Starting in year 8 experiences

[loobylou]

Dd had around 1.5 hours most nights by the end of year 7. So far in year 8 it seems to be between 1.5 and 2 hours. I'm expecting it to settle down a bit though.

[Eccentric]

Gosh that seems alot. My DC doesn't ever have an hour and a half of homework. How are they supposed to fit in extra-curricular activities?

That's what I thought. Not sure how she is going to manage on her music lesson night.

I think there should be 2 pieces of 40 mins Every evening but there is an extra art/tech on alternate weeks so in 10 pieces a week. We aren't sure which ones can be carried over to the weekend yet. Last night was Art night

Dd is meticulous and likes to do everything to a very high standard which doesn't help. Things like maths don't cause a problem because she is quick, but open ended tasks and artwork can be a nightmare as she feels that she has to produce a GCSE standard essay or a masterpiece on every occasion.

[Tolstoy]

Do they have 'show my homework'? At DSs school they can look on it and it tells them what homework has been set and when it is due in etc. Makes organisation much easier as they know what can be left for the weekend.

[Eccentric]

Do they have 'show my homework'? At DSs school they can look on it and it tells them what homework has been set and when it is due in etc. Makes organisation much easier as they know what can be left for the weekend.

I don't think so. We have been given a homework timetable which gives the days that the homework is set but not the days it has to be handed in.

[Tolstoy]

I would suggest DD asks about completion dates. I know my DC wouldn't be able to sustain that level of work during the week. They need time for hobbies, to eat, family time ( well in y8 at least) and also time to socialise ( trying to convince myself that chatting to friends via Skype whilst playing computer games does count as socialising )

Mind you they are most definitely not meticulous so could probably whittle down 2 hours set homework to 1

[Yamin151]

Dd had around 1.5 hours most nights by the end of year 7. So far in year 8 it seems to be between 1.5 and 2 hours. I'm expecting it to settle down a bit though.

I heard all that, but both my boys got excellent reports and rarely did that much.
They are not prodigies but they did 'get on with it' - I do sometimes wonder if, particularly in Y7, its about being more 'efficient' with your homework and getting used to getting on with it and not rolling around on one buttock (as we say in our house) contemplating life and not actually working. Once they begin working its rarely more than 45 mins to an hour and as I said, their reports were excellent - and they are just bright and ordinary hard working boys, not prodigies.

[ToadMum]

Completion dates for homework for our DC are usually 'next lesson' unless specifically told otherwise. Certainly at DS2's school, they are told (in year 7 at least, possibly they are just expected to carry on with the habit in later years) to write down when something is due as well as what it is.

Not all schools - even grammar schools - set the same amount of homework, obviously, but possibly for some, 'more than they would like' is the trade off for going to a more academically-focused school? I think that if ours repeatedly said that they had no or very little homework, I would be checking what they were actually covering in class.

Eccentric, can your DD get some of her homework done in the library at lunchtime on days when she doesn't go to a club, or go to homework club after school if they have one (which has the advantage of separating 'school' from 'home' activities, so to speak)?

[loobylou]

Dd had around 1.5 hours most nights by the end of year 7. So far in year 8 it seems to be between 1.5 and 2 hours. I'm expecting it to settle down a bit though.

I heard all that, but both my boys got excellent reports and rarely did that much.
They are not prodigies but they did 'get on with it' - I do sometimes wonder if, particularly in Y7, its about being more 'efficient' with your homework and getting used to getting on with it and not rolling around on one buttock (as we say in our house) contemplating life and not actually working. Once they begin working its rarely more than 45 mins to an hour and as I said, their reports were excellent - and they are just bright and ordinary hard working boys, not prodigies.

Yes and to be fair my dd seems to do less than most other girls we know (but more than the boys ) but I put that down to her doing her homework downstairs in our kitchen where there is less incentive to navel-gaze/text/whatever first. I think though she is too much of a perfectionist. Maths is quick and easy but History or English can be several pages of essay for her and Art takes hours. But if we try and point out that there is no point in writing that much she just says she wants to and she never complains. It worries dh though because he's a teacher and he thinks if she spends this much time on year 7/8 essays she's just going to get worse as she gets older... At the moment she wants to impress her new teachers hence spending more time / effort than is maybe warranted. For example History this week was "find a fact about King XX that I don't know" so a potential 3 minute homework - but she spent a while researching multiple facts because "how do I know which of these the teacher won't know?"!

[Tolstoy]

Does the ' I ' refer to the teacher as if so that would surely be way to open ended as your daughter right,y points out. Or does it mean the DC is supposed to find out something extra over and above what they themselves already know.

Always get confused by those types of question. Think DS mentioned something similar recently. He did take minutes but I suggested it was designed to get him to do a little more research.

[Eccentric]

Dd had around 1.5 hours most nights by the end of year 7. So far in year 8 it seems to be between 1.5 and 2 hours. I'm expecting it to settle down a bit though.

I heard all that, but both my boys got excellent reports and rarely did that much.
They are not prodigies but they did 'get on with it' - I do sometimes wonder if, particularly in Y7, its about being more 'efficient' with your homework and getting used to getting on with it and not rolling around on one buttock (as we say in our house) contemplating life and not actually working. Once they begin working its rarely more than 45 mins to an hour and as I said, their reports were excellent - and they are just bright and ordinary hard working boys, not prodigies.

Yes and to be fair my dd seems to do less than most other girls we know (but more than the boys ) but I put that down to her doing her homework downstairs in our kitchen where there is less incentive to navel-gaze/text/whatever first. I think though she is too much of a perfectionist. Maths is quick and easy but History or English can be several pages of essay for her and Art takes hours. But if we try and point out that there is no point in writing that much she just says she wants to and she never complains. It worries dh though because he's a teacher and he thinks if she spends this much time on year 7/8 essays she's just going to get worse as she gets older... At the moment she wants to impress her new teachers hence spending more time / effort than is maybe warranted. For example History this week was "find a fact about King XX that I don't know" so a potential 3 minute homework - but she spent a while researching multiple facts because "how do I know which of these the teacher won't know?"!

your Dd sounds just like mine. She has no problem with the homework. It's me that does I am like your Dh and think she should pace herself.