To agree with this article re. curriculum whilst home schooling maths and english

[fabulousspider]

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/feb/20/im-a-maths-lecturer-and-i-had-to-get-my-children-to-teach-me

Just read this, and have to say I agree with the maths and english sentiments from the experts.

Having been teaching my kid (age 8) english which involves "fronted adverbials" and all that malarkey whilst trying to encourage their creative writing seems backwards to me. Overcomplicating what should be an enjoyable experiment in creativity. Making the kids stressed out! Kids will learn appropriate language usage by default as they write. They don't need to know what a fronted adverbial is whilst they are trying to grapple with the creative side of writing. I believe that they will pick up the appropriate language by a process of osmosis whilst carrying out the creative writing.

And the number of times I've noticed that frequently the maths work set and the answers seem plain wrong! Like the maths teacher says, you teach them one thing when younger and then change this as they get older. I see that some concepts need altering for younger kids but I am honestly suprised at some of the ways the methods are put across. They don't always seem intuitive.

Do others feel the same?

Meant to tag @SarahAndQuack in the above post, who I'm quoting.

I am a secondary Maths Teacher - I found his attitude really poor. As a PP has said, he may well have an aptitude for Maths and doesn't necessarily understand why we need to break it down. I grew up in a family with non mathematicians, older sister really struggled so I get people who don't get it.

Also I have struggled to teach my Yr 1 child maths at an appropriate level, they had a problem the other day, I knew the answer but I also knew the way I had worked it out they haven't covered yet. So they explored the problem, and came to their own conclusion - when we submitted the work I added a comment clarifying not using what I instantly thought to do and asking for guidance.

I can teach Maths, but I do not know the finer details of the KS1 and 2 syllabus of what they learn when, I know what I should expect them to know by Yr 7 but the break down not so much. The same as I wouldn't expect my childrens teachers to be able to teach GCSE Maths instantly.

There is something very very wrong with the English curriculum in primary school. No idea who authorised it but it is not age appropriate and teachers have been saying for years that it damages children’s relationship with books and makes them less creative.

Maths is a bit different: they do hard stuff but it is about real universal concepts that will be useful in future.

Grammar is mostly just made up nonsense created by people with too much time on their hands.