witsend Report post Posted October 8, 2006 Hi - my son started high school this sept. It is an independant special school and there are allsorts of things I will prob need to post about to do with this, but for now just wanted to run this by you, before I go to parents evening tommorow night and say my piece! Thing is he gets loads of homework, well I think it's loads. It's usually 20 spellings, 3 chapters of reading (goosebumps books), 3 sheets of maths (each with 20 questions), and a couple of pages of writing (literacy)! It is a total nightmare sort of low key misery punctuated with volatile outbursts for over an hour every night! I can't give younger son any time due to doing the homeworjk with older son, there's no way he could or would tackle it alone! And despite my best efforts I end up getting really fed up frustrated and angry with sons lack of effort which of course is counter productive and makes the whole thing take longer anyway. My son said he'd asked for more homework to proove he's not stupid!! But I'm not sure if this is true. Because the school is miles away and he travels there by taxi I don't get to see the teacher daily, but it is parents evening tomorrow and I just wanted to see if anyone else thinks this is a lot or wether it is normal homework amount for an 11 yr old? Thanks Witsend. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Canopus Report post Posted October 8, 2006 There is an old saying that quality is better than quantity, and this certainly applies to homework. From the description you have given, the quantity seems quite high for an 11 year old and that isn't including other subjects you haven't listed. The crucial question is how much your son learns from his homework which is an indication of the quality of material. Officially homework is supposed to be a learning exercise but some teachers have a habit of setting work just to meet quotas for homework quantity or give kids something to do. Independent schools tend to give more homework than mainstream schools. My brother went to an indepedent school and complained about the quantity of homework and that about half of it verged on pointless tasks or repeated duplication of other work. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nellie Report post Posted October 8, 2006 Hi Witsend, This is a common problem and has been discussed at length on the forum. A couple of topics which include some information from professionals, hopefully this well help you. Homework nightmare, any advice please http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...;hl=rita+jordan Homework again aaaaahhhhhhh http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/index.ph...ork+rita+jordan Good luck Nellie xx Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jericho Report post Posted October 8, 2006 My two boys are a lot younget so no real experience but that sounds like a heck of a lot of homework for an 11yr-old. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted October 8, 2006 (edited) Hi Witsend, My son went to an independent residential special school for AS. The policy there was that they did all their work in class, there wasn't 'homework' as such. There was a 30 minute or so slot at the end of the day to finish any work that hadn't been completed in class. The school recognised the difficulties our kids have with the concept of 'homework'...as my son used to say, 'School work is for school, home is for home stuff'!! Incidentally, the school also kept all the pencils, pens, rulers, etc, in each class room...which for me was fantastic, because at mainstream school my son lost all his equipment as soon as I replaced it! Bid Edited October 8, 2006 by bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bagpuss Report post Posted October 8, 2006 Sounds abit excessive to me. Our youngest dd (6) gets a reading book each night. Our eldest dd (9) has maths/english homework sheet on a Friday, and a book to read as and when she finds time...ie maybe half hour a night. My ds (12) has homework most evenings, but doesn't take a great deal of time and seems to be one subject, possibly two at a push. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
witsend Report post Posted October 9, 2006 Hi and thanks for the replies - went to parents evening tonight and asked about the homework, the teacher said all the kids in her class get that much. She recommends they spend about an hour on homework then if they want to do more if there's more to do fine if not then that's also fine. So that's that sorted, always a relief when it works out that simply eh? Luv Witsend. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LKS Report post Posted October 10, 2006 Hi Witsend. I hate homework I am more involved with homework now because of my 2 youngest, than I ever was myself at school! My ds is in yr 8 now and all the kids have a homework timetable. It is supposed to be 20 mins per subject, usually it is 3 a night sometimes 4. I was told by the senco to make a note of the time he starts and then allow him the set time. If he hasn't finished I make a note. She said at least the teachers would be satisfied he had made an attempt. Unfortunately she didn't seem to share her idea with most of the teachers who continued to issue him with detentions for failure to complete homework Message seems to be filtering through now As has been said on many other posts we are not there to enforce the homework at home, I for one am sick and tired of having most nights ruined by what is sometimes pointless homework. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LittleRae Report post Posted October 10, 2006 Have to applaud D's teacher this year. In her words she's 'not hung up on homework' I've often written notes in his journal to explain that he had spent the required 90 minutes but had only had time to complete half the work. Once I asked him what comment she had made: 'nice handwriting D!' lol And during the regular Friday tests, he often only gets half the maths done. Instead of like last year, when he'd get 10/20 done and get 50%, this year's teacher marks him 10/10. Now that's the attitude I like! A Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DaisyProudfoot Report post Posted October 11, 2006 Martin's teacher's fairly good on homework too. They get about four pieces a week but nothing at the weekend because she believes "weekends are for spending time with your family not doing homework" Still get all the usual wingeing over homework anyway. He got a computer ban the other day for making us late for school and his compromise was: "if I do my homework tonight can you lift the computer ban?" Well he tried ...... I did lift it for tidying his room though - looks lovely although I haven't looked under the bed Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
col Report post Posted October 11, 2006 This is a bug bear of mine. Thankfully (touch wood) those days are now over. DD7 old school used to send HW that wasn't modified, even tho they say it was. And it a bone of anger at her review in June. As i used to tell her old school repeatedly it was too much, too hard etc but they just woulodn't listen and at the review, tried to blame me for not getting it done. The LEA was there and she wasn't happy and told me later it was lucky that we were moving on otherwise they would of had to intervene. She has so far this term at her new school, gets a reading book and has had her second piece of numeracy work. (Working within numbers of 10) Last school she had to do a task. That was, constantly adding numbers together to try and get 50.(example that sticks out most in my mind) One lot of literacy, and that was to split words in to 2 different caterogys. Not the write a letter. Or plan a trip to mexico. Where would you visit, what's the weather like. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
