Home schooling - anyone else had a bit of a shock??

[Squaredy]

My wife and I have been home schooling our two boys (7 and 9) since a week before lockdown, and I will be honest we are pretty shocked.  

 

We are shocked at how easy the work set by the school is.  We are shocked at some of the things our kids do not know (youngest did not know months of the year).  We are shocked at our eldest boy's handwriting.  In general I am wondering what exactly the school do with our boys all day.  Our boys are apparently both top of their class so what the hell do the other kids know or not know?

 

Anyone else come down to earth with a bump?

[SpringhallTreeCare]

Helping my 5 year old with hers, surprised at how advanced they are at that age. Impressed with the teaching techniques and variation which is resulting in her reading and numbers noticeably improving. Some super basic science but no history yet.
Her teacher is doing a great job keeping the homework fun and we are reading lots, hope its enough to keep her top of her class when they go back!

[trigger_andy]

39 minutes ago, Squaredy said:

My wife and I have been home schooling our two boys (7 and 9) since a week before lockdown, and I will be honest we are pretty shocked.  

 

We are shocked at how easy the work set by the school is.  We are shocked at some of the things our kids do not know (youngest did not know months of the year).  We are shocked at our eldest boy's handwriting.  In general I am wondering what exactly the school do with our boys all day.  Our boys are apparently both top of their class so what the hell do the other kids know or not know?

 

Anyone else come down to earth with a bump?

Im shocked you expected the school to teach your children such basic things as the months of the year. Im always shocked that parents seem to expect the School to teach their children everything, often it seems this includes toilet training. Where are the parents when it comes to homework? At 9 years old why is neither of his parents assisting him with it or at least checking it over? 

 

Both our two oldest children could read before starting school. Even my 2 year old can count to 14 now as we count the steps each time we go upstairs. 

 

I wonder if now more parents will play a more active role in their children's education and not expect the School to bring them up for them. 

[Squaredy]

23 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

Im shocked you expected the school to teach your children such basic things as the months of the year. Im always shocked that parents seem to expect the School to teach their children everything, often it seems this includes toilet training. Where are the parents when it comes to homework? At 9 years old why is neither of his parents assisting him with it or at least checking it over? 

 

Both our two oldest children could read before starting school. Even my 2 year old can count to 14 now as we count the steps each time we go upstairs. 

 

I wonder if now more parents will play a more active role in their children's education and not expect the School to bring them up for them. 

Well, yes we probably should have taught him this, but I am comparing to my own schooling.  They also don't teach them times tables.  At seven years old I knew all my times tables up to 12, number of days in each month of the year, number of feet and yards in a mile, and chains in a furlong, etc, etc, etc.  My kids only know times tables because my wife and I have taught them.

 

And yes we do check our kids work as far as possible - but they get precious little homework and so the only time is parent's evening twice a year.  And just to clarify, we do not expect the school to bring up our kids.  But I do expect them to teach them lots of stuff in the thirty hours a week they have them.

[dig-dug-dan]

I am shocked at the amount of unnecessary crap they teach them. My daughter had two write three pages on sikhism!  What good is that to her in later life?

I am concentrating on maths, science and English. That's it

[trigger_andy]

Well, yes we probably should have taught him this, but I am comparing to my own schooling.  They also don't teach them times tables.  At seven years old I knew all my times tables up to 12, number of days in each month of the year, number of feet and yards in a mile, and chains in a furlong, etc, etc, etc.  My kids only know times tables because my wife and I have taught them.
 
And yes we do check our kids work as far as possible - but they get precious little homework and so the only time is parent's evening twice a year.  And just to clarify, we do not expect the school to bring up our kids.  But I do expect them to teach them lots of stuff in the thirty hours a week they have them.

How then where You shocked at their handwriting?

[Squaredy]

27 minutes ago, trigger_andy said:

 

How then where You shocked at their handwriting?

 

Well it turns out at age nine they are now trying to get our eldest to do joined up writing.  Trouble is they haven’t shown him how to form half the letters yet so he was just guessing.  And he has had no practice yet.  
 

Why not teach cursive writing from the start?  

[Rough Hewn]

When I was nine, our headteacher decided to teach us advanced mathematics.
Pye,trigonometry etc.
I can distinctly remember thinking...
I'm never really going to need to measure the height of a tree...
How pointless is this...
???

Yes I agree modern standards have slipped,
But education is trying to keep up with a very fast evolving world.
30 odd years ago there was no internet,iPads,white interactive giant computer screens,etc
30 years ago industries were places you got a job for life.
Not an agency job for a week on a zero hour contract...
When our kids enter the adult world in ten years or so time, what will that world hold for them?
Will robots be doing all manual labour?
Office jobs?

[Big J]

9 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Well it turns out at age nine they are now trying to get our eldest to do joined up writing.  Trouble is they haven’t shown him how to form half the letters yet so he was just guessing.  And he has had no practice yet.  
 

Why not teach cursive writing from the start?  

It does perhaps sound like the school that they are attending is a little substandard. My older daughter is 5, and she's always had a bit of homework, and they've taught cursive writing from the get go. She's a strong reader and her maths is really coming on well. 

 

If it sounds like I'm saying "oh isn't my child amazing!" I should add that she's also a headstrong, petulant little toerag for a not inconsiderable amount of time most days!! ?

 

In all seriousness though, at 7 and 9, I'd have expected that the school would have been sending home plenty of work for them to do pre-lockdown. 

[trigger_andy]

9 hours ago, Squaredy said:

Well it turns out at age nine they are now trying to get our eldest to do joined up writing.  Trouble is they haven’t shown him how to form half the letters yet so he was just guessing.  And he has had no practice yet.  
 

Why not teach cursive writing from the start?  

I do agree, the modern education system sucks, its why we take such a active role in their education. At every parents meeting we ask the teachers what we could assist them with at home. Thankfully my Wifes the smart one out of us so she's been very studious with the kids. As shes also doing her Degree from home she's been able to help our 16 year old with maths and Physics, something Id not have a clue in. We also pay for additional tuition where needed to get them the best possible grade in their pre-lims and exams. It might sound very draconian but they have had instilled in them all their lives that learning can be fun and the older girls both have a career path they wish to go down and know the grades they need to hopefully get into their chosen field and University.