11 Plus Exams Forum

My ds is starting at Wilmington in September, and I was shocked to see they get an hour and half of homework every night!! Is this actually true in practice, and if so how do your ds's cope? TIA

I am from Surrey, but that was a message which headmistress of WSG repeated - up to 3,4 homeworks per night.
So - for kids with a bit of practice from primary school it may be a bit of a shock (my dd may have 2 a night now), but for those not used to such regime it is a very BIG change to adjust to.
I believe that the best policy is to do homework on the night when it has been given.
If you enforce this good practice there's smaller chance of forgetting or having a mountain of them on the night when your child has got extra activities.
I think that within a term they are able to pick up this new habit of a lifetime

My own experience with DD has been - yes we were told approx 3 pieces at 20 mins each, sometimes more, sometimes less. However in theory, some teachers only give a small amount on occasions, or they can finish their class work at school during lunch etc...and it frees them up in the evening.
Project work is always undertaken by DD at the weekend. Everything else I agree with isamum, get them into the habit of doing STRAIGHTAWAY when in (after quick drink and snack anyway). My dd prefers this as she has the rest of the evening to relax once finished.
Lastly, Dont Worry - kids are amazing, they just take it all in their stride.

I like this idea of doing it STRAIGHTAWAY - again getting that as a new habit.
Projects at weekend is a good pattern to intorduce.
Thanks medwaymum

It definitely is better doing straightaway. My dd is often on msn chatting to friends at the weekend and they are bogged down with homework (not sure why the on msn then ) because they leave it to pile up. I'm sure they are not doing themselves justice and doing their best work by this method. I had a couple of groans in first term 'oh can i just do this first before homework...' but now dd does not need reminding, she can't wait to do it so she is free as a bird the rest of the evening!

My son now in Yr 9 took a bit of persuading to do it on the night virtually as soon as he got home. After a few weeks he got in the habit and now does it without being asked which makes home life SOOOOO much nicer for us all!!! Even on a Friday he gets on with it and so has the rest of the weekend to relax and play all those sports!

Thanks all - I am glad to hear they get used to it eventually!!! Deffo think straightaway is the way to go, convincing ds of that, however, may take some doing!!!

I found that making sure homework was done BEFORE any TV, computer etc ensured that it was done very efficiently! I sometimes wondered if this meant DS was rushing but he is doing well. Obviously there have been times (tho' not many) when he has struggled to finish that night, but atleast if most is done then only a bit of finishing off to do