I agree, primary school,children have way too much homework. My kids had too much, and that was a while ago. I never had homework in primary school. School work for school and home time is for home things

I have always been the odd parent at school who loves homework for the children. My youngest often has no homework at all as she would have finished all her work at school. She does her own extra work when she is home. When my children were younger, they used to absolutely love their reading homework. My other children would listen to the reading as they were interested in the story as well. It was a good bonding time too, I reckon.

Homework should consist of a reader & some list words. Sometimes I think an excess of homework is a reflection of a time poor teacher who hasn’t managed to teach what was required during the lesson.

it’s not just primary school, kids need to be active so they have their sports they do which means training during the week my son just started high school he has been bombarded with homework he’s lugging his heavy bag with all his books as every teacher sets homework for each subject.They have all day at school to teach kids i believe homework should be once or twice a week, kids need rest and to spend time with family not rush around trying to finish everything quickly so they can get back to their homework to have it done.I get very frustrated when you say this to teachers and they reply that they should only have the double subjects of that day for homework,it;s not true,i believe teachers need to discuss who gives homework when and what week.

I ended up speaking to my daughters teachers and telling them that with 2 working parents and their after school sports or music lessons it was too much and we were not getting enough quality time with the kids. I asked if they could have the weekend to complete and hand in on Monday and they were fine with it. So now its just the basics during the week, maths and spelling and the rest they do over the weekend.

Love the very first comment by mom93821.
Also if you have not already spoken to the teacher/school I consider it.

My daughter received a lot of homework…20mins reading, spelling, maths, tables. The maths took so long as did the spelling (each night they had to be written a different way) that it would take her over an hour and that didn’t include reading. When I told the teach this at interviews she was concerned and told me she hated giving homework. She only wanted them to have reading.
My son loves his homework for prep but it is no way near as much as my daughters.
My kids change schools this coming term, so it will be interesting to see how much homework they will receive at their new school.

It gets a lot worse in high school with revision for tests, assignments, as well as general work set each day.

I know children get more homework as they step up in years. I agree it should be revision not what some private schools do. Even in Year 2, one private school I know of gives the children a list of options for the term, many aren’t related to the school work they are doing that year. One item was cooking something with parental supervision. They hand their books in on Fridays, therefore they don’t get them back until Mon. The only things they seemed to be given that year they were learning in class was reading and spelling.

In High school,especially in year 8 and 9 I think they should have homework for one subject each night, not 2 or 3 so they can dedicate their time and thoughts to one. If a pupil wants to spend some time on another subject that is their choice.

I used to be the same however my son has learning difficulties and now in grade 5. His in an ipad class this year and has started to flourish, I truly beleive that it’s been the help of these past few years with all the homework being pushed on him. I work 12 hour shifts Monday-Wednesday so normally dont get much time to help him at the start of the week but have 4 days to help before it’s due back on Monday. He does about 15 mins reading each night plus about an hours worth of homework all up throughout thoose 4 days

To be honest I like that my son who is in prep gets homework. In most cases its just reading or going through his word list but once a week he needs to complete a page in his letter scrapbook for the letter they are learning that week. It gives as time together to focus on one thing and it re-enforces what he’s learning at school. He actually gets excited about looking for pictures of objects that begin with a particular letter.

I found my kids don’t enjoy it when the books areas boring .15 Mins each night is not that much as it preps them for high school later on and they won’t struggle as much . In some years they were able to choose their own novels so maybe that could be part of the problem for motivation as well. Even though you think they are not academic , there are other ways to motivate and they even now have PE theory classes . So much of the school work as changed over the year due to technology , knowledge etc. At the end of the day they still must pass their exams so it is better to prepare them now then later .

my kids are in prep and grade 2. The only homwork the prep kid gets is reading. But with the grade 2 he gets mainly reading to do but due to the amount of appointments he has ( at least one a week on average). I Have asked the teacher to send work home if its important to him not falling behind. Usually they send home a maths sheet which he can do himself sometimes with a little explaining from me. But i am happy for this to happen so he doesnt fall behind. Lucky for me i am a stay at home mum so i have the time on my hands. Its a good idea to give the kids a little break from homework if they do it every other night..It sounds like a reward for been good..

I am not quite at school mum stage but speaking from my school experiences I actually enjoyed homework and feel it really helped me with my future studies and even now in the workforce.

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  • • mom165081 replied
    • 28 Feb 2016 , 12:38 pm

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  Not everyone is academic and it’s hard when the school recommends say 15min each night, but in reality for many that “15min” takes many times longer.

The research over the decades is pretty clear on this – homework does not help academic achievement.

I really hate it when the homework is new to them and I’m expected to teach it. Revision is ok, but teaching?

I don’t think that’s an unreasonable ask. I see many University students fail because they are not used to studying outside of the classroom therefore if they don’t get used to it early on they are being set up for failure later in life.

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  • • mom93821 replied
    • 29 Feb 2016 , 8:48 pm

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  Setting a study/homework pattern early on is a good habit.

Reading every night is a good habit for the children and good wind down and relax time. Homework is done for revision and getting the children to set up a timetable does help. Reward charts for getting homework done is a great motivator. They will have lots of homework as they get older and establishing good homework habits at a young age does help. Good Luck!