What matters more for primary age - what you do at home or what they learn at school?

[thegrammerpolicesic]

What do you think matters most, a day at schiool or 30 mins of reading or numbers with you that's designed just for your dc's level?

[snice]

School - its about more than reading and numbers alone

[thegrammerpolicesic]

ooh good point. Hmm I suppose I mean solely for the reading and writing bit what matters more. Agree that it's about much more than that though.

[Hulababy]

Is it an either/or scenario?

7y DD has learnt a treendous amount over the last 3 years at school, in so many different areas.

However, she has also practied those at home with me and her dad, through formal and informal methods. She reads all the time at home, and where we feel necessary might do a bit of extra work on a key topic/area.

So, I would say both are important for my DD, and they work well together.

However - if you mean home ed - that is a different thing altogether.

[Hulababy]

I have never spent 30 minutes every day doing formal extra work with DD.

[GrimmaTheNome]

Depends on the school, the kid and the home.

Some kids need a teacher - mine simply wouldn't learn from me -reading/numbers type stuff, that is. She learned loads of non-academic things at home. So my time with her would be better spent in the garden bug-hunting or in the kitchen weighing out cake ingredients than poring over sums and phonics.

Your model may vary!

[thegrammerpolicesic]

Background to question is whether it really matters whether a dc goes to a good school or not as people keep saying on here "as long as you do stuff with them at home, it matters more at primary level".

[meltedmarsbars]

I have always been told my kids (the nt ones) have very good general knowledge, but they definately need the schooling to learn literacy and numeracy!

So, make sure both are good, and read to them yourself.

[Hulababy]

Whilst I agree that a good child will do ok regardless of where they are to an extent, I do feel in a less good school they are more likely to not reach their actual potential.

[cory]

I don't think it's one or the other: if it's working well, the school and the home will support each other. If I read an exciting good night story to ds, that will motivate him to work harder at his reading at school, to access more stories like it. If the school tells him something he'd never known about the climate, he is quite likely to come home and want to look it up and talk about it. And different subjects- geography, history, natural history, literacy, maths all feed into one another. I think it's a serious mistake to see the three Rs in isolation.

[LB29]

Unfortunately I think my DD picks up more at home, especially with the maths work we do. I don't think that she is really streched at school. Time at school is important to her but mainly socially.

[bruffin]

I have never really done any literacy or maths at home with dcs except for maybe explaining the odd bit of homework, they are not the type that will not sit down and be taught by me.
Their teachers have always said they are very knowledgable children without being insufferable knowitalls IYSWIM.

There are so manythings at school for a genuinely bright child with an enquiring mind to learn and not be bored.

[bruffin]

"I think it's a serious mistake to see the three Rs in isolation."

spot on Cory

[thegrammerpolicesic]

OK maybe the question should be "what matters most for learning numeracy and literacy...a day at school or 30 mins at home with you that's just for your dc's level."

Putting aside the other things they learn at school which I agree are very valuable indeed.