homework is alot more difficult

ciderwithrosie_2

Yep, my son had to read it at school (now 20) but I remembered it from my childhood (I'm 46).

Asking grandparents/great-grandparents of their wartime experiences can help bring it to life a bit more, and fires the imagination - my parents had some great stories.

SugarSpun

I read The Silver Sword in Year 7 and that was twenty years ago.

It gets better the further in you go.

Whereabouts are you in the country? Are there any WWII museums you could go and have a wander around, or any old people of your acquaintance he could talk to about what they remember from being kids in the war? Things stop being boring when we can engage with them, so making it alive for him should kick start his imaginative juices.

(If he's on the curriculum I had, he has Silas Marner coming to him, and if he thinks he's bored now he's in for a dreadful shock)

heretolearn_2

I had to read it too over 30 years ago.

I didn't enjoy it either, even though I was a total bookworm normally. Still, at this age kids have to start learning that learning isn't always about having fun, like when you are in the baby classes. If he starts to duck out of things he finds boring now, he's going to have terrible problems as he gets older. Not just in school either. No-one enjoys 100% of their studies/work, but you still have to do it all. That's the point I'd make to him right now.

robpw2

perhaps they have it on dvd lol ...
i think the best soloution is to read it with him , take it in turns reading it and discussing it .. make it more intresting by asking questions and providinig facts

jackieglasgow

Someone just mentioned Michael Morpugo, now whilst we have read a lot of his books here, I don't remember one from the second world war. Private Peaceful was about WWI but that's about it.

Did you not get a letter at the start of terms telling what this year's topic would be? I would contact the school and ask. Good luck.

Rob that was a good point you made about DVD, What about searching for an audio book of it, he might enjoy that? Check your local library/

Toomuchdebt

I loved The Silver Sword I read it when I was 9 and have reread it a few times since then.I was(and still am) a total bookworm though.

margaretclare

There is a lot about WWII at present because it is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. A lot on TV and in the newspapers.

To put this into perspective, it is also 70 years since I started at primary school! I realise that, for lads of your son's age, this makes me positively antediluvian, but I do recall quite a lot of what happened around me in those days. We were warned that there might be German paratroopers landing to invade us, and we used to go looking for them on the way to and from school, in the woods. What we supposed we'd have done if we ever met any did not cross our minds! I haven't read the book you're discussing, but like its theme that you describe, we were all geared up to 'resisting' as and when we got the opportunity, even the kids.

BlondeHeadOn

SugarSpun wrote: »

(If he's on the curriculum I had, he has Silas Marner coming to him, and if he thinks he's bored now he's in for a dreadful shock)

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Have to agree...

:rotfl:

balletshoes

Yep, and then next year he'll start the joys of Shakespeare :rotfl:- riveting stuff!

Tish_P

I think it's really counter-productive to force kids to read things they don't like - it makes reading a chore that they try to get out of when it should be a pleasure. So my suggestion is a bit naughty - find a Cliffs Notes, or a plot summary online (wikipedia has one, although the poster above who said "don't rely on wikipedia" has a good point) and read that with your son so he can keep up in class and do the assignments.

Then take the time you would have spent together reading the book that he doesn't like, and read another book instead, for the same reading age but of his own choosing.