Homework
Types of homework
The homework set for your child will vary depending on their age. The degree of difficulty and length of homework will also be set according to their age and ability.
Homework will become more challenging in secondary school, in particular during the final years. In the first years of schooling make a special quiet time to read together every day. Part of this special time would be reading the take home book and reassembling a jumbled sentence. When reading a book together, praise and encourage all the efforts your child makes. If the child is unsure of a word, wait a moment, provide a prompt and if necessary, say the word so that the meaning of the story is not lost.
In later years homework includes daily independent reading, writing in their Writer’s notebook and access to educational websites where work has been selected to match the individual abilities of the student, such as Mathletics for numeracy and Reading Eggs for literacy learning. Occasionally students will be provided with project work or specific learning tasks (e.g. handwriting) to target individual needs.
Other types of homework your child may receive include:
Practice exercises
Practice exercises give your child opportunities to apply new knowledge, or to review and reinforce recently learned skills. They include:
- completing maths exercises
- practising words or phrases learnt in a language other than English
- reading
- Writer’s Notebook writing
- practising and playing musical instruments
- practising physical education skills.
Preparatory homework
Preparatory homework gives your child the opportunity to gain background information so they are better prepared for future lessons. For example:
- reading background material
- reading English texts for class discussion
- researching topics for class work
- collecting newspaper articles
- revising information about a current topic.
Extension assignments
Extension assignments encourage your child to pursue knowledge individually and imaginatively. For example:
- writing a book review
- making or designing an artwork
- completing science investigation exercises
- researching local news
- finding material on the internet
- monitoring advertising in a newspaper.
How you can help
There are many ways you can help your child with their homework including:
- encouraging a regular daily time to complete homework
- discussing key questions or suggesting resources to help with homework
- helping create a balance between time spent doing homework and recreational activities or part-time employment
- celebrating your child’s successes and achievements
- attending school events, productions or displays your child is involved in
- talking to teachers to discuss problems with homework.
SchoolMate mobile app
SchoolMate is a free mobile app for parents of school-aged children in Victoria. It breaks down what your child is learning at school in each subject and each year level, and suggests activities and reading that you can do at home to support your child’s learning.
The app is produced by the Department of Education and Training.
To download SchoolMate, see:
More information
For questions about your child’s homework, please contact the classroom teacher.
For information on resources used by teachers and to access a range of websites to help your child with their homework, see: