The dreaded H word
Jo Hartley explains why she hates homework ... probably more than her son
LIKE millions of families across the country, the postschool routine in our house is the same every night. We discuss the day - OK, so I ask my son how his day was – and he grunts in response, I organise dinner, and then I prepare for battle. Homework battle.
My son’s in Year One and has had homework since Kindy (Prep). He has home readers each night, a weekly maths worksheet, a spelling list and a choice of two additional tasks per week. He also regularly prepares speeches on set topics – all of which require research.
In my eyes that’s a lot of homework. It also leads to a lot of fighting!
He’s never keen on doing it and, to be honest, nor am I. We both mentally add it to our list of chores – for me it’s as enjoyable as scrubbing the loo. I imagine it’s the same for him.
Given this stress, I wonder, is he really getting anything out of it? I don’t personally think so.
The debate around homework for younger children is nothing new. The for and against camps are relatively equal, as is expert opinion. Yet some studies have shown that homework is of little value to primary school children.
A 2015 study published in The American Journal of Family Therapy found that kindergarteners who received 25 minutes of homework per night were more likely to be exposed to family stress.
This was particularly the case for those with parents with limited education, who lacked confidence in their ability to help.
The researchers reported that family fights about homework were 200% more likely when parents didn’t have a university degree.
When children get older
It seems that the negative impacts of homework on children don’t lessen when they get older. Research published in The Journal of Experimental Education in 2013 found students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework are more susceptible to stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance in their lives, and alienation from society.
But not everyone agrees with my viewpoint. Parenting expert, Karen Philip, is an an advocate for education learning at home.
“I believe children do need to extend their school work at home as it allows them more time to learn and obtain individual time allocation from their parents,” Dr Philip says.
“Rather than being 1:20 in a class, a parent can spend quality time teaching their child and supervising their learning. Through this they can also pick up any difficulty the child may be experiencing.”
The other side of the coin
On the flip-side, Dr Philip notes too much homework in primary school can prove detrimental to a child’s learning. She believes that, for this age group, short, interesting homework or single sheets of reiterating the learnings of the day or week are the most beneficial.
Whatever side of the fence you sit on is totally subjective. For me, it’s hard to make the call to “scrap” homework completely when you know the rest of the class is doing it. I don’t want to be branded as “that” mum, or seen to be dismissive about my son’s education.
However, I’d rather my son learnt to associate reading with enjoyment. I’d rather he learnt some maths by helping me cook dinner and measure. And I’d rather his additional tasks were singing along with his favourite tunes, or simply just having fun.
Children have their whole lives ahead of them to learn and most skills are ones that can’t be taught. So, for now, while I don’t feel I can totally ban homework, it won’t be a priority. After all, would anyone really choose to regularly scrub a loo?