To do zero home learning with DS?

[usercheeselover]

This is def a MN stealth type post so don't all pile on to tell me.... but I am genuinely torn over what to do.

DS Y5. His primary have put loads of generic Twinkl worksheets on their website. He is refusing to do them.

In contrast, DD Y8 is pretty much following a full timetable of work set in a google classroom and all work to be photographed & sent in.

So she is the one moaning that life is unreasonable!

So to make it more fair, I've been making DS sit to work alongside me. And he chooses the Y6 worksheets and is getting 100% on them. It's basic stuff, arithmetic and reasoning, comprehensions.

He has to sit the 11 plus in Sept... he is a clever kid and should pass... we haven't yet started looking at the tougher parts of the test such as algebra and mean... but because he's so bored with the work school have set, I thought I would look at Y6 mean worksheets on twinkl.

He has just got the whole of the hardest worksheet correct, including decimals IN HIS HEAD. (DD and I are no longer talking to him).

AIBU to let him do whatever he wants in quarantine (mostly talk and play Roblox with his bestie) because I don't want him to be completely bored in Y6 ?

Now is the time to get him to practice writing and presentation and showing his working. DS1 is the same and it’s something he really needs to work on

Other things are project based stuff, or making a stop action movie, or learning chess or some other thing that requires practice.
Learn some life skills - ironing, cooking, cleaning etc
Look in scouts site at badges, get him to pick a badge he wants to complete. There’s lots of different ones so should find something he wants to do
Think about other school subjects - RE, geography, history, drama, music, languages etc and so some stuff on those.

Why don't you spend the time on improving his handwriting and widening his choice of fiction?

Surely you can see that there is a whole world in between Twinkl worksheets and Roblox?

YANBU for not being bothered whether he fills in worksheets. YABU to just let him rot for 6 months.

What hobbies did he have before life stopped? Get him to do something based on them?

Sign up to Seneca learning and get him doing some online modules.

He plays chess and goes to club. I don't play. He does Martial Arts. Club is shut. I don't fancy being his kick bag though he would love it.

He's hyper mobile and has a diagnosis which is why he won't write and he doesn't at school - he types. Makes all those lovely project arty things impossible.

He wasn't playing roblox, he's coding his own game - there is a world of difference. But he got stuck. So carried on playing.

He's read most of Rick R, the Charlie Higson books, my entire Enid Blyton selection (it's huge), he reads every night. He has a massively varied book source but now the library is shut. I downloaded a book on Overdrive for him so we have books sorted. But he wouldn't read all day at school anyway.

And I have to work too. I don't want to do 11+ stuff cause we'll do that in the run up to the test.

Whatser - why is Seneca learning?

What obvs! Sorry

It's not always that you get the marks for showing working, but often that if you get the answer wrong, you may still get some marks if the working was correct.

If you get it right, you should get all the marks anyway, if it doesn't specify you have to show the working.

And YANBU, just let him do what he wants.

Speaking as a yr6 teacher, there's A LOT of school work you can give him to do - just because he can do 1 sheet of maths with ease, doesn't mean you can allow him to completely skive off for what could potentially be months!!!! Seriously???? Put some effort in - email his teachers, ask if he can do other work, what websites they'd recommend, can they set him some projects? etc. BBC Bitesize is choc full of of stuff he could work through, too.

He is one of life's winners lucky boy. He is smart, polite, good looking, loves food and cooking, always tries new food and loves to sip whatever alcohol is at the table. He talks too much mind.

I'm not sure you get what a 'stealth boast' is, OP.

I'd focus on life skills.

Can he do basic stuff like shoelaces, folding clothes, making a sandwich etc?

I know that may sound silly but my ds is in yr 5, he's bright & reads for pleasure (Percy Jackson series at the moment) & struggled a bit with the above until recently.

My ds is also not keen to do his work but his teacher said it's fine & to let him do what he wants for now.

He enjoyed painting stones today & helped make a cake. He also played on the xbox & the trampoline.

You could push his maths further with some interesting problem solving. Look on the UKMT website for junior maths challenge papers and try him with one of those. www.ukmt.org.uk/competitions/solo/junior-mathematical-challenge/archive
The n-rich website has got lots of lovely problems nrich.maths.org/primary

Great resources - definitely recommend. Research projects and some form of writing too!
But no-one needs their child to be working constantly.

I am in the same position with my DS7 and have decided to drop the work , well he's finished everything he's been given qns5i cant let him fire into year 3 and 4 maths.

So, i askes him what he wants to learn.... He said German and extra piano. So that's where we are headed. Nothing wrong with the broadening education rather than racing too far ahead

Given that you were inclined to make it "more fair" by making your ds do work because his sister has to, then why not get him to take on more of the housework? You mentioned in another post that you are working too, so it makes sense for him to pick up some of the slack.

There are plenty of practical skills he can acquire this way. Besides laundry and cooking which he may not have mastered yet, he can do some sewing if any clothes need repair, or some basic DIY if you have the materials in, or gardening, or shop around for the car insurance or look for a better energy deal online.

Saracen I might just get him to research energy bills. Good life lesson. Probably will win me a meerkat toy.

Ginger biscuits it's a tragedy but his school have shut the doors for early holiday. They are a complete shit show of an outstanding primary and think a dozen worksheets is good enough right now. Email his teachers? I'd love to shame his headteacher right now because we shouldn't be in this position in the first place.

This boy finds bluetak in the cupboard to hold his bed-side light switch nearby and ably cooks his favourite baked bean and grated cheese sandwich.
He actually weeds the garden for pleasure and always appears with a broom or the hoover when needed.

He is quite short so I don't let him near the gas hob. But he could recite a spag bol recipe for sure.

Language, coding, guitar practise and those fab maths links....

I just know other schools are doing much much better and I feel bad for him.

I agree that worksheets are a waste of his time. He sounds like a clever kid, as long as he's using his time mostly productively I'd be happy to let him follow his own interests.

Yes to the life skills, teach him to cook and clean. Let him pick a bigger project and teach him project management skills. Read a book with him, something that he'd never pick on his own.

For maths, here is a free online resource which is excellent for challenging mathy kids (their books are amazing too) artofproblemsolving.com/alcumus