Year 7 - Homework Help

[pheasantchick]

Just curious, how much help are you giving to your new year 7 child?

Are you leaving them to get on with it themselves, or are you guiding and helping them?

Similarly, are you expecting them to get on their books packed themselves, or doing it with them?

[scarlett]

I can't believe we are onto the next stage, PC and onto secondary homework ! My DS hasn't had any homework yet, but we have looked through his text books together and we are planning for him to do his homework at the kitchen table when I'm cooking so he can ask if he needs to and hopefully won't be distracted by other children running in and out of bedrooms ! I think they should really do it themselves but if he is stuck, I suppose give a few pointers or suggest where to look things up . He has been really good at packing his bag himself , but I am checking against his planner once he has gone to bed !

I think his school has done a good job of impressing upon them the importance of independence and having the right books because I've never known him to be so thorough.

[Moonlight]

My son has just finished Year 7 and, for the most part, he was very independent with his homework. (I assume that your post is relating to homework). We were there to help but only when he asked. The teachers would also have a pretty good idea if parents had helped out too much. He also took responsibility for packing his own bag every day and making sure that he had the correct books. We did sometimes have a panic just before leaving the house if he couldn't find what he needed and we would get the blame! I do still ask the obvious - "do you have your bus pass, locker key, phone, money?" because, if not, it would mean a 26 mile round trip for me!

[Guest55]

I think the planners really help you to keep an eye on completion of work. DC's had a due in column so easy to get them to double check.

A timetable on a board near his desk was useful - he then created a list of what 'extra' equipment (other than textbooks) was needed each day:

Monday: indoor PE kit DT (Food Tech)

Tuesday: etc

[pheasantchick]

We've so far had lots of 'covering books' . Urgh!

I didn't mean I would actually do ds's homework, but just encourage him to do it and get into a routine.

[scarlett]

I think a routine is important.I aim to get my DS to do his once he has had a drink/snack after school and then hopefully have finished in an hour or so just in time for dinner and relaxation or scouts etc. I'm also aiming to sit with DS2 in another room to do his 11 plus prep at the same time ....just hoping the dog will entertain DD.....

[scary mum]

Ooh, let's have the book covering thread again - this is more or less where I got properly sucked in this time last year!

When DS went into year 7 last year his school advised that we should help pack their bag for the first half term. I didn't really do that and we did have a few mad dashes to school and a couple of detentions. I only helped with homework when asked. We did find that e stopped writing in the dare due or icing things off when done a few times and he ran into trouble not going his homework once or twice because of that. I'm hoping that this year he will be a bit more organized! I don't remember anyone ever helping me to pack my bag

[mystery]

Nope, I never had help to pack my bag either. But I went to a much smaller school where we kept everything at school. So we only took home what we needed. These days it seems to be the other way round. Everything lives at home and you have to take the right things to school that day, and some schools have things like 13 day timetables so there is never a memorable pattern to the week.

Helping with homework ..... well if the school or teacher is thorough it shouldn't be necessary. But if not, then maybe. It's easier to keep a secret eye on what is going at secondary as you can look through their exercise books etc while they are asleep. If they seem to be getting away with rubbish then you can do something about it yourself.

[pheasantchick]

oops, I misread that last sentance as 'you can always do it yourself'!

Then I re-read it!

[mystery]

LOL!! Not a bad plan, particularly with the colouring-in they occasionally seem to get at grammar school.