To think that teachers need to teach stuff and not me.

[caroline161]

DS has just started at Grammar school. Ridiculous amount and type of homework. For example: Learn about Archimedes principle, explain what you have found. AIBU to email the school and say, " I would appreciate it if you could teach him this instead of me and what the f are you doing all day which means that I have to teach him Archimedes principle"

He definitely does deserve his place, year seven is hard - you will not be the only parent in this position.

I would definitely talk to the teacher to raise the difficulties he is having and ask for suggestions on how he should be tackling things. I’d expect concepts and resources to be introduced in class before the homework was given out, and then for a year seven to follow through on these at home with their independent research. Is there enough time for him to go and speak to teachers in between the homework being set and the handing in class?

Good luck and sorry people have been so mean!

@caroline161 some of the responses on here have been appalling. Your son did exactly the right thing by googling, watching videos, chatting to you. He still doesn’t completely get it - that’s fine. He’ll have taken some of it in. When the teacher explains it in class it will consolidate what he has understood. It is typical of bright people who are suddenly being stretched to panic and think they need to get everything perfect. He doesn’t need to be perfect, he has to give it a go and he will start to develop valuable independent learning skills.

Thetruth02
Of course no child will be brilliant at everything. I don't agree with the comments that he didn't deserve his place etc

I was more saying it's surprising that a child bright enough to get into grammar finds the concept of research homework so difficult that a parent (who equally seemed to miss this fairly basic concept) gets so annoyed at the task that they've decided school musn't be teaching them, what are they doing all day, why am I having to teach him etc.

Finding the topic difficult is one thing.
Having a parent ranting because their child has found homework challenging is ridiculous.

Given the central issue here is:
School set research homework
Parent comes on MN to rant about how she's doing the teaching

There's a little undertone to me of "but my child is in grammar so if they are finding work difficult then school aren't doing their job", which is based on a very fixed model of intelligence where the sign of being clever is to find things easy and if you find things difficult then that's a perceived threat on your intelligence. It's quite common with high performing students (it's like an extension of "I must be smart because I finish my work before everyone else")

OP If you are still here...

Let your son read the Archimedes and the king story and watch Why Ships Float.

Then you and he need to stop with the "I can't do this cos I is a thicko" schtick. Your son has been given an opportunity for independent learning that so few kids get these days. Believe me, it is one of the reasons so many teachers get frustrated. I taught A levels for decades and in my last 5 years it became more and more prevalent for even the very brightest to throw a hissy fit and demand "Just tell us the answer" when tasked with research.

Instead of railing against it embrace it. Sit with him and Google the homework and start by ranking the results:

Too complicated --> too easy
Reliable information --> crackpot flat earthers

Then how to take notes, easy bullet points, no more than 10 initially that he can then reduce, incrementally as he understand more, down to 3-5.

So, he reads the Archimedes and the king story and makes 10 ish notes on the way the gold affects the water.

Then watches How Ships Float and reduces his bullet points as, hopefully, his understanding has increased.

Take those bullet points in as his completed homework, along with references tro the story and youtube clip.

What he has found is that there is a lot of information on Google and that you have to be careful to select the right sites.

What he has also found is that Archimedes was born a very long time ago, that's where we get the word Eureka from. If he read further he would learn not to tell a Roman soldier with a spear to wait a moment...

And he would have a basic working idea of what Archimedes principle is.

Research skills, some history and some science - all in one piece of homework! Rejoice in it. Instil a love of independent learning. Your son will thank you for it one day... many of his teachers far sooner!

Surely this it just building on practical work he has learnt before in his previous school really, explaining how things float and they will have played around in water in practical lessons.
Have a look for some easy practical youtube lessons to explain it to him in kids terms. I understand you may not remember it exactly from school like the formula in detail but it can't be an alien concept to you it's very basic physics and covered by curriculums everywhere as far as I know.

Walkingdeadfangirl If I didn’t already understand Archimedes Principle I doubt if that google explaination would do much to enlighten me.

Also - do you not enjoy helping your child to learn?

No. Not really. Not academic stuff anyway, especially maths, which I've never got the hang of and I probably have dyscalculia but no point getting a diagnosis now. Teaching them to bake, swim, keep themselves fit, reading and discussing books together, yes definitely, all day every day.

I'm with you OP. But I don't blame teachers. There's simply not enough time in the day to teach the curriculum and what's expected so parents have to pick up the slack. I will and do but it stresses me out and there's been joint tears more than once in our household over maths homework. I'm not alone if the despairing pleas on FB for help with new Year 7 homework are anything to go by.

None of this sounds unreasonable to expect of a Year 7, but there will be a wide range of skills, even in grammar, and Year 7 can feel like a bit step up.

YABU if you think the school is lazy or incompetent for asking kids to independent research. You are not expected to teach your child, but it's not unreasonable to expect you to help him learn how to do research. Sit down with him, get him to google the topic, give some suggestions if he's not sure how to do this, look at some of the sources together, make sure he knows to read, digest and write in his own words, not to cut and paste, etc. If he hasn't done this in primary, he will need some pointers, but you shouldn't be doing it for him, just helping him learn the skill.

If you're really concerned that this is too big a jump in difficulty, maybe email his form teacher and explain that his primary didn't teach independent research and ask if there are any pointers for guiding him with learning how to do this. Some schools have stuff on their websites or hold info evenings on supporting your child's learning.

Perhaps a Grammar School is not the right learning environment for him. Grammar schools are full of hot housed 11+ success stories who are now struggling to do the work at the same pace as many of the others students. If you believe my child’s school’s current head master that is.
It stands to reason that if a child was supported to pass the 11+ then that support may have to be sustained.

OP-Leave him alone to do his homework! You shouldn't be getting involved with an 11 year old. If he has a good go but struggles then the teacher who set it can gauge what he needs, if you interfere you will make it hard for them to assess what he is capable of.

The best way to understand this is to get him a bowel of water and tell him to add objects in and watch the water rise. You could take photos and he could use them as part of his presentation.

*bowl hahaha!

I just cannot believe they haven't done that in his primary. My dc's primary has done loads of self research since ks1.
But if he hasn't, you helping won't do any good? He needs to find out and learn to research and pick what he needs himself. Yr7 is definitely capable. And if he made some mistakes, that is a good lesson for him too. Not if you told him what to do.

YABU if you think the school is lazy or incompetent for asking kids to independent research

This ^

I've not read the whole thread but the first few pages really brought out the assholes, maybe with a chip on their shoulder about not going to grammar 🤔 either way, really horrible things to say.

Congratulations on your DS getting in! 9 bits of homework does sound a lot, but are they all due on the same day? When I was at grammar we got what would seem like a large volume of homework, but it was meant to be time managed and spread out.

If you DS is doing the investigation but not understanding then I would just make notes to prove he's done the homework and speak to the teacher.

It was a jump in learning style for me from primary to grammar school, but keep at it and keep positive!

I can completely understand how your son would have felt overwhelmed: without any kind of guidance of where to look on Google for graded explanations of this, he would have felt completely lost. Yes, give a child research homework, but also help them to find age-suitable explanations. And yes, I would hope the T has taught at least the basics first before letting a child loose on Google to understand something quite complex for an 11 year old.

Op, 40 years ago, my cousin passed to Grammar School. Great excitement: he was the only child we knew to have got into either of the Grammars in our town.

I remember his mum being worried sick about him in his first term because he had so much homework, he was sleepwalking.
He did get used to the work, and learned how to do it in a way that eased the pressure and I'm sure your DS will, too.

Yes, OP.
I think you should send that exact email to your son's new school.

Your job is not to teach him, it is to give him the opportunity to research the topic either by internet, books, or museum. The fact that he has done something on the subject before it is taught is a huge huge benifit to the lesson. A bit like looking at a map to see how to get to the Natural History Museum before taking the journey. Learning is a skill, like any other skill. Just showing DS an Encyclopedia with a picture of an Archimedes screw, will help him and his teacher. Homework is not compulsory, and should not cause him stress, but just these little bits of revision will help your son achieve.

Yes speak to the school as a parent you shouldn't be expected to help your child or teach them anything the school should defiantly raise your kid for you. There's obviously clearly enough hours in the day for them to teach him everything. Maybe they could also feed him, wash him and get him ready for bed for you as you wouldn't want to be put out.

@HiJenny you just said it all for me 🙄

Just because he doesn't understand Archimedes' Principal in y7, it doesn't mean that doesn't belong at his school ffs. Maybe his strengths are in other subjects? Not understanding one piece of homework in y7 doesn't mean that he'll be failing physics either.
I think it's pretty poor that his primary school didn't teach him how to research things as my kids ones did too but that's not his fault.

OP would be unreasonable to assume that research for homework is the school being lazy but she's not unreasonable to keep her son at his grammar either.

Before you panic and send him to another School ,take a deep breath and look at the explanations given here.Maybe have a look at some of the 9 pieces of H/W set and see how you get on with them . Whichever School you go to he will be set H/W ! 9 pieces is not a huge amount (Wait until its GCSE year!).It takes a little while to settle into a new School with different patterns pf learning .He has gone from a small pond where he one of the oldest/brightest ,to being a tiddler in a big lake!

Ignore the posters who say he shouldnt be at GS ! He has passed the exams and deserves his place there !

He will have had the same homework at a non grammar school. It’s standard year 7 homework.