It's not like the old days you know.
In the holidays of old (or to be more exact when I was kid in the late eighties and nineties), we were quite happy to continue our education via the medium of watching Why Don't You. The very idea of school work- other than rushing through a diary two days before the beginning of term- filled us with indescribable horror. We simply didn't get given homework, and of course there were the keener lot who had tutors for the summer, but the rest of us spent our six weeks letting all we'd learnt in the last year fade out in a battle of educational maths verses working out how far our holiday pocket money would go at the arcade (in my case- not far).
Mini and Littlest are different though.
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Monday, 5 August 2013
Sunday, 18 November 2012
What on Earth Are They teaching in School These Days?
I am despairing of my children's education right now.
Mini is now in Year 1, and to be fair I kind of expected the "playing all day and generally not doing a lot" to be over. Except I now wonder what it is she actually does all day.
She brings home, most weeks, about 5 bits of homework. This includes a list of 6 words for a spelling test (and we're not talking two and three letter words, but 4, 5 and 6 letter words), a hand writing practice sheet, a maths sheet and a topic sheet- so whatever they are currently learning about in history or geography, they'll have a sheet or two on this. They also have a drawing activity, and another list of words the teacher wants them to memorise from them not quite sounding them out enough during guided reading.
They have two books per week for Guided Reading (and woe betide you as a parent if you don't read one or the other every night), and a list of websites that you might like to look at too (again, woe betide you if you don't bother).
The holidays made me laugh. Each week, the homework book has the list of websites you can look at, plus a little message from the teacher to you. You also have to tick a box of whether you helped them a bit, a lot or not at all
(although surely there should be a "I did it myself whilst my child watched Tree Fu Tom" box?). In the Half Term message, we were told how well the children had all done in term one, and how they all deserved a rest.
It then went on to list the 7 pieces of homework to do in the holiday. What happened to having a rest?
What concerns me is not that they get this homework (although what is her teacher doing all day?) its the level of it. Half the time it's not even marked.
I worry that Mini and her mates might be left behind. Don't get me wrong, she doesn't need a lot of help with her homework, its more to do with her feeling that she has been at school all day, its boring and now she wants to watch Brainiac instead, not do more work. Which is pretty much how I felt when I got homework (at secondary school, I hasten to add, not in the Infants), except I wanted to watch Grange Hill.
She had a whole year last year of "playing through learning". Or "playing on trikes and in sand boxes all day before coming home covered in paint" as I like to call it. They didn't do the whole sit down at a table and pick up a pen and write thing, so now, she can just about recognise certain words, she can have a go at writing them, and she is just starting to get the hang of reading, but spelling tests and joined up writing seems a step too far.
I was also quite surprised that the school decided to ignore both Children In Need (despite most kids in the country going to school in their pajamas) and Remembrance Day, but they did learn about Diwali.
Before you all do the "grr" face at me, its great that they learn about diverse cultures. I'd just that I'd also like her to learn about her own culture too. Bar learning about Guy Fawkes, they have covered Australia, China, India, and New Zealand up until now.
It makes you question whether schools are almost afraid to cover Remembrance Sunday? Mini sat and listened as I told her in 5 year old friendly terms, why we all wear a poppy, and I read her a famous war poem too. She didn't get upset, she didn't have nightmares. She went off and wrote her own poem for Class News Time. Which her teacher then didn't let her read.
Now, today, we have her looking through my cook books, and she asked if she could have some "real" fish, not "made fish by shops".
I tried hard not to but I did laugh. She thinks that only some fish comes from the sea or any form of water. She then thinks the shops "make" their version of fish for everyone else. I went to the trouble of planting a veggie patch in the summer after she told me she thought spuds and veg come from Tesco.
Is school all about playing and less about traditional learning? Does your 5 year old get homework and do you do it with them or for them?
Mini is now in Year 1, and to be fair I kind of expected the "playing all day and generally not doing a lot" to be over. Except I now wonder what it is she actually does all day.
She brings home, most weeks, about 5 bits of homework. This includes a list of 6 words for a spelling test (and we're not talking two and three letter words, but 4, 5 and 6 letter words), a hand writing practice sheet, a maths sheet and a topic sheet- so whatever they are currently learning about in history or geography, they'll have a sheet or two on this. They also have a drawing activity, and another list of words the teacher wants them to memorise from them not quite sounding them out enough during guided reading.
They have two books per week for Guided Reading (and woe betide you as a parent if you don't read one or the other every night), and a list of websites that you might like to look at too (again, woe betide you if you don't bother).
The holidays made me laugh. Each week, the homework book has the list of websites you can look at, plus a little message from the teacher to you. You also have to tick a box of whether you helped them a bit, a lot or not at all
(although surely there should be a "I did it myself whilst my child watched Tree Fu Tom" box?). In the Half Term message, we were told how well the children had all done in term one, and how they all deserved a rest.
It then went on to list the 7 pieces of homework to do in the holiday. What happened to having a rest?
What concerns me is not that they get this homework (although what is her teacher doing all day?) its the level of it. Half the time it's not even marked.
I worry that Mini and her mates might be left behind. Don't get me wrong, she doesn't need a lot of help with her homework, its more to do with her feeling that she has been at school all day, its boring and now she wants to watch Brainiac instead, not do more work. Which is pretty much how I felt when I got homework (at secondary school, I hasten to add, not in the Infants), except I wanted to watch Grange Hill.
She had a whole year last year of "playing through learning". Or "playing on trikes and in sand boxes all day before coming home covered in paint" as I like to call it. They didn't do the whole sit down at a table and pick up a pen and write thing, so now, she can just about recognise certain words, she can have a go at writing them, and she is just starting to get the hang of reading, but spelling tests and joined up writing seems a step too far.
I was also quite surprised that the school decided to ignore both Children In Need (despite most kids in the country going to school in their pajamas) and Remembrance Day, but they did learn about Diwali.
Before you all do the "grr" face at me, its great that they learn about diverse cultures. I'd just that I'd also like her to learn about her own culture too. Bar learning about Guy Fawkes, they have covered Australia, China, India, and New Zealand up until now.
It makes you question whether schools are almost afraid to cover Remembrance Sunday? Mini sat and listened as I told her in 5 year old friendly terms, why we all wear a poppy, and I read her a famous war poem too. She didn't get upset, she didn't have nightmares. She went off and wrote her own poem for Class News Time. Which her teacher then didn't let her read.
Now, today, we have her looking through my cook books, and she asked if she could have some "real" fish, not "made fish by shops".
I tried hard not to but I did laugh. She thinks that only some fish comes from the sea or any form of water. She then thinks the shops "make" their version of fish for everyone else. I went to the trouble of planting a veggie patch in the summer after she told me she thought spuds and veg come from Tesco.
Is school all about playing and less about traditional learning? Does your 5 year old get homework and do you do it with them or for them?
Thursday, 13 October 2011
The Dreaded Parents Evening
As you'd expect when one of the children starts school, there are a lot of new things, firsts, to contend with.
There are new friends, new classes, new routines, and then there is one that I feel most parents dread- parents evening.
There are new friends, new classes, new routines, and then there is one that I feel most parents dread- parents evening.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Comment: The Cull of the Classes
I am very cross.
Education, its important, right?
It should be available to everyone who wants it.
Sadly, I feel the Tories don't believe this is true. Not if it means they can claw back money wasted by banks and the Ministers from across the parties who helped themselves to it with little thought for the rest of us constituents.
Latest on their hit list, after Uni students, is EMA.
For those not in the know, EMA was available to college or sixth form students aged between 16 and 19. Its the tiny sum of between £10 and £30 a week, depending on your household income, but isn't affected by the student having a Saturday job.
It was brought in by the Labour party (who frankly seemed far more supportive of education than the current useless, Public School educated privileged yobbos we have now), and for the most part, Students used it for bus fare, books or food.
It wasn't handed out at random though- students had to have good attendance, and work hard, there wasn't the opportunity to turn up and get paid.
And now its been scrapped.
Inevitably, that will result in many students having to give up their courses as they won't be able to afford the bus fares or books they need.
Lets face it, the majority of those who received this money, especially the top amount of £30, come from the not very well off category. They can't really become reliant on their parent/s after starting their courses, and now they face the reality of either trying to struggle to college, trying to get a job without their qualifications, or worse, being forced into the unenviable cycle of signing on, and finding whatever work is available.
Worse, they will face giving up their hopes and dreams for a bright future with qualifications.
I know exactly what that is like, hence why I am so cross.
At 16, I went to sixth form. I worked hard. Bloody hard.
We didn't have the option of EMA back then, so I had a part time job and grudgingly lived at home with my parents. My £2.32 an hour working Saturday afternoons in my local Primark, resulted in £37.12 a month. This was for me to buy books, clothes and lunch with. I definitely had to be careful with my cash, but I managed.
I then couldn't stand to live at home anymore, and so I left.
That was the end of my sixth form, my A Levels, and why I am scratching around at blogging to try and achieve my original dream of becoming a journalist.
Why?
Because I had to find somewhere to live, and, at 17 wasn't old enough, at that time, to hold my own tenancy- I had to live in assisted accommodation. Before that, I slept rough- so the little Saturday job was also at an end too, as no one wants to be served by someone who has no washing facilities or means of clean clothing.
I had no savings either.
That £30 would have helped me so much, if EMA had of existed back then- I could have lived in the same accommodation, claimed Housing Benefit due to having the EMA income, so my rent would have been paid, and could have made that £30 last for food, and borrowed books. I could have gone to uni, and achieved my goals and absolute happiness.
Instead I gave up in general for a year, getting in with an equally disillusioned crowd, drinking constantly, not eating and being miserable.
I then went from one crap job to the next, hating every minute of them, wishing I could be like my old mates who would see me in town and tell me how great their lives were. Not to be mean, they just generally were enjoying their life after going to college and uni and getting the jobs they wanted all along.
I, on the other hand, felt like I had to settle.
Or take my Brother-in-law.
Unfortunately, what the upper class Cameron doesn't seem to understand is that by saving these small amounts, he is costing this country in the future. If people cannot afford to educate themselves past 16, then there will be a growth in unskilled workers trying to find an already limited amount of unskilled jobs. Is it not bad enough that we have to look abroad for Medical staff, due to a lack of home grown graduates?
Do we not all want a country we could be proud of, with as many well educated people who want to be?
We seem to be entering a society where the lower classes, or their offspring who wish to remove themselves from the hands of the breadline, to not end up as disillusioned as their parents, to better themselves from their class, are facing the fact that their government wishes to axe their hopes, their bright futures.
Will we really reach a stage whereby only the rich count?
It certainly feels as we are fast approaching it.
Education, its important, right?
It should be available to everyone who wants it.
Sadly, I feel the Tories don't believe this is true. Not if it means they can claw back money wasted by banks and the Ministers from across the parties who helped themselves to it with little thought for the rest of us constituents.
Latest on their hit list, after Uni students, is EMA.
For those not in the know, EMA was available to college or sixth form students aged between 16 and 19. Its the tiny sum of between £10 and £30 a week, depending on your household income, but isn't affected by the student having a Saturday job.
It was brought in by the Labour party (who frankly seemed far more supportive of education than the current useless, Public School educated privileged yobbos we have now), and for the most part, Students used it for bus fare, books or food.
It wasn't handed out at random though- students had to have good attendance, and work hard, there wasn't the opportunity to turn up and get paid.
And now its been scrapped.
Inevitably, that will result in many students having to give up their courses as they won't be able to afford the bus fares or books they need.
Lets face it, the majority of those who received this money, especially the top amount of £30, come from the not very well off category. They can't really become reliant on their parent/s after starting their courses, and now they face the reality of either trying to struggle to college, trying to get a job without their qualifications, or worse, being forced into the unenviable cycle of signing on, and finding whatever work is available.
Worse, they will face giving up their hopes and dreams for a bright future with qualifications.
I know exactly what that is like, hence why I am so cross.
At 16, I went to sixth form. I worked hard. Bloody hard.
We didn't have the option of EMA back then, so I had a part time job and grudgingly lived at home with my parents. My £2.32 an hour working Saturday afternoons in my local Primark, resulted in £37.12 a month. This was for me to buy books, clothes and lunch with. I definitely had to be careful with my cash, but I managed.
I then couldn't stand to live at home anymore, and so I left.
That was the end of my sixth form, my A Levels, and why I am scratching around at blogging to try and achieve my original dream of becoming a journalist.
Why?
Because I had to find somewhere to live, and, at 17 wasn't old enough, at that time, to hold my own tenancy- I had to live in assisted accommodation. Before that, I slept rough- so the little Saturday job was also at an end too, as no one wants to be served by someone who has no washing facilities or means of clean clothing.
I had no savings either.
That £30 would have helped me so much, if EMA had of existed back then- I could have lived in the same accommodation, claimed Housing Benefit due to having the EMA income, so my rent would have been paid, and could have made that £30 last for food, and borrowed books. I could have gone to uni, and achieved my goals and absolute happiness.
Instead I gave up in general for a year, getting in with an equally disillusioned crowd, drinking constantly, not eating and being miserable.
I then went from one crap job to the next, hating every minute of them, wishing I could be like my old mates who would see me in town and tell me how great their lives were. Not to be mean, they just generally were enjoying their life after going to college and uni and getting the jobs they wanted all along.
I, on the other hand, felt like I had to settle.
Or take my Brother-in-law.
He has done well in life from humble beginnings, and managed to gain a scholarship, through hard work and determination, to University. If he hadn't have gained his scholarship though, my parents-in-law would never have been able to pay his fees, or support him. That scholarship gave him chances in life, which he embraced into the successful man he is today.
Unfortunately, what the upper class Cameron doesn't seem to understand is that by saving these small amounts, he is costing this country in the future. If people cannot afford to educate themselves past 16, then there will be a growth in unskilled workers trying to find an already limited amount of unskilled jobs. Is it not bad enough that we have to look abroad for Medical staff, due to a lack of home grown graduates?
Do we not all want a country we could be proud of, with as many well educated people who want to be?
We seem to be entering a society where the lower classes, or their offspring who wish to remove themselves from the hands of the breadline, to not end up as disillusioned as their parents, to better themselves from their class, are facing the fact that their government wishes to axe their hopes, their bright futures.
Will we really reach a stage whereby only the rich count?
It certainly feels as we are fast approaching it.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Do YOUR Kids Know Where Food Comes From?
Err, what ever happened to Old MacDonald had farm?
Now I think today's youngsters think it's more a case of Mr Tesco had some chickens.....
I was watching a show recently which included primary aged children being asked various questions-a sort of "out of the mouths of babes" comedy exercise. One of the questions was "Where do chickens come from?"
Standard answer of these primary aged darlings?
Tesco.
Only one of the 7 or 8 little'uns they asked answered that they come from a farm.
Which is why I'm happy to support a campaign being run to educate children on where food really comes from, and maybe even to get them growing their own (just like I did as a youngster).
McCain are running a UK wide "roadshow" tied in with a handy website, with tips and info specifically for children, their teachers and parents too.
They conducted a survey which, just like the TV programme I watched, revealed the shocking stats that-
1 in 10 children aged 7-11 thought chickens lay potatoes
1 in 5 had no idea that potatoes are grown in the ground
1 in 5 also had no clue that chips are made from potatoes!
So, I asked why McCain had decided to take on the responsibility of educating kids-a publicity stunt surely?
But, no, the Double Decker bus, that has already visited 130 primary schools in the UK, and intends to visit even more in its 5th tour, has no branding whatsoever, and no mention of the McCain name.
Nick Vermont, CEO of McCain Foods Ltd in the UK says "The Potato Story was developed as a vehicle to help contribute towards teaching children about food provenance. As part of the overall 'It's all good' campaign, we're committed to working hard to ensure that 'The Potato Story' is, and remains, both relevant to the curriculum and useful for teachers to educate children, whilst also making it a fun and interactive experience for kids"
Nick Vermont, CEO of McCain Foods Ltd in the UK says "The Potato Story was developed as a vehicle to help contribute towards teaching children about food provenance. As part of the overall 'It's all good' campaign, we're committed to working hard to ensure that 'The Potato Story' is, and remains, both relevant to the curriculum and useful for teachers to educate children, whilst also making it a fun and interactive experience for kids"
The tour and website has the full support of top child psychologist Dr Richard Woolfson, who says that a lack of food understanding and a misunderstanding of what constitutes "healthy food" may have a serious impact on the longterm eating habits of children. He continues that knowing where food comes from can help to promote healthy eating habits from an early age.
As parents and consumers as a whole we are inundated with information on healthy living and its importance (the most high profile being the Government's "Change for Life" campaign), so a website from a trusted family brand name which includes helpful resources for free is always going to be well supported. And if it can appeal to children in an easy to understand way, then I think all parents will be happy to have a click on the site itself.
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