OS Friday 12th JANUARY

anniebooklover

Bargain_Rzl wrote:

I didn't make that assumption - I assumed that schools should make equal provisions for every standard of pupil to achieve their potential - not they do make that provision

Sorry, Bargain my mistake. I interpreted it incorrectly. Yes, you are right. Every child should achieve their potential with the help of their school. The fact is a lot of them don't. I still think that this situation could be improved if more parents took an active involvement in their children's education. It is a sad fact that a lot of parents have no active involvement in their children's education and couldn't care less what qualifications they actually achieve. Until "aspire to achieve" is actually a given in education, teachers are fighting a losing battle. Until children believe they can reach for their (realistic) goals and have a chance of achieving them then teachers will always have the multi-faceted problems that they face today. Parents can make the difference. They need to be incorporated into the teaching plans. Do you see what I mean?

dlb Counting on your fingers now! :rotfl: :rotfl:

dlb

anniebooklover wrote:

dlb Counting on your fingers now! :rotfl: :rotfl:

LOL anniebooker, i know i think it it true when you have kids you lose brain cells, as i am educated to a-level standard and maths ( not english as you all can tell lol)was one of the subjects i did well in!! But iv had 4 kids thats my excuse anyway!!!LOL:D

lil_me

I must admit I hear parents who refused to get involved with their childs education and who didn't support them when they were doing homework etc fret over GCSE results and how much the child studies for them, too little too late IMO

Personally I don't think there is a problem with using fingers to help count, many Kinetic/Tactile learners do this and a lot do it through adult life, my friend is an accountant and I've seen him use his fingers a lot. He has a Maths degree. Doesn't mean he can't count, just that's the way he does it.

moggins

LOL, I have no choice but to get involved with her education But even I don't know where to proceed from here, I've had two "normal" children before her and knew life was going to be different when she was counting to 10 at 13 months old. DH thought this was perfectly normal! He learned to read at 2 and can still remember reading the newspaper at age 2 and asking his mum what was a prime minister! He has a genius level IQ and all his family have degrees. His dad has two and his mum has 5!

So as we appear to have a difficult year ahead I think I might grab some of the many teachers on the FL thread and ask them what I can do to help her. I had a teacher that hated me at age 7 and I just quit trying. I couldn't wait to leave school and I don't want that happening to DD. She's my ticket to an pampered old age LOL

AussieLass

Annie A lot of schools have their own pools yes but if they don't swimming is taught in summer. Once a week each class gets taken down to the local pool if no pool at their school and is taught swimming, life-saving etc. In this climate it really is a must. I got my three taught as babies. All three could tread water and keep upright by the time they were 18 months. Most children here can swim well by the time they are 5. Pools are cheap entertainment and good exercise.

Not one box packed yet. DH just rang. Plumber is there and OS not turned up so I have go up to help which means packing looks grim. Late night me thinks.

lil_me

Oh dear Aussie, doesn't sound like a good start, hope you get sorted soon and pleased to hear the plumber is there. I can understand why there is such encouragement with life saving etc, my son would love that, he's a water baby, loves the water, never happier than when he's in the water.

I forgot about this have PMd a few people I remembered discussing issues with, if your child has Aspergers or Autism, this might be of interest to you, just ordered one for my son. First link is the BBC report on it, second link shows you how to obtain a copy free.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6241733.stm

http://www.transporters.tv/getcopy.html

Moggins there are loads of 'home education' sites which helped me hugely when I was helping my son who at the time was an 'unteachable Autistic child with complex needs' according to some members of staff! Who now exceeds all the children in his year in reading and numeracy, when we can crack the writing I'll be happy! Still working on the little one but he's my creative one

dlb

It is hard when you have had children who you think you have done ok by and then another of your children is so different be it in a good way you dont know what to do.Thats how i am with ds3 as i have never had to deal with a child that under achieves but im helping him as much as i can.
moggins your sound a brill mum well done

anniebooklover

lil_me wrote:

I must admit I hear parents who refused to get involved with their childs education and who didn't support them when they were doing homework etc fret over GCSE results and how much the child studies for them, too little too late IMO

Personally I don't think there is a problem with using fingers to help count, many Kinetic/Tactile learners do this and a lot do it through adult life, my friend is an accountant and I've seen him use his fingers a lot. He has a Maths degree. Doesn't mean he can't count, just that's the way he does it.

I wasn't being disparaging lil-me. I just thought dlb's phrasing was funny. It bothers me though that there are children who count on their fingers because their parents don't bother to help them with their mental maths. It's something that doesn't take a lot of time and can be an invaluable skill throughout life - knowing your times-tables, I mean. My DD loved playing mental maths games on the way to school. I would give her sums that she had to work out in her head, based on what she had been learning that week at school. It wasn't hard and it actually made me feel as though we were sharing something quite personal, just us to, IYSWIM. We still do this on a regular basis (she has her KS2 SATs in May :eek: ).

Aussie we have something similar here but not on the same scale as you aussies. Kids get taught basic swimming and life-saving techniques but that's it. Watching your holiday countdown with interest btw. Are you visiting Central Scotland by any chance? I was born near New Lanark (if you are doing the history tour - read up on Robert Owen if you are!).

moggins

It's weird really as most people think I should be so proud of her (which I am) but I'm prouder still of my son. He's progressed so much that most people (unless they are trained professionals) don't even realise he has AS. He's a silver student in a main stream school (was gold last term) is able to empathise with people, sticks up for people smaller than him (he's 5'7" and 13 so there's lots of them) and over the last couple of months has even started to hug me without any prompting. He works out how to get the most for his money. He's just an all round wonderful kid that I love so much. We've had our problems with him in the past, some very serious but it looks like it's going well now.

anniebooklover

dlb wrote:

It is hard when you have had children who you think you have done ok by and then another of your children is so different be it in a good way you dont know what to do.Thats how i am with ds3 as i have never had to deal with a child that under achieves but im helping him as much as i can.
moggins your sound a brill mum well done

dlb I think you should be proud of yourself as a mum. You sound as though you have done an amazing job with your children. I take my hat off to you (well, I would if I had one. ). Two was more than enough for me!