why the f do they set "make a model" homework when they know it's the parents that end up having to do it!? grrrrr!!!

[RedOnHerHedd]

Just that really!!!
Make a model of a

Why????
Just why???

They know the kids version will be a pile of crap, and they know that that one kids parent spends a grand on hobbycraft items and makes a scale version of the Taj Mahal.

And your kid's attempt is 2 yogurt pots and a butter carton glued to a box of coco pops.

Why don't they just tell your kids "ok, so your parents homework this weekend is to make a working model of the international space station, complete with the ability to self orbit around the globe".

Guess what I'll be doing tonight!?
Making a fucking model.
Yet again.

i think some of the problem is my DD2 does not being told what she should be interested in ! she often completely by herself attempts the projects in her aquilla magazine ( kids mag with science/arts and crafts stuff ..really good for kids not interested in barbie or spiderman type mags) to a high standard but seems completely disengaged with projects sent home from school.
She has even said she doesn't see the educational value in them ( yes i know precocious little toerag !) I am too competitive to let her just take in nothing so we got into this ridiculous cycle of me over compensating for her obvious contempt for project.

the only one she genuinely wanted to do was the french revolution...we together very excitedly planned a working model guillotine, with her sister's barbie as antoniette....then got letter home saying that no projects were to involve guillotines or infact any of the unpleasant sides of the revolution....as someone might get upset ..FFS...what exactly are they teaching then ? the revolutions of the world are all peaceful and ww1 and ww2 are merely mild disagreements ?

aghhhhh..enough to make me consider HE

Love this six year old's Taj Mahal model.
cardsandschoolprojects.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/taj-mahal-model.html?m=1

My younger brother had to do a project on ancient civilisations. His classmates came in with models of the Sphinx or the Colosseum. He left it til the night before it was due so glued a triangular piece of tin to a cricket wicket and said it was a Viking spear.

To put forward the argument in favour of parental involvement:

• it gives parents who may not be able to help with numeracy and maths homework (EAL for example) an opportunity to get involved.

• it gives children a chance to see thst 'school' values skills thst the family may have in the home but are potentially 'invisible', eg. Dressmaking, craft, sewing.

• it builds bridges between school and home for families that may not be able to connect with schools in other ways.

That's the theory, anyway.

I do worry about the children for whom it is just another alienating experience - and there are lots of those: no access to computer, no materials for craft things.

That Taj Mahal blog is hilarious.

catfromjapan...at dd2 school mix of day and boarders..the boarders do not have mummy or daddy dashing to hobbycraft etc...always felt sorry for them

also noted the write of the taj blog actually says ' I went all out making it '...no mention of daughter making it !!! rofl

Personally, I think primary-age homework is much more a measure of parental involvement than it is of the child's ability. All it really does IMO in entrench inequality, when the children from disadvantaged backgrounds come in with nothing at all/a last-minute scribble on a folded piece of card and compare it to the children from other families who have clearly had parents who have made an effort to help (albeit with differing interpretation of 'helping'). I've seen it time and time again encourage an 'I don't care' attitude in those who desperately do care but are trying to hide their hurt - the very children we should be reaching out to.

I hate model homework too. I pray that it falls on a weekend dd is at her dads. He loves a good model making session.

She is Y7 now so able to do most of them herself. However, the bastard globe from the geography department was a pita, mainly because I had thrown all the craft stuff away just before Christmas so had to buy all new. Then google how to make paper bastard maiche. Then it took forever to dry.

The best competition was an easter egg based on a childrens story though. In Y1 I think. We had a very professional line.of gruffalos, sponge bobs, a buzz light year and our rather sad little affair of a blown egg painted and stuck with yellow wool as snow white and 7 mini eggs with faces as the 7 dwarfs. It only won as it was clear dd had done the work!

This comes up time and time again on this thread and I'm challenging it. Why do parents "have to do it"?

My old school deliberately gave projects that they wanted the parents to be 'involved' in to ensure that parents would be part of the children's education

Now, ignoring the patronising tone of that wish (and we're a 'naice' village with pretty good parental involvement with the school and the children), I always had a problem with being forced into helping - especially as models are not my forte. I always listened to reading and helped with all other forms of homework but I resented my holidays being taken over forcibly by school.

I am now hoping that DGCs have to make a WW2 item. Their gas mask box will be very realistic because it is a real one complete with gas mask.
I am a bit of a hoarder and you never know when a gas mask will come in handy. Which, with any luck, will be for a school project. If DGS writes his name on a label and ties it on, it will fulfill the 'making' requirement.

Children who have disinterested and non-supportive parents are always disadvantaged Pounding and in all sorts of ways. But you can't just limit the education or social opportunities of everyone else to make it "fair". It's not just "making" homework but all homework, practicing reading, going to football club/swimming lessons/Brownies/using the local library/baking a cake with them/being read to/being taken to museums or on outings - the list of things people do or don't do to enrich their children's lives and learning is infinite.

Most people/families do do things to support their kids and we should encourage that. What's also needed is a back up plan for kids that don't have involvement. Our school runs a 'homework club' where you can send your kids if you don't want to or can't do homework at home. This picks up some children who would otherwise not produce anything but not all - some parents fundimentally disagree with homework in primary, some just don't engage.

Air raid shelter = piece of A4 paper curved over longways and sellotaped to half a cereal box. 1 minute job.

My DD then stuck a panda inside it.

Twas shite, but all her own work.

My favourite parental over investment in a "project" was when they had to make a volcano. DD's was great, all her own work, and she'd made a real effort. Turned up at school after half term to find that TWO parents had made ones that lit up, erupted, and spewed "ash" and "lava". Their DC didn't even know how to switch them on. Oh how we laughed.

Children who have disinterested and non-supportive parents are always disadvantaged Pounding and in all sorts of ways. But you can't just limit the education or social opportunities of everyone else to make it "fair".

I don't think I said that? I fail to see how not making models is limiting the educational or social opportunities for children. Personally, I think a well-rounded educational system is about trying to redress the inequalities some children face, not exacerbating them. In order to make a real difference schools need far more money and far more TAs of course, but a few models isn't going to change anything other than allow some parents to feel more superior IMO. Primary age homework (other than reading, spellings and times tables) just didn't exist when I was at school, and yet me and most of my peers seem to have come out perfectly well.

And FWIW, although I disagree strongly with homework, I facilitate it for my DC (sometimes at the expense of them doing other, IMO more worthy horizon-broadening experiences) because I don't want them to feel like 'that' child.

6 - SPAG is spelling and grammar!

I don't do these projects.

i have enough to do just navigating DS through the day with his disabilities, damned if I'm pissing about with crafts... he is incapable of doing them both on a sensory and motor skill level, so i don't see the point in it being set.

DD can do it if she wants, but she has to do it herself. i have nothing to do with it.

it is not just children from what we think of as disadvantaged backgrounds, as i daid up thread, dd2 has boarders who are friends and they , if lucky will get a gap yr student help them but usually not even that, and no one rushing out to get materials or encouraging creative thinking..maybe though thats why dd2 wants to be full boarder ...!!!

these chidlren are not disadvantaged in the usual way of thinking, they are at expensive school with amazing facilities, opportunities etc..

OK, well as I said above, I think model making can teach important and under-rated skills.

I think parents get so into helping with the models because their own jobs are not as fun! I think back to some of the models I made at school and realise I could make them so much better if I did them these days.

But sadly my boss rarely asks me to knock up a quick working volcano :(

the letter home 'box needed for art project' is my excuse to buy new shoes :o

We've just had the 'make a model of a Scottish animal (fuck off with your obsession for all things Scottish, Curriculum for 'Excellence') out of recycled materials'

DS3 has no interest in making models out of anything other than lego, but they are not recycled. He tried making a squirrel that could sit in a box but got very frustrated so then decided on clay. Couldn't do that either. I ended up making the sodding squirrel to stop the tantrum and he's stuck it in a small box with a bit of scrunched up paper towel and has drawn on the inside of the box to make it look like a squirrel house.

If the teacher doesn't like it he can take a running jump. I have had enough of pointless model making projects.

I don't like model making primarily because of the storing of it afterwards because child is so proud of it and it takes up so much room.

but I don't make it for them. We would help with cutting things (cardboard can be difficult so for safety if stabbing scissors through it etc we might do that bit) or hold bits together whilst they stick it but we wouldn't do it for them. defeats the object.

The teachers know perfectly well which ones are made by children and which by a combined effort and which by parents. They have commented to me before that it is nice to see one evidently made by the child not by the parents trying to compete with other parents.

Why do parents put up with this nonsense? Don't do it OP! I'm a teacher and I also set the homework for the whole year group. I would never dream of adding a task like this to the homework grid. They are a waste of time as parents/nannies end up doing them.

I never did any modelmaking for my kids homework.It was 100% their own work
However i did write all DS1s GCSE English lit coursework because he was crap at English!

fuck off with your obsession for all things Scottish, Curriculum for 'Excellence'

OMG tell me about it SirChenjin! Yawwwwwwwn. Can't they see that it makes Scotland look really insecure and parochial? "We're Scottish you know! Never forget how Scottish everything is around here! Scottish animals? Tick! Scottish historical weapons? Tick! Shitey faux-Scots poems written in 1963? Tick tick tick!" Aaaaaarrrrggghhh!

It really fucks me off because a goodly proportion of kids in my DCs' classes are NOT Scottish. No, they come from a range of interesting backgrounds. Oh but we don't want to hear about their culture.

Thread hijack sorry.