How much homework should my child do?

Homework flows in from every side – from teachers, from tutors, & perhaps from you. But how much is healthy?

Too much homework!
Robert Lomax
Robert is a teacher and educational author. His books and online materials are popular in the UK and internationally. For a full biography, click here.

A s a tutor, I find homework a difficult thing to get right. It is easy to set: a minute later I close the door behind me and step into the street with my mind already full of plans for the evening. But the child is left with another burden on their time, already sliced and diced by the demands of school teachers – not to mention parents, some of whom will be setting extra work of their own. As an author of academic materials for young people, I am part of this problem too.

As a child, I skipped almost all my homework because I regarded it as a pointless waste of time. Now some parents are actively encouraging their children to do this.

Nevertheless, homework is important:

No skill is truly learned until it has been repeated correctly without the support of a teacher. Even the presence of an adult in the room can sometimes impede this, because it is only when a young person has no choice but to find their own solution to a problem that they truly grasp hold of it: this is when their mind takes possession of the ideas and makes them its own.

A teacher’s most valuable role is to take work which a child has completed independently – which they have already reviewed and improved to the best of their ability – and criticise it, ideally with the student present, but potentially with careful, intelligent marking. This way the child adds new thoughts to their own bank of creative and editorial instincts. The accumulated effect of a good education is to have an enormous collection of mental post-it notes: ‘Don’t do that!’ ‘More of this.’ ‘Tone that down.’ ‘Step back and think!’ ‘Look out for alternatives here.’ ‘Is this ambiguous?’ ‘Where’s the evidence?’ ‘Have you actually proved this?’ … and so on, ad infinitum. Some of these thoughts will be the child’s own, but a huge proportion will be comments from good teachers which have been so well assimilated that they are not somebody else’s ideas any more … the student has made them theirs. This is at the heart of all proper education, and it is not possible without independent work. (It is also why I despair at the superficial marking carried out by some school teachers.)

Homework is essential for the reasons above – and others too, such as that longer tasks, which are necessary for the proper exploration of an idea, simply cannot be completed during a single lesson, and will lose focus if they are spread out over weeks.

Yet homework can be damaging. Children need time in which to play, explore the world and build relationships. Moreover, if work becomes a never-ending burden – a to-do list which is never cleared – it can create a loathing for academic study which spoils and limits a person’s life.

In the light of all this, here are some thoughts about managing your child’s homework:

For the reasons given in the first bullet point above, it is rarely a good idea for parents to help with homework. Invent a similar question to discuss, by all means – but steer clear of the homework questions themselves, which a child must confront alone.

Homework should be useful. If teachers or tutors set pointless homework which wastes time, your child should complete it as a matter of courtesy; but you would do well to discuss it with the teacher and ask them to avoid it in the future. I have set my share of pointless tasks, and I regret it. History homework should not involve making ‘Wanted’ posters for Guy Fawkes. Sometimes these activities are set because a class is in between topics, not yet ready for the next essay: but school policy tells the teacher to set work that night. School management should instead encourage teachers to skip homeworks when there is nothing worth setting. Children’s time is as valuable as any adult’s.

Avoid offering rewards for homework, but do give praise. On the other hand try not to pressurise a child (this is, of course, much easier said than done). They need to feel that homework is a matter of course, a natural expectation. If the TV is on next door, or somebody is playing computer games loudly down the hall, this doesn’t help either. If this can be a time when you sit down to deal with your paperwork or emails, for example, so much the better: you child will feel that they are sharing in an adult activity.

With regards to work that you yourself set your child, adapt your timing to their concentration. Try to ‘call it a day’ when they are still alert, rather than waiting till they are too tired to continue: otherwise they will learn to associate work with exhaustion and frustration.

Don’t set extra work every day, even before exams. Give children plenty of time off.

Encourage them to review their previous work before beginning something new. Always give full time to discussing and marking. It is better to re-do or correct a problematic answer than to start a new one.

Allow children to work slowly, so long as they are concentrating. Un-rushed attention to detail when practising will eventually lead to accuracy when working fast. On the other hand, most of the work that children do is just a repetition and reinforcement of habitual mistakes, which is worse than pointless. This is a reason to limit the timed practice which children do before exams. Slow and thoughtful past paper work is better.

None of the ideas above are ‘rules’, and each child and each family will find their own way, but I hope there is something here which helps.

If you found this post useful or have a question, please leave a comment below! I’d love to have your feedback. (Tick the “Receive email updates” box to receive an email when I reply.) For the most comprehensive range of resources to help with preparation for the 11+ exam, you might like to try 11 Plus Lifeline (with a money-back guarantee in the first month). Every practice paper has full example solutions, with a detailed discussion and explanation for every question – like being taught by an excellent private tutor. According to Tutorful, it’s “the gold standard for independent and grammar school 11-plus preparation”.
If you’d like further advice about DIY 11-plus preparation, my free video series gives some helpful pointers, and comes with an extensive set of free RSL practice papers, example answers and solutions:

30 Comments

  1. Lana Taylor

    Your comments about homework are very true and a mother of three boys and one girl it’s a balancing act to decide how much/little homework to give them in the summer months. I don’t want them to forget what they have learned over the past term, but I don’t want them to be overloaded as well. I will be trying your sample papers (my kids are 12, 10, 8 and 6 yrs old), so thank you for giving few free taster tasks.

    Reply
    • Robert

      Thank you for taking the time to comment. I’m glad you found the article useful, and I hope my materials are too.

      Reply
  2. Aisha

    Very useful information. I have 2 boys and a girl aged 13, 11, and 8. I wish I had this information earlier as I have some regrets too but I’ve learnt a lot from your article now equipped with lots of good ideas.
    Thanks for you advice.

    Reply
    • Robert

      Hi Aisha. I’m very glad you found the article useful – thank you for commenting.

      I’m sure you have some regrets, because which parent doesn’t? I shouldn’t think that means you have anything to worry about.

      Good luck!

      Reply
    • Chiz

      Thanks. All useful stuff, but it didn’t really answer the question you posed- How much homework should they do?

      Reply
      • Robert

        Well, it depends on a lot of things! The main answer is that the quality is a lot more important than the quantity.

        Reply
  3. N

    This is quite help Robert thank you.

    Reply
    • Robert

      I’m very glad! Thanks.

      Reply
  4. Oby

    This is straight to the point and extremely useful, thank you for sharing this brilliant advice/tips on homework. As a mother, I am always conscious of all the skills and knowledge my daughter has to master or consolidate to stand the best chance at passing 11+, this makes me forget that she is only 10 years old and entitled to enjoy her childhood to the fullest. I feel so guilty for bombarding my daughter with lots of homework; some of them pointless as I am now made to understand. Thank you for exposing the hidden truth and this has made me have a change of attitude. I now understand that my child’s happiness must come first and I will never backtrack on this again. Thank you so much.

    Reply
    • Robert

      I’m glad the article was useful. Of course, good quality homework is very valuable!

      Reply
  5. Julie Wren

    Thanks for your valuable comments regarding homework. As a teacher it is a balancing act – as you don’t want to overburden your students or upset the parents. I have set “Wanted” posters for homework – great if the students enjoy drawing and colouring but I agree somewhat pointless. But we have to conform to the expectations of the school and parents…!

    Reply
    • Robert

      Thanks for an insightful comment. I agree with everything you say. I too set such posters when I was a young teacher, so I speak from experience! The fault was mine, not the school’s.

      It would be nice if schools could trust teachers to skip homework when there isn’t a useful task to be done; but there are obvious problems with this idea, not least the fact that most parents want a predictable weekly work schedule.

      Reply
  6. Serah A

    Good advice tips, really appreciate.

    Reply
  7. Serah A

    So true your comment about homework. Many parents like me needed this admonition to help our children enjoy their educational journey.
    Always appreciate your guidance. Thanks

    Reply
  8. 'Kanmi

    This is indeed very helpful. Thank you

    Reply
    • Robert

      I appreciate your saying so!

      Reply
  9. Ada

    Very helpful and informative article. A lot of parents need this reminder to ensure we are getting the balance right. Thank you

    Reply
    • Robert

      I’m very pleased to hear it. Thanks for commenting, and good luck!
      R

      Reply
  10. Mayuri Harish

    Great article as always. it’s getting very confusing as to how much studies kids should do, now that they are home all day with very little school work happening and parents feeling like making the most of this time to prepare for 11 plus. Would like to know your thoughts on this.

    Reply
    • Robert

      My advice wouldn’t be much different from usual: focus on the quality of learning and skills. If a child does 20 minutes a day and learns consistently, that’s better than 4 hours in which they lose concentration, get frustrated and needlessly repeat mistakes. Of course, the right amount will probably be somewhere in between – but likely towards the lower end. Robert

      Reply
  11. Mich

    Hi Robert, your website is very helpful. I got lots of useful advice and tips, which would help us to approach 11+ in a productive and healthy manner. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Robert

      Thank you!

      Reply
  12. Michelle

    Hi Robert,

    Thank you for your helpful advice. What is your advice to the families in term of homework and revision in the week before the exam? Hope to hear your thoughts on this. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Robert

      In the week before the exam, keep things calm and don’t introduce stress. Do some timed practice in exam-style conditions and carefully analyse how timed work could be handled better. Take the time to slowly review any weak points, and perhaps discuss some answers to practice papers completed in the past.

      Reply
  13. Zehra R. Bhojani

    What invaluable advice. this article said so much i already knew but would forget or at times intentionally neglect because i was unorganized or worried we wouldn’t be able to get through everything we need to do. at times exam prep becomes a race to the end of one work book after another. thank you for this candid and experience based advice. i really hope we see more articles from you in the future.

    Reply
    • Robert

      Thanks Zehra. That’s very kind, and I’m glad that I’ve been able to help.

      Reply
  14. Zakp

    Your first video for 11+ is really a good one. Looking forward for the other two videos.

    Many thanks.

    Reply
    • Robert

      Thank you! I hope you like the other videos.

      Reply
  15. T

    Interesting and true, yet sometimes, easier said than done…. As a single mother of 3, recently unemployed (due to the pandemic), my 10 year old is acedemically brighter than his years and able to do well, however, given the choice, would happily sit in front of a TV or gadget rather than learn. Unless a child attends a Private school, focus on the 11+ is not a priority in most schools. I therefore, find myself having to push and encourage him to keep up with his knowledge, knowing that he has a good chance of passing, and in the hope that one day, he might just thank me! I don’t set an awful lot of extra work; just a sheet of maths, comprehension and 10 minutes of creating writing, but any amount of homework for a 10 year old is always ‘too much’. The way I see it is that this is temporary – until September, and then he can have a break until he starts Secondary school at which point the school will set enough homework and I won’t have to 🙂

    Reply
    • Robert

      A wise comment! Thank you for contributing.

      Reply

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