reading in reception -- am i being too laid back by throwing ds homework in the bin?

[Lozzer]

I was just looking at aloha's thread about her son and reading at school, and now I am wondering if I am being a bit silly by not doing any of the "key word" homework with my ds, who is in reception?
We do plenty of other stuff like painting and cooking and gardening and we play outdoors a lot (we live in Malaysia). And I do read lots of books to ds BUT I never get him to look at the keywords he brings home from school, or any of the jolly phonics stuff. Infact, I normally put it in the bin.
My reasoning (to myself) has always been that plenty of kids don't go to school until they are 6 or 7 and reading isn't a priority right now. But I think most of the other kids in ds class can probably read a bit, and now I am thinking I SHOULD make a bit of a reading effort so ds doesn't feel left out at school. Any opinions please????? Am I being a tad laid back on the reading front?

I read something recently which is worth bearing in mind when using the "other countries don't start school unitl much later" argument. This seems to be quoted quite often in the context of Sweden. But I understand that Swedish is a far more regular language and that the letters are more phonetically consistent, whereas in English there are more irregularities. Are there many English speaking countries which start school much later and still have similar results?

I think also that the age where full-time schooling starts in many countries is less about a philosophy of "children are too young to learn", and more to do with how the state tries to fund the balance of childacre for worksing paretns and educationf ro children. Again in Sweden, whilst compulsary schooling doesn't start until 6 or 7, over 80% of children are in formal preschool before then. And the children not in preschool tend to be from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, whose parents are unemployed and not entitled to the preschool provision.

I don't think ds1 could read any of the 45 "key words" by the end of reception. He seems about average in his class now for reading (middle of Yr1). In fact, he is surpising me by picking out all sorts of other words "United", "Blast", etc.

But none of that may be relevant to what his peers are like in Malaysia... if your son is otherwise going to be behind his peers, I'd try to do a bit of the homework now. What are other parents in the class doing?

I think regardless of your attitude to the homework, it gives a poor message to your son to throw it in the bin. I also believe that 4 is too young to teach reading and writing, a view reinforced by the fact that my ds1 spent his first years of schooling in continental Europe and arrived in year 1 in the UK barely knowing the alphabet. He caught up quite easily and is now in the G&T programme in his school BUT that wouldn't necessarily work for every child. On the other hand, ds2 started in UK reception last September and now knows all the key words and many others besides. Just because I feel that I would rather he waited, doesn't mean that he can! If we are in the UK system, then I think I owe it to my kids to keep abreast of what they are working on and ensure that they are keeping up with their class to the best of their/my ability. If you intend to retrn to the UK or keep your son in the UK education system, I think you do him a dis-service by not encouraging him to do his words.

I'd check with his school. If he is doing OK, then why worry? If he is behind then you need to do some reinforcing. My dd has sheets every week with words and letters and we do look at them when she gets it, but I don't do anything more than that. ds (now in yr2) didn't have anything home at all in reception, so I assumed it was down to the individual teacher. I don't do the reading books either, but we always do about an hour of reading a variety of home books at bedtime. I hated reading at school, but am (and have always been) a complete bookworm, inspired mostly by being read aloud to by my big sister, so I am more keen that they think books are fun than following the set curriculum. But if they started to slip behind at school I would probably take a different view.

Only from experience, in Norway not only did we start school later, but the so called formal preschooling consisted mainly of playing outside (snow or no snow). Also in Holland the so called formal preschooling was a lot less formal than the nursery DS went to here in the UK.
Because the school system here in the uk is crap from this point of view, doesn't mean I should just blindly follow it.
Yes, I would love to move back to the continent to be able to send ds and dd to schools that I with a sysytem that I prefer but DH doesn't want to move country.....

dd has 4 words a week that she has to learn to read, that and her reading books is the only regular homework she gets. She is in Reception.

tbh it takes about 5 mins a day to get the words out and run through them. She really gets satisfaction when she gets them all right on Friday (they day they are checked witht he teacher) and loves telling us about the kids who don't get them all right!!

Personally I don't agree with homework for Primary especially infants but she so wants to read it is really enjoyable for her and me to see the progress she has made. I am not saying she is the best in the class, as she isn't, but I can see the benefit of learnign these words as she now recognises them in the reading scheme books. They may be boring but the are carefullly linked to the words she has to learn so she is enjoying her success at reading them.

I want her to enjoy learning - please don't think I am a pushy mum - and helping her to succeed is fostering this attitude I hope.

btw I did throw her holiday homework away! she doesn't know that though!

Yep, August born reception baby - who really doesn't want to read. He just doesn't get it. But I know that he is smart so am not too worried, I do bits when he is feeling receptive and we read loads of books. At the moment I am pretending to teach DS2 to read to try and encourage DS1 - as he will want to be better than his little brother.

He will be behind other kids. It's a competitive system, you may think it's too pressurised but that's the game. 2.0 like most of his class was reading books at the end of reception, not spotting words. Your kid will be up against kids him a the various and many stages of selection.

"We do lots of fun stuff at home".
Along with the binning of homework I fear for the message your child is getting.

Reading is fun, honest. Some people enjoy it more than cooking. Kids do not enjoy things that they perceive they are worse at than their peers. You can see where that can go.

Yes different countries have different strategies, and Britain's results are so crap that it's hard to accept it blindly. But you don't make a bad system better by executing it badly.

I'm trying very hard not to think negative thoughts about your attitude. which was much the same as my parents.

I don't care if my ds is behind the others in reception as long as he is happy (playing football/lego). DS is well aware some of the others in the class are better in reading than him and doesn't care. He loves me to read books for him, so no "wrong" messge regarding reading . Sure, later I think academics are important (both DH and I have several postgrad degrees) but do expect DS/DD will pick up, if necessery with some help from us.
OK, haven't binned any home work as such as he

Have to say, i think you should be reading with him, sjut to have thta little routine. My dd reads to me nearly every night and loves it. Does he know you throw it in the bin?
(If he does i think it's a very bad lesson for him to learn i have to say!)

my ds is in reception and is 4.5. He brings books home from school - but has never been given any keywords . He is gradually learning all the letters. Yesterday he recognised "at" - I think that is the first time he spelled out a word and worked out what it was. We read a lot with him, but if we try and get him to recognise letters or words too much (or even a little bit) he usually gets unresponsive and doesn't want to do it.

So - see what works for your child - if he responds to dealing with teh key words then go for it, if not then just conitue what you do - he will pick it up at school anyway.

Lozzer - just ot giver a different point of view, I think I ouwld be rleaxed too. But maybe it is becasue in Scoltand we don't have a "reception" year, so therefore don't have a list of words that they are "supposed" to know.

Here, the kids start school at the youngest at 4.5 - and can, if you felt it best, be held back until the following year.(They would then be the oldest in their year, unlike in England, where if you hold off putting him in school until they are 5, it seems they are just put into the year they would have been in the first place, which to me is just plain daft: they are still the youngest in their year and they are now behind the others! ).

Kids may are may not attend nursery beforehand (like England, we get 12.5 hours "free" sessions), so they may or may not recognise words when they start. The school sees it as its job to teach them to tead: they do not asume that they already can.

Ds (who started school in August, just beofre his 5th birthday) is only now getting sheets of words home that we are supposed to spend 5 minutes going through with him.

Far better to do what you are already doing, which is making reading fun and exposing him to books - soem with picutres, some without - as part of everyday life.

I might do a wee bit more of the Jolly Phonics stuff - but I know with ds, even doing the words he is doing now (at 5.5), that it reduces his enjoyment of reading as he is still trying to recongise the whole word and not learning how to put letters together.

I think you are doing just fine, Lozzer.

As long as your son is sharing books with you, that's enough at this age IMO. No sense in pushing it.

My ds2 was like this - I did pretty much the same as you. He started year 1 in the lowest, special help needed literacy group.

At the beginning of year 2 he was moved up a group and stopped getting as much adult support. The teacher has just said to me that ds2 should meet the Y2 targets for writing at the end of this year, and his reading is coming on fine.

He really has made lots of progress in the last six months. He now loves writing independently - he will often write notes and letters when he is playing at home.

My sister who works with kids with learning difficulties and specialises in the area of children and language gets really annoyed by this. She says that we start kids learning to read far too early in this country.

The way it works is most kids are ready to start with reading/writing around 6 years old or even older for some. Starting before this in most cases has no ill effects as most children just pick it up at their own rate. However some children (usually the ones who find it difficult at the younger age) will be put off (who wouldn't be put off and discouraged when asked to do something we are not neurologically ready for yet) and this has a knock on effect that when they are of the right age they have already decided that reading/books are too difficult and not for them.

If your child likes reading - fine, if they are 5 years old and having a bit of difficulty - then don't push them. Keep reading to them etc but don't push them to do something they can't yet. By the time they are 6 or so if they are behind at school, then that is the time to put the intense effort in with them and with most kids that will pay off and they will catch up really quickly.

For schools to expect children to read 45 words by the end of reception is ridiculous - many will not be able to do this and to expect them to will put some of those kids off for life.

My sister who works with kids with learning difficulties and specialises in the area of children and language gets really annoyed by this. She says that we start kids learning to read far too early in this country.

The way it works is most kids are ready to start with reading/writing around 6 years old or even older for some. Starting before this in most cases has no ill effects as most children just pick it up at their own rate. However some children (usually the ones who find it difficult at the younger age) will be put off (who wouldn't be put off and discouraged when asked to do something we are not neurologically ready for yet) and this has a knock on effect that when they are of the right age they have already decided that reading/books are too difficult and not for them.

If your child likes reading - fine, if they are 5 years old and having a bit of difficulty - then don't push them. Keep reading to them etc but don't push them to do something they can't yet. By the time they are 6 or so if they are behind at school, then that is the time to put the intense effort in with them and with most kids that will pay off and they will catch up really quickly.

For schools to expect children to read 45 words by the end of reception is ridiculous - many will not be able to do this and to expect them to will put some of those kids off for life.

oops sorry - double post -

Agree, lazycow

don't know.i think 4 is young, but as we live here I adapt and have done the words with them.
I think it really helps when you do it at home and make it fun.
on the other hand, if a child is reaaly not ready, it might do more harm them good- but maybe you should discuss that with the teacher.

I have to admit, I did put more effort into getting ds to do his worksheets and learn his spellings once I felt he could cope with them.

From year 1 we practised his 5 word spelling test each week and attempted one work sheet. I would not have done that with him in reception though. And he was still struggling a bit so I was not that pushy about getting him to do much - we did the bare minimum.

He is the youngest in his class (late august born) so spent all the reception year as a 4 year old and all year 1 as a 5 year old.

It seemed soon after he had his sixth birthday r that his mental capacitly matured enough to grasp the literacy basics. When that happenend - and it was really noticeable - he started to enjoy his work.