Homework

Eleven Plus (11+) in Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Wrekin

Moderators: Section Moderators, Forum Moderators

11 Plus Platform - Online Practice Makes Perfect - Try Now
za1
Posts: 167
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:07 pm

Homework

Post by za1 »

Second week at grammar school....how are your kids adapting to the regular drips of homework every night?

The main thing I'm trying to convince my son to adapt to is a regular routine.

That means :

- start his homework at4:45pm and try and aim to finish by 6:15.
- then get all his stuff ready for the next day.

So far he's sticking to it. The Year 7 head told me that sticking to a regime like this helps kids settle better and cope with homework easier.

Anyone else doing the same? How long does your kid spend on homework each night? I think 1.5 hours seems fair ? I was wondering if anyone is getting homework that needs a lot more then 1.5 hours.
mike1880
Posts: 2563
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Post by mike1880 »

Like you, we're building a routine - drink and snack when he gets home, then homework, then pack bag for morning.

No major issues yet apart from failing to write down what he needed to do for one piece (he's done it but I haven't a clue whether what he's done bears any relation to what was asked for!). He seems to be adapting much better than we expected, he does most of it the same night without any prodding, and when he carries anything over he seems to be making sensible decisions. I don't think it's taken as much as an hour and a half yet, other than when some sort of creative writing element is involved when we might get an hour of angst and tantrums beforehand. They're only supposed to get about an hour most nights but as the volume builds up and he gets more idea of what sort of quality is expected (assuming he takes any notice) then I imagine it will take longer.

I'm keen to avoid him having a huge backlog to clear at weekends but that will mean winning an argument with his mother about letting him have Friday night off...

Mike
za1
Posts: 167
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:07 pm

Homework

Post by za1 »

Same situation here. The longer pieces of homework are those which involve a piece of writing - these mean thinking time/doing a plan etc.

He's quite keen to get each nights homework out of the way at the moment - this may change as the work gets more complex.

Also, he likes the idea of a full weekend off - so he's keen on getting it done and dusted on Friday nights.

Hopefully, he'll get used to the regime and do it without any prodding. It's easy to see how things can get out of hand .....just needs you to miss one night's homework and the workload can build up big time.
clarendon
Posts: 253
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:15 pm
Location: Birmingham

Post by clarendon »

Hi,

Your Camp Hill boys sem to have a heavy schedule already or is my d not telling me something? So far her homework has been very straightforward... copying out a French conversation, making a diagram encompassing the major religions of the world etc. She also comes in from school and gets on with it after drink and snack.
The exception to the above was last night, when at 8.10pm she says " mum, I don't get this maths homework and it has to be in tomorrow." Well, I didn't get it either and spent most of the night thinking about it!
Was the letters A B C D E all have a value between 0 and 9 and when they are multiplied by 4 the ans is the value given to the letters backwards. So if the no values were 1 2 3 4 5 then x by 4 the ans would be 54321. I'm thinking it's somehow based on the 4x table but still can't crack it.
fm

Post by fm »

The answer is : 21978.

The start is deciding what the A in ABCDE can be. It can only be 1 or 2; otherwise you will get a carry and therefore a longer number.

It has to be 2 because it can't be 1 because you can't have 1 in the units place of the answer because you are multiplying by 4 and you will therefore end up with an even number.

Once you know it is 2, you can assume A is 8(that's based on no carry). If there is no carry, then B must be 1 otherwise you would get a carry to the fifth column.

Once you know the 2 column answer is 1, you can say to yourself what times 4 plus the 3 you carried (from 4 x 8) makes an answer with 1 in the units. That's going to be 7.

And so on and so on.

Oddly enough this is something like I set my 11 plus kids--not that any every get it but it makes their parents think!


On the subject of homework, my experience has been with girls and basically it can last as long as they are willing to put in. My eldest never seemed to have more than 1 hour at Five Ways after the first year. Why--because she only ever did enough on anything for it to be acceptable as opposed to commendable. This behaviour is probably slightly unusual with girls but probably fairly commonplace with a lot of boys.
mike1880
Posts: 2563
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Post by mike1880 »

Your Camp Hill boys sem to have a heavy schedule already or is my d not telling me something? So far her homework has been very straightforward...
Oh, it's not that bad. An average of a little over one piece per day so far I think, and not very demanding yet - cover French exercise book with collage and plastic, write a couple of paras on own religious beliefs, that sort of thing. Last night's Maths was about a dozen questions of number series at about 11+ level (but he needed a bit of hand holding after about 4 or 5 months without doing any maths at all).

I think we're likely to get 2+ pieces per day this week; it's supposed to build up eventually to 3 pieces a day (about 1 hour), occasionally 4.

We're very surprised by the volume of work he's doing for homework without any prompting on our part - he's writing a lot more than he ever would have done at primary. Hopefully he will also generate the quality... :wink:

Mike
za1
Posts: 167
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:07 pm

Homework

Post by za1 »

Mike - good to see the consistency in the homework across the different forms.
Last night - son had the same maths as your lad. He also had to write a short paragragh each on Abraham, Sarah and Lots feelings before leaving for Canaan.

As Mike has mentioned, the homework so far has been easy. I'm sure it will get harder. they have said that each piece shouldn't take more then half hour.

Touch wood - he's keeping up so far. He writes like a GP on steroids normally - but so far I can read his writing - it's actually pretty neat.
mike1880
Posts: 2563
Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2008 10:51 pm

Post by mike1880 »

I don't think I'd describe ours as neat, and certainly not pretty, but it's probably better than it used to be. Main problem I think is his brain's working faster than he can write so his spelling has gone downhill and he keeps missing words out.

Abraham et al have been held over until later in the week, I suspect the strain of having to write about someone's feelings is a problem...

Mike
serialtester
Posts: 123
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:36 pm

Post by serialtester »

Daughter number 2 is excited at having 'proper' homework and has been very diligent.

This has long worn off in daughter number 1 :D

We have dinner at 6 in our house and I encourage the kids to have their homework completed before we eat, then they can just relax - or spend a couple of hours bickering and winding each other up before bed!

Clarendon, has your DD done 'the trip' yet? Mine is in the second group... she's not terribly excited about it to be honest! I think after the first week she now appreciates the value of a quiet/relaxing weekend!!
clarendon
Posts: 253
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2008 6:15 pm
Location: Birmingham

Post by clarendon »

Thanks fm for posting the calculation. I'll explain to my daughter after school.
Serialtester, my daughter is going to Bockleton on 25th. She hasn't really talked much about it but was "up for it" right from the start as she is very active, sporty. She's settled in really well at the school and is loving it. Hope it's the same for yours.

Re the evenings.. sounds just like our house.. the squabbling, I mean! However, now she's left the primary she likes to get all the gossip from her brother and as they have the same yr 6 teacher she likes to inform him on a daily basis what to expect and the routines etc. He seems to be enjoying the independence from big sis tho'!
Post Reply