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Mum's outrage over school's homework for parents: 'They went too far'

By Carolyn Tate|

I'm not a massive fan of homework for primary school kids, but I support it anyway, because it's part of my children's school's expectations.

Every week, I sit with my year 4 daughter and my year 6 son, and go through their homework with them to make sure they understand it and that we have scheduled a little bit each day until it's due the following Wednesday.

But a recent glance at my year 4 daughter's homework had me doing a double-take, when I saw a homework assignment that was designed specifically for parents to do.

This is the moment they went too far.

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Mother helping daughter with homework
'I've got enough going on without having to do my kids' homework too' (Getty)

The note, attached to a story that my daughter had written, told me that she had been studying Roald Dahl this term, and that she had completed the assignment of writing her own chapter of a Roald Dahl book. All okay so far, I think that sounds like a really fun project, and I was eager to read my daughter's chapter.

But here's where it gets weird, the note asked me to go through the homework assignment to offer feedback, and identify language features such as noun groups, adverbs and direct speech.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that something my child should be doing? And shouldn't the teacher be checking it? Is she going to come to my house and cook dinner, perhaps run my kids to their afternoon sports, while I'm doing her job?

I'm sure there are some parents who jumped into this homework with gusto จC the same parents who frequent Spotlight in the lead-up to Book Week, and plan science fair experiments with/for their children three months in advance จC but I'm not one of them.

I'm the kind of parent who doesn't even scan the weekly email that tells me what my kids are learning in class this week, because I honestly believe it has very little to do with me.

I'm the kind of parent who thinks that my children's school education is between them, their teacher and the education department. I'm here to ensure they're well-fed and rested, love them unconditionally, drive them everywhere they need to go, and teach them all they need to know about life in a non-academic sense.

I've got enough going on without having to do their homework too.

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And I'm lucky enough to have the only barriers being that I'm busy and not that interested in talking about noun groups. I imagine for parents who don't know what they are, for those who may not have a firm grasp on English or grammar, or those who work shifts or have other reasons they may not feel confident helping their children, this could cause a lot of negative feelings, including shame and low self-esteem.

Why would you want to do that to parents who are already working hard enough as it is?

In our case, my daughter was excited that we were going to look at her story, so I took her to a local cafจฆ and we worked through it together. Her chapter was fun, and we pulled it apart to identify all the language features we were asked.

And at the end, where her teacher had left a space on the form asking parents for their feedback on the exercise, I suggested telling her teacher what I really thought of the exercise, but my daughter begged me not to. So I simply wrote that I enjoyed reading my daughter's work, which was true but also an incomplete answer.

My honest feedback is that doing that homework added extra stress and pressure to my already busy week, and I'd rather not have to do it again.

And I don't think I'm the only one.

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