homework in year 7

I hated setting homework and never saw the point of it.

I agree, jura, about some competitive parental pressure but I don't think it's many, and when we challenged Minibags's school about homework when she was six (it was only her school "reading book" which she didn't like; she read plenty of other books at home) the HT said it was "school policy". So it looks as if both schools and parents hide behind policy instead of actually thinking about the issue properly.

Sadly, imho- it is the parents who put pressure on primary schools to give homework. not the teachers.

Reported.

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I don't agree with homework either. Children are at school for longer than they need to be anyway, without loading them down with homework as well. They are only children for a few years, let them enjoy their childhood whilst they can.

When DS was in year 6 I was completely oblivious to the fact that he had to finish projects at home (a new one on me as DD had done them in school when we lived in a different area). So it was embarrassing to go into parents' afternoon to be 'told off' because his space project was excellent but only half finished!

However, he had no ambitions to be an astronaut (no head for heights) so what does it matter?
What a lax mother I was!

I have a DGS in year 7 and I'm pretty sure my DD would agree with every word you say Mishap.

Ever tried dealing with a stroppy 10 year old boy who definitely has no intention of doing his homework after you have been at work all day and have two other children's need to take into account? How dare schools impose that sort of misery (yes, it is misery) on families' lives? Disrupted home life is too high a price to pay for what is often a pointless piece of homework set to tick a box rather than enhance learning.

There is plenty of tatting about at school - time that could be better used to get the learning done before going home - and at the same time free the staff up from constant homework marking when they could be using their ingenuity to inspire their pupils' interest in learning, which is I am sure what most teachers would prefer to be doing.

It is fine for those with biddable children who settle down to their homework with a will to approve of homework - but for most families it is not like that at all.

Well - I did say please don't set me off on this subject!

I'm with mishap and thatbags on this - anti school-imposed homework. Stick to their agenda in school time - it's parent/child time at home and children learn by enjoying their leisure, playing games, reading and chatting with parents and socialising. Education goes beyond school hours, teachers do their bit and home life is equally important.

In the main, I agree with thatbags. However, I don't think that some homework in Year 6 is a bad thing to get them into the routine that they will expect in Year 7, although the amount of homework and projects (to be done at home) that my youngest DC had in Year 6 was astonishing. This was over 20 years ago and I did notice a difference between the amount of homework she had compared with the little that the older two DC had at the same age. DD1 had very little as her projects were completed in school time.

However, many parents are not that assertive when dealing with head teachers and would not want their child to be the one singled out for not doing their homework when all others had meekly complied.

We had the same attitude as thatbags to our DC with homework prescribed at senior school - they had to do it and we were there to advise and help if needed - but not to do the homework and assignments for them as I know that many parents did!

She wasn't 'excused'. It wasn't the school's job to excuse. We parents are in charge at home. Besides, she was consolidating what she learned at school all the time, as I explained to the HT, just not doing at home work that was "prescribed" at school.

As for knuckling down, I suspect that kids who have difficulty with that will have difficulty with that whether they are told to do homework from the age of four or fourteen. Attitudes to learning are learned at home too, but if six hours a day schooling isn't enough for a child of primary school age then the schooling isn't doing its job properly.

What made us crossest about the school's attitude was that there was talk of not allowing a child out at play-time but making it "study" if it hadn't done its homework. This at the age of six!! That's idiotic and appalling. How is using study as a punishment going to encourage a child to think positively about studying?

That's interesting, thatbags, but it wouldn't work for all children.

Having been excused, as it were, from doing any homework in primary school I can imagine that some wouldn't take kindly to being expected to knuckle down when they started secondary school.

I do agree with apricot in that it's very difficult for parents who work full-time to spend the time expected by primary schools supervising homework and listening to reading etc., especially when there are two or three children in the family.

Primary school headteacher, that is. Minibags is now at secondary school and she is responsible for doing her homework, not us, though of course we're happy for her to discuss it and to give advice when it is asked for.

We wrote to Minibags's headteacher and said she wasn't going to do school work at home. We pointed out, among other things, that when a child is not in school it is none of the school's business what the child is doing.

Minibags read and wrote things and drew and played at home and with her friends after school, and she talked about what she was doing at school. All that is homework. Schools should lay off the pressure on small kids but they won't until more parents assert their rights as primary (in the sense of first and most important) carers and educators.

Year 7? My grandson had homework from the start of Reception, when he was just 4. It didn't seem to matter whether it got done or not, which was just as well because he was always too tired and his parents who both work full-time rarely had time to help.
Primary schools now demand a load of parental involvement, which is fine for SAHMs but impossible for those who get home at 6.30 every night and have younger children too.

Both GD who's 10 and GS who's 7 have homework. I personally think its too much and it causes worry on occasion. When they visit me they have to do their homework first so they can be free to play without worrying. Luckily it doesn't take too long - usually.

Yr. 7 parents can sometimes be hard to please. They can be quick to complain that there's not enough/too much homework, bright kids are repeating work, discipline is too soft/strict etc., etc.

It all levels out in the end and by yr. 8 the little dears have found their feet and that's when discipline and homework issues are more likely to crop up.

I remembered starting at high school and the work hitting us all like a sledge-hammer!!

When my DC started at senior school they seemed to spend most of the first year re-doing what they had learnt in the final year of junior school. I was told it was to make sure that all pupils were up to the same standard.

My GD is in Year 7 at a comprehensive school. She has an hour and a half's homework every night and a detailed homework timetable.
She gets in at 3.30 and has no problem getting it done.

Thank you. I asked because this 1st half of term she has had just a few sporadic pieces of homework. Perhaps they are bedding them in gently.

I asked about homework for reception children in another thread.

I remember 2+ hours of homework per night from when we started at senior school (what is now called Year 7).

I'm with you on this subject Mishap and granjura.

They do- due to parental pressure and expectations- which is a pity I feel.

They have homework in nursery now, never mind year 7