The homework conversation | Mum In The Madhouse

The homework conversation

Tuesday evening is parents evening for the boys and I am going to have to have THAT conversation about homework again.  What conversation are you thinking…. Well at five and six, I just do not see the need for my boys to do homework.

I want my children to learn by play, not to be forced to do homework unwilling.  When you look back to your childhood, can you remember doing homework at Primary school?  I cannot.  Homework was something that happened to me in Senior school and I am keen to keep my boys childhoods just that, childhoods.  I do not feel the need to hot house them, or to force them to learn unless they are falling behind their peers.

 

My boys spend all day at school and when they come home I would rather use this time with them to play, go to the park, read books, have baths and have family time together.  I love the fact that we can go to the park or walk in the woods if the weather is good and that they can go out and play independently.  They learn more spending time as a family, than they do from forced and uninteresting homework.  My boys cook with me, where we discuss measurements, where food comes from and they are dab hands at measuring and mixing Yorkshire Pudding batter.  They are learning life skills and making memories  just by playing and spending time with their me.

Last year Maxi’s class had to make a castle and he felt under pressure to comply (as he is my eager to please child), so he made it on his own pretty much, but many of the children went to school with very impressive castles even some made out of wood, which no five year old would be capable of on their own. Who was this homework for, me or Maxi?

Surely we should make the most of the precious after school time with our children, we should have fun rather than join the hoards of comparative parents trying to turn their children in to over achievers.  The UK has one of the earliest start in to mainstream education unlike Finland where children do not start till they are seven.  Reading Heather’s account of the Finnish schooling system had me wanting to pack my thermals and relocate.

What is your stance on homework?

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