homework is alot more difficult

loulou123

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)

I actually liked Silas Marner! tho i was studying it for a-level and ive always been abit nerdy with books!

I also liked the Silver Sword - think i read that in primary school and that would have been at least 20 years ago.

SugarSpun

loulou123 wrote: »

I actually liked Silas Marner! tho i was studying it for a-level and ive always been abit nerdy with books!

I also liked the Silver Sword - think i read that in primary school and that would have been at least 20 years ago.

I can imagine the themes in it would be interesting in the depth you go into at A level, but at GCSE we only did the superficial stuff and I was boooooooooored. I'm a massive nerd myself, but George Eliot was a step too far for me.

Gingham_Ribbon

clairehi wrote: »

You could also go to the library and look at kids' reference books. I'm sure there will be a Horrible Histories about WWII for a start. Boys seem to like those for some reason! That might help get him interested.

Yes, there's a 'Woeful second world war' Horrible History book that is excellent. My son bought it over the summer and I was worried about content, but it's really been very good.

Creative tasks like writing about the father's escape from the Nazis can be broken down into chunks.

They're checking for 2 things - that he understood the content and that he can write about it.

To break it down think about:

Who is telling the story? Dad.

What are the telling it for? Maybe it could be a diary or a letter to someone; usually the teacher will tell them and it's important to stick to that format - eg if it's a letter remember to put an address, dear... etc.

What are the important parts of the story he wants to show that he's understood? eg What the Nazis were doing, the resistance, the conditions people were living in etc. Choose a way to escape that he's read about in his research to show that he's understood what he's learnt.

Think about the words he wants to use. How can he show the dad's feelings? Think about the 5 senses and help him find good ways to describe smells, noises, what he can see etc. Use a thesaurus to find words that are interesting, eg terror, determination etc.

Because of the ADHD, he might struggle to plan it, so I hope this helps. If you can help him by doing the plan with him, even writing his ideas down for him, that might help too.

MCMitten

Clairehi- The other group are reading Goodnight Mr Tom- they seem to have split them into two groups, each reading a different book. Will have a look for a Horrible Histories one though as he really enjoys them (typical boy) I have to say i've not come across one about the war yet.

Spendless- I asked him if his topic this year was WW2 and he looked at me with confusion and announced 'No we're doing the Victorians':rotfl:

hitatotatus- We do the voices too, but I have to say i'm not too good at it and DS just spends his time laughing at me:o

LondonDiva- Thanks for the links- i'll have a look at them. I think i'm going to have to do some brushing up on WW2 myself:o

WolfSong2000- The timeline sounds like a fantastic idea, thankyou:T. He's a bit like me in that respect and things seem to sink in more if I have a visual reference.

LilacPixie- I'm being positive and upbeat with DS reguarding his homework, but inside i'm worried about how he'll cope with it because in the past when he's been faced with something more difficult hes just point blank refused to do it as he's afraid he'll get it wrong (his learning difficulties and his ADHD make these situations abit more challenging) We'll keep going and i'll try to make it a little more fun for him:)


ciderwithrosie & margaretclare- We're going to phone great-grandma tonight


SugarSpun- Unfortunately we've only got a small local museum, but we'll have a look this wkend to see if they have anything about the war. From the comments Silas Marner seems like it'll be fun :rotfl:

heretolearn- I constantly tell him life isn't always fun (usually when he's tidying his room or asked to bring his dirty washing down) but I went to school and did my time, I feel like i'm being dragged through it all over again:rotfl:Oh well it comes with parenthood I suppose:D

robpw2- Will have a look for a DVD;)

Toomuchdebt- Looks like it gets better then. I have to confess we're only on chapter 3:o

jackieglasgow- I'll also have a look for an audio book (they can make the story more exciting than I ever could)

balletshoes- Thanks for that:p :rotfl:

Tish P- I dont think the teacher would approve and DS cant keep his mouth shut so she would know if we wern't doing the homework:rotfl:I was worried myself though about him getting fed up of reading because he'd not enjoyed this book.

MCMitten

Gingham Ribbon- Thankyou for that- the plan is really helpful:T We're going to give it a go tonight. He has a classroom assistant that scribes for him and he copies it out so I might jot down his immediate ideas and then let him put it into his own words.

Oh and thankyou for the heads up on the horrible histories book- I hadn't seen that one.

melancholly

Tish_P wrote: »

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.

although that's true to a degree, i can't imagine finding a book that all kids will enjoy to cover together.... i think encouraging children in junior school to avoid doing the school work and to use crib sheets instead is far worse than making them stick at something and understand that sometimes you need to get beyond the first few pages before it grabs you!

hopefully the school will get some activities going about the book - although i think Gingham Ribbon has it pretty much covered!

WolfSong2000

balletshoes wrote: »

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

More for adults than kids, but if you had trouble appreciating Shakespeare, there's an absolutely brilliant Canadian television series called "Slings and Arrows" (DVD may be available on Amazon?). It's set around a fictional Canadian theatre company who put on different Shakesperian plays, but it's very accessible, both to those who love Shakespeare (lots of in-jokes) and also those who never really got it/were interested. Some wonderful humour.

Anyhow, it remains one of my all-time favorite TV shows and I highly recommend it!

Tish_P

melancholly - I see what you're saying and there's probably a happy medium somewhere between the two extremes. It's just that I remember how much I hated being made to read certain books at school, despite being (then and now) the kind of reader who has to be told PUT THE BOOK DOWN IT'S DINNER TIME, and it was only the fact that I read fast that made it bearable at all. If Michele's son hates the book so much that it's likely to make him hate reading altogether, it might be better for his education in the long term if he skips it and keeps his enjoyment in reading. But as she's already said, they would probably get found out if they did that.

(These days I give a book 50 pages to grab me. If there's not a character I care about or a plot I want to follow by then, it's probably not going to happen.)

WolfSong2000

SugarSpun wrote: »

I can imagine the themes in it would be interesting in the depth you go into at A level, but at GCSE we only did the superficial stuff and I was boooooooooored. I'm a massive nerd myself, but George Eliot was a step too far for me.

The books that I was given for English GCSE and AS Level totally put me off English, which is weird as, like you, I'm a total book worm. GCSE was "Far from the Madding Crowd" - 7 pages and all you knew at the end was that it was snowing . Then, the killer for me was "Enduring Love" by Ian McEwan...hands down the worst book I have ever read in my life. *Hated* it with a passion.

Tish_P

Ha ha! Wolfsong, it's funny but the 7-pages-of-description thing is what I like about Hardy - reading it is like staring at a painting. I don't think I would have appreciated Hardy as a schoolkid, though.