homework is alot more difficult

daveyjp

melancholly wrote: »

well yes, let's just have school full of things that children like.... playing and sleeping. i mean, a lot of them hate maths and learning english language and it's not like they'll ever need these skills when they leave..............

My issue was the fact I was forced to do English Language AND English Literature. There was no need - you need English - either will do.

melancholly

at what, GCSE?! we're talking about year 6 students all reading a book together and doing exercises on it (that presumably will cover English and History given the content)?! i'm lost!

Hermia

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.

It certainly can be, but I don't advocate just letting kids choose what they want either. Firstly because they will tend to just stick to the same sort of stuff and they will also choose stuff they can read without a struggle. I work in a library and we run various reading schemes for kids. I find kids are often not happy if you give them a book from a genre they don't usually read. But if they like it they are then excited to have discovered something new. Kids will also resist if you give them a book that they consider to be too hard, but will then get a huge sense of achievement when they do read it.

I remember approaching '1984' with some trepidation when my teacher handed it to me, but I just remember how amazing I felt when I read and understood it.

The problem is that kids do need to read the same book otherwise there is no practical way of assessing them. My school was quite good as each term we got to choose our own book alongside the set book and we could write/discuss that as well.

onlyroz

At what age should people learn that sometimes you have to do work that you just don't enjoy?

Hermia

balletshoes wrote: »

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

Shakespeare is wonderful! I went to a rough London comprehensive and just remember how much we all loved Shakespeare even though we were dreading studying it. The school took us to see a fabulous production of Romeo and Juliet and we were crying buckets at the end.

Hermia

onlyroz wrote: »

At what age should people learn that sometimes you have to do work that you just don't enjoy?

Good point. I think teenagers need to learn that sometimes you just need to stick with something, especially reading which really helps with concentration levels. I have noticed some of the teens I work with really struggle when they start working and are faced with having to read work-related manuals or have to go on dull courses. They are just not used to making themselves read pages of material. A couple of girls admitted that they used to use Cliff notes and Wiki when they had to write essays, but couldn't get away with something like this at work.

pollypenny

Most kids love The Silver Sword!

Wait until the children are trying to survive on their own. Read it with him. You haven't said whether the teacher is also reading it allowed in class.

If he is keen on factual stuff, get a big map of Europe, or use an atlas and plot the journey.