Renovations and Repayments.

AlexLK

maman wrote: »

I'm sure you'll get a positive response but had you not thought that (probably) the majority of teachers are also parents??


And (forgive me as it's a subject close to my heart) why would you imagine that all children in reception will do 'Reception work'. Any decent school will assess him soon after entry, find his starting point and take him from there. I think one of the targets for LittleK may be working as part of a team and social skills (And I don't mean table manners!!).

I don't suppose I'd considered whether teachers are parents or not before, no.

Admittedly, whilst I quite like the idea of the challenge of teaching, I don't like the idea of a job taking over my life, leaving me little time with my son and no time to play with my toys.

Regarding the Reception work, I'd imagine in the type of school with 30 children in one class it would be very difficult to know at which level each child was working at.

My son takes after me so far as working in teams and 'social skills' goes, that is to say not very well, unfortunately. He doesn't really enjoy working with other children his own age because most aren't really at his level and they don't have similar interests.

smallholdingsister wrote: »

Hi Alex (and Maman).

5 years ago I would have said yes, I have time with the kids.

Today I would also say that but qualify it by saying that I often feel that all my emotional energy is used up by 4pm.

I drop them at 7.45 and collect them at 4.30 except on meeting/parents' evening days when it is 5.45/7.45. I work 5 evenings a week and rarely have a lunchbreak. I start work at 8.15 on arrival (no faffing!) and leave at 4.

DS is obsessed by vacuum cleaners.

The school is about 250 I think.

I removed my older two from a two class primary because of the lack of maths teaching and aspiration. Not all two class primaries are the same, obv. I think it depends a lot on having a good headteacher.

I don't

Thanks, smallholding.

To be honest the working from 8am until into the evening doesn't sound fun at all. Would you say you get time for hobbies?

I wish mine was obsessed with vacuum cleaners, perhaps if he was he'd be keen to tidy up in order to use the vacuum cleaner ... :rotfl:

So far I've been very impressed with the new school and the Headmaster who seems keen for all the children to do well, so cannot see there being a lack of aspiration. That said, I can't see my son being there until the end of KS2 as I hope he will stay for lunch after this first year in Reception and then go to prep school at 7 years old.

smallholdingsister

Well there is likely nothing wrong with your village primary, just ours.

Sorry you asked about DS - he has been full time except for two afternoons since a year ago. Not expecting much of a shock for him but you never know.

Hobbies - DH plays high level chess natinally but gets to 2 or 3 out of five weekends annually. Me? The Pony...on behalf of DD1.

AlexLK

smallholdingsister wrote: »

Well there is likely nothing wrong with your village primary, just ours.

Sorry you asked about DS - he has been full time except for two afternoons since a year ago. Not expecting much of a shock for him but you never know.

Hobbies - DH plays high level chess natinally but gets to 2 or 3 out of five weekends annually. Me? The Pony...on behalf of DD1.

Can't see school being much of a shock for him either. My son used to do 2-3 afternoons at nursery per week and spend the rest of the week with me or my parents, so it's going to be a bit difficult, I think. He's used to "school" so far as sitting down to learn is concerned as I teach him reading, writing, maths, music, local history, about nature and our local surroundings. Over the last year I've made it as structured as I can (he has a timetable) in preparation for school, so hopefully he's ready to learn.

Not much time for things other than teaching and family, then?

AlexLK

On some days I honestly wish I'd not bothered to wake up, today is one. As a result I think I've lost any chance of maintaining any sort of relationship between the ex-business partner and I. Too aware I shouldn't have lost my temper but can see how it's come to this. That led to me telling one of my parents tenants to stop being a lazy ****** and fix it themselves, quite possibly one of the most embarrassing things I've done in a long time, had to ring them back, apologise and send somebody straight to them to fix the problem.

smallholdingsister

Not much time other than for work and family except in August.

Did your boy start school today?

ourcornercottage

AlexLK wrote: »

On some days I honestly wish I'd not bothered to wake up, today is one. As a result I think I've lost any chance of maintaining any sort of relationship between the ex-business partner and I. Too aware I shouldn't have lost my temper but can see how it's come to this. That led to me telling one of my parents tenants to stop being a lazy ****** and fix it themselves, quite possibly one of the most embarrassing things I've done in a long time, had to ring them back, apologise and send somebody straight to them to fix the problem.

Whoops! We all feel like that some days. How did littleLK get on at school.

AlexLK

smallholdingsister wrote: »

Not much time other than for work and family except in August.

Did your boy start school today?

ourcornercottage wrote: »

Whoops! We all feel like that some days. How did littleLK get on at school.

His first day is on the 9th and to be honest I'm not sure how long he'll be there for as he's getting very upset about going. We bought some stationery for school today and as soon as I mentioned it was for school he became very upset. My cousin mentioned school yesterday and he was angry about it. We thought he'd be OK after the two good days there in July but I don't think he's ready for it, he has next to no desire to play with other children which hasn't always been the case. From what I gather the other children are the problem.

I've not really been very patient with him today, I don't suppose. Not really in the best state of mind today and can't say I see the point in life, really. Did manage to sort things with the tenants as I called them to ask if everything has been done and they seemed pleased enough.

ourcornercottage

AlexLK wrote: »

His first day is on the 9th and to be honest I'm not sure how long he'll be there for as he's getting very upset about going. We bought some stationery for school today and as soon as I mentioned it was for school he became very upset. My cousin mentioned school yesterday and he was angry about it. We thought he'd be OK after the two good days there in July but I don't think he's ready for it, he has next to no desire to play with other children which hasn't always been the case. From what I gather the other children are the problem.

I've not really been very patient with him today, I don't suppose. Not really in the best state of mind today and can't say I see the point in life, really. Did manage to sort things with the tenants as I called them to ask if everything has been done and they seemed pleased enough.

From my experience it's 100% normal for the kids going into reception to be upset. It's stepping into the unknown for them and it's their way of handling it. My niece who is usually very confident had a wobble today as did miniOCC on his first few days. In my experience with miniOCCs friends they all loved it after a couple of days . It seems to me that the parents struggle more than the kids after a couple of days.

Hope your black mood passes quickly. Do you know the trigger and have you a coping mechanism. if not try to put one in place. You seem to have a fantastic life and are a great dad to littleLK. That's what life is all about in my opinion

AlexLK

ourcornercottage wrote: »

From my experience it's 100% normal for the kids going into reception to be upset. It's stepping into the unknown for them and it's their way of handling it. My niece who is usually very confident had a wobble today as did miniOCC on his first few days. In my experience with miniOCCs friends they all loved it after a couple of days . It seems to me that the parents struggle more than the kids after a couple of days.

Hope your black mood passes quickly. Do you know the trigger and have you a coping mechanism. if not try to put one in place. You seem to have a fantastic life and are a great dad to littleLK. That's what life is all about in my opinion

My son found his second year at nursery very difficult, that's when he started withdrawing from other children - didn't want them at his birthday party, didn't want to go to nursery etc. etc. I feel quite guilty about sending him to school especially as I gave some serious thought to home schooling him.

I'll admit I'm going to struggle with not having him around, not exaggerating when I say he saved my life.

At the moment I really don't know what to do about the teaching idea or what to do with myself when my son goes to school which isn't helping my current state of mind. I am very conflicted about trying the teaching due to not knowing how I'd cope and also the potential family difficulties it would cause. Yet, there is a part of me that would really like to try teaching. However, at the open day I felt utterly sick, ill-prepared and lacking in experience. From the books I've read (on PGCE reading list) I ended up feeling completely overwhelmed. My initial thought is that I don't make the grade to do this, yet I would like to try though if I fail, I don't know how that would affect my mental state.

This probably sounds ridiculous but I've started following the news again and that is making my state of mind worse. How the world works greatly disappoints me, the fact people are not viewed as humans but merely as numbers and statistics. I have come to realise where one is born and unto whom greatly affects everything in that person's life. Next week I return to my volunteer job at the school knowing I cannot change the fact that lots of these kids have no stability, little in the way of good parental influence, live on ghastly council estates and university seems a million miles away when they are heading quickly towards GCSEs and should be looking forward to choosing their favourite subjects for A Level and thinking about potential degree courses. Yet, in some twisted way they are lucky because they were born here, in Britain, where they can at least access a school and have a fairly good chance of being safe. The world is an awful, twisted and corrupt place.

Sorry for the rant.

ourcornercottage

I think looking at what's going on in the world at the moment i feel a little sadder every time we turn on the news, read the papers, switch on the Internet. It can be really depressing at times and very difficult to appreciate what we have and our first world problems.

All I can say is that I try to do my bit, I do what little I can to make any difference. im sure you make a big difference to those kids you teach even though they might or might not show it. You are doing what you can. The rest is out of all of our hands in the most part.

Chin up