Category Archives: LearnerMother

National Numeracy and Literacy Tests – to cram or not to cram?

LearnerMother, School

Another term, another two parental consultations for my eldest children – one leaving me happy and confident that I have made the right choices – and one leaving me simply confused.
I am still no nearer to knowing whether my biggest boy should continue his education through Welsh or English but that’s a story for another time – right now it’s the forthcoming national numeracy and literacy tests that are occupying my mind.

These tests take place next term and in the case of my eight year old, the exam practice began with last weekend’s homework. It was also suggested that we should be using the Easter holidays to work through past papers for the tests – practising the sort of questions that are likely to come up, reinforcing the self-checking, encouraging good exam technique eg not lingering over problem questions if they are only worth one mark.

I don’t have a problem with extra work at home where necessary to support a child’s development – in fact I have been actively seeking support on this from school. But I’m really not sure how I feel about practising for these tests, because I’m not clear on the benefit of ‘good’ results. Last year I toed the party line and insisted my son practise really hard, and he came out eighteen months to two years above average for his age. Yet in real life, he is constantly hovering just above the line where he is deemed as in need of extra help. So clearly the results don’t bear that much relation to what’s actually happening, and if that’s the case, why bother?

I imagine the test results contribute to those all important league tables and possibly individual teacher performance ratings. And I do have sympathy with this – it must be immensely frustrating for educational professionals to be graded by how well pupils can pass exams.

But that still leaves us in a situation where we are being asked to spend time on an exercise that is pretty irrelevant as far as the kids go, in place of spending time on what they actually need support with.

So – do I do as I’m told and insist on my son practising for the tests? Or do I spend some time with him in the holidays working on the areas he needs to improve – in his case, fluency and confidence in Welsh? Or – given that he has a homework assignment plus spellings plus times tables plus a reading book every weekend in term time, maybe he should enjoy being a child and have a complete break over Easter!

What would you do?

Discombobulated

Family, LearnerMother, Sadness

My house feels weird. There’s only two out of three children here, and it just feels – odd. You know that feeling when there is something you think you should have remembered, but you just can’t figure it what it is? It’s kind of like that. I’ve never had occasion to use the word discombobulated before, but I think it sums up my feelings perfectly. Yep, definitely discombobulated.

Obviously there’s quite a lot of occasions when we don’t have the full complement in the house – they have playdates, and clubs, and school – but generally speaking, come 7pm or so, they’re all here. Driving me nuts at that point, sure. Still, they are here. But last night and tonight, my biggest boy has been away on an adventure trip with school. He’s getting the chance to do some amazing activities, and I know it will be good for his confidence, and I’m sure he’s having a brilliant time. And WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.

It’s not so much that I’m missing him, exactly – though I am.  It’s not that this is the longest I’ve ever gone without at least speaking to him on the phone. It’s not even that he is being let loose on activities like gorge walking and rock climbing and night time mountain trips  – my sensible head tells me these are all brilliant fun things for an 8 year old, while my slightly neurotic head (the louder of the two, usually) is yelling ‘DANGER! and has all manner of warning lights going off….

It’s not any of those things.

Unpicking it a bit, I think it’s fear. Fear that it’s all going too fast. Fear that this is the first of many times when our team of five has to play as four. And then three. And then just two….I’m quite sure this sounds melodramatic, and perhaps it is, just a teensy bit. But it feels like last week that I had my first baby. Last WEEK. And now he is nearly Nine. Years. Old. So by my reckoning, next week he’ll be eighteen. Holy crap. And – once again – WAAAAAAAAAAH.

Does anyone else feel like this? Or is it just me?

*shuffles off to be discombobulated all alone in a corner*

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The Reading Residence
Linking up with the fab Word of the Week Linky over at the Reading Residence

Celebrate a year of LearnerMother with Lazy Jacks!

Giveaways, LearnerMother, ,

I can’t believe that LearnerMother is a year old today! My clever little dashboard thingy tells me I’ve published 147 posts – I’m not quite sure how I managed that, given the reason I didn’t start a blog for so many years was that I thought I’d have nothing to write about! But managed it I have, and now I can’t really imagine life without  my little corner of the interweb.

The clever little dashboard thingy also tells me people have apparently been reading throughout the year – for which a HUGE thank you. It probably reveals too much of my mild neediness if I tell you that each share, like, retweet or comment is MUCH appreciated; and perhaps even more appreciated are the private messages I’ve received on occasion from people who are generous enough to say that a post I’ve written has been helpful in some small way.

So since I do the easy bit of regurgitating a mass of jumbled thoughts, and you do the hard bit of ploughing your way through the shizzle I stick out there, it seems only fitting that one of you lovely lot should get a present to celebrate this momentous occasion!

I racked my  brains for something fabulous to give away, and then I remembered that a review I did for Lazy Jacks Clothing a while back continues to be one of my most popular posts. Have a look at these gorgeous pictures to see why – and sign up for the Lazy Jacks mailing list or check out their Pinterest boards to see what’s coming up for Spring/Summer 2014!

So I used my best Polite Voice to ask the Lazy Jacks team if they’d be kind enough to offer an item from their catalogue for my birthday giveaway – and guess what, they said yes! One lucky LearnerMother reader will win a GORGEOUS child’s hooded snug top (worth £29.99) in their choice of fuchsia or navy, shown below, AND a very handy Lazy Jacks jute bag to boot! All you need to do is enter via the Rafflecopter below – leave a comment with your colour choice and size – and once you’ve done that, you can then gain bonus entries by following Lazy Jacks and/or LearnerMother on Twitter and Facebook. Good Luck!

LJ87C Fuschia LJ87C Twilight

Available in ages 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 9-10 & 11-13

LJ1 Seagull

a Rafflecopter giveaway

PS If you’ve enjoyed LearnerMother over the last year, I’d be all kinds of chuffed if you could spare a minute to nominate me in the ‘Best New Blog’ category of the Mum and Dad Blog Awards – THANK YOU!

MAD Blog Awards