of school work- it's verging on cruelty! Let children be children , there is more to life than academia and as MrspBradley rightly says , not everyone will excel at everything .

Kit1

LilElvis wrote: »

How they are taught in primary school has changed immeasurably. My mother taught this age group for over 40 years, retiring a little over a decade ago, and even the way they teach reading is completely different. She reads with her grandchildren, but doesn't try to teach as the "method" has changed so much. I bet you don't know what a "split diagraph" is. I certainly didn't until I got thrown in at the deep end with phonics, yet my 5 year old happily points them out as she reads her books with me. It's a whole new world!

It's what most of us used to called magic e :T where the vowel sound is split (magic e is no longer taught in school) but first they have to learn the phonic sound for each letter then the digraph followed by trigraphs.

Jagraf

Part of the problem is that some parents don't have guidance on how to tackle homework in a playful way (our year one teacher was brilliant and used to give ideas on how to help) Lots of homework can be structured in a way that the child is actually playing while they learn, eg, throwing a ball while learning mental maths. It just means a parent needs to be with them.

My daughter used to learn counting and reading at nursery (and brought 'work' home, way before she started formal school. I don't remember it ever being stressful or tiring it was just moulded into the evening. Better than three year olds playing games on a screen on their own imo.

mumps

Jagraf wrote: »

Part of the problem is that some parents don't have guidance on how to tackle homework in a playful way. Lots of homework can be structured in a way that the child is actually playing while they learn, eg, throwing a ball while learning mental maths. It just means a parent needs to be with them.

My daughter used to learn counting and reading at nursery (and brought 'work' home, way before she started formal school. I don't remember it ever being stressful or tiring it was just moulded into the evening. Better than three year olds playing games on a screen on their own imo.

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

Jagraf

mumps wrote: »

How awful would that be. I bet there is an academic prep school out there that isn't far off. I have a friend who teaches in a very pushy prep school in London and does some tutoring, some of those kids are doing a full day at school and then 3 hours tutoring at night and then their homework. She got into big trouble one day for letting an exhausted 7 year old sleep, he had put his head down on his desk and gone fast asleep and she left him.

Imagine paying the fees for a London prep school and then 15 hrs a week tutoring, I think she gets between £40 and £50 an hour. One family she was working with wanted Saturday mornings as well. She will only do an hour a night as she feels more than that is too much. Her last session finishes at 8 pm.

Just edited to say I think it is a preprep school, I never got my head round the private system.

A full day at private school is usually til at least 4pm, then 3 hours tutoring, then homework - for a 7 year old - blimey no wonder they fall asleep! I'm surprised they learn anything from the tutor at all. :eek:

Jagraf

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.

Sorry I was talking about a 5 year olds homework. Do five year olds have 120 maths questions on a sheet per night? I could make twenty questions fun for a five year old, usually it involved food.

mumps

Jagraf wrote: »

Sorry I was talking about a 5 year olds homework. Do five year okds have 120 maths questions on a sheet per night? I could make twenty questions fun for a five year old.

Well I have to motivate an 8 year old to do 120 so your tips might be usefully adapted. I would really like to hear them.

Jagraf

mumps wrote: »

Well I have to motivate an 8 year old to do 120 so your tips might be usefully adapted. I would really like to hear them.

No idea sorry. Sounds really boring.