Doing Homework – Our Way – Would Like To Be

Poppy started School back in September and we have been amazed at how much she has learnt in this short time. She can read books and write anything you tell her too (spelling it out if she's not sure).

One thing that really surprised us was the amount of homework she gets. It started on day 2 with writing the letter S and then quickly progressed. She gets reading, writing, maths as well as learning tricky words off by heart and using letters to make words (both her and us). It's quite a lot.

With Husband at work when Poppy gets home and just little old me with all three girls, homework is not easy to fit in. I found once Poppy had a drink and fruit snack she was keen to get going but she was tired and a bit sensitive. On top of that Rosie was jealous of the attention Poppy was getting so would interrupt and be mischievous whilst Daisy just screamed! Not pleasant at all.

I quickly realised we would have to get homework done but we would have to think outside the box. So this is what we do now – it's homework our way and is much more fun.

On the way to School we count. She can now get to 100 in both 1's and 10's and about 30 in 2's
On the way home, we talk about homework and I find out what she has to do
When we get home she as a drink and snack and if she has writing to do will do it straight after. If in the mood, she might read her book to us all but I don't push her if she's grumpy. We just play instead
After dinner we regularly watch between 1 and 3 of these cool youtube Jolly phonics videos. The girls run around letting of steam, dancing and hopping about like mad people or slithering on the floor pretending to be snakes whilst Daisy looks on and giggles:

Next it's bath time where we use the from letters to make words. Sometimes Poppy will just read what we write whilst other nights she will spell them out herself. It depends on her mood! If too tired we just leave it and play with the other bath toys
After bath time it's story time where Poppy now likes to read a book first. She very keen on reading and doesn't like it if they give her an easy one.
At weekends we do maths. Daddy likes to help her and does things with coins etc. we also go through a bit of everything including her tricky words.

Phew!!! Just reading that makes me exhausted. It's a lot for a 4 year old but she is thriving. All she wants to do is learn. She can often be found sat at the table writing words, trying to spell things and is always asking maths questions.

We have also found that by making it fun, her Sister wants to learn too. She tries to read and write and also knows her vowels: