Following on from my thread about dd being an egyptologist.....

[Jux]

here

OK so she's 9 and in year 5. Anyway, over half term she has decided that she is insufficiently challenged at school and that she should write an essay a week on some period in history. Unfortunately they follow the IPC so they don't do history as a subject, it's jumbled in with everything else in a 'topic' - not a bad thing, but not enormously helpful in these circumstances.

So today she asked her teacher if he could give her extra homework in the form of a history essay question. He said they're concentrating on spelling, maths and story writing so he'd rather not.

Any ideas? (I can't home ed, I tried to a long time ago our relationship barely survived!)

Well, even if she's not being marked on it by a teacher, there's plenty she could do for herself in researching a history topic and preparing an essay or project on it, for you to read and comment on. Even if it's a topic you don't know much about, you could get her to explain anything which doesn't come across clearly in the essay, or ask for more details about some points, or ask what her evidence is, or whether there are different viewpoints. That would all give her experience of researching a topic, collating info, putting it across in her own words, clarifying her thinking etc.

Good for her in looking into how to get more of what she wants, if the school aren't covering it in enough depth. I'm sure there are plenty of books and websites she could look at.

Jux from about your daughters age (I was obsessed with Volcanos and earthquakes, the egyptians facinated me too) I started to give myself projects/essays on all sorts of subjects, she doesn't need her teacher to give them. I would you to the library read my way through the references section and find a subject that interested me, I would then get a folder and start collecting information, make maps, draw pictures and then after a month or so do a big essay.
I loved to spend the whole of the school holidays in the library researching.

I would GO not I would you.

AMumInScotland, I had thought of that, but if you knew my dd... well, she's the sort who needs (whisper) marks (oh the shame!). Though to be fair, she is looking to university and really has no idea what sort of standards are required, even of her. She is ahead in most things and doesn't have to try, except a little bit in maths, but even that is minimal. She's also thinking of trying for a grammar for secondary and I think she wants some sort of idea of what would be expected of her. All in all, she needs an outside agent looking her stuff over.

Sleepyeyes, the library is a good idea and we also have a huge 'library' of reference books for kids and adults. I will work around to telling her your youthful antics and she may be inspired. Still doesn't address the need for an outside, impartial person. I wish her school were more helpful.

Have you seen Galore Park's "So you really want to learn history (junior)"? They're very nice for a budding historian.

I should think you can pick them up over amazon. On the publisher's site you can view a sample chapter. I think she could work through the reading and choose one of the listed follow-up activities alone if you don't have time/inclination to get involved too much

Ruby, I can see why you've got lots of green men, but I actually have no idea how long dd will keep this up for. I just like to grab the dog while it's running iyswim, though it often stops very quickly and life goes back to normal.

I shall look up Galore Park forthwith ZZZen, thank you. It sounds good.

Oh wow, the first book includes the egyptians - that's a good start! Do they have essay questions in? She's never written an essay, which I find a bit ; sure I'd written a few by her age - 40 years ago, mind you, and in a prep school.

I do, but I don't want to assume it will always be like that. She's interested in her future education though, which is a good thing and I will continue to encourage (and try not to nag). She hates homework though.

why doesn't she think of her own questions and then research and write up answers?

SHows far more independence in her learning.

No, not essay questions as such. At the end of each chapter/topic there are exercises, so you need to go back over the readings in order to answer them or complete some task.

THis kind of thing:
What did the pharaoh's government do?
Draw a diagram of a typical pyramid complex.
Why do you think the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb has been useful to historians?

I would expect a sentence or paragraph would answer most; however she could easily write more if she wanted to. In the end an essay is made up of paragraphs and needs a beginning, middle and end, so practising writing good, clear, densely packed paragraphs is good essay writing training too IMO.

Then they have some fill in the gap writing exercises.

• The Ancient Egyptians invented _ signs to represent the simple sounds that made up all the ____.

Then they have a section with activities:
Write a message using hieroglyphs
Imagine you are a child in Ancient Egypt. Write about a day in your life.
Find out as much as you can about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Design a poster to display what you have found out.

I've just plucked out a few. Of course Egypt is only one section out of eight in the first book.

Thank you ZZZen. There are several there which can be used as essay questions and she'd enjoy doing the rest as well. In fact, she's done a few of them already (writing in hieroglyphs for example). I've ordered the first in the History series and we'll go from there. I hope that will be enough and I won't have to try to find a tutor-type-person for her - had enough trouble finding someone to extra maths when she felt she needed it!

Her old teacher from year 4, who has gone to teach in another school, but with whom I am still in touch, has sent me an essay title for her!!!!! Some people really do work over and above the call of duty. What a wonderful woman.

Jux I understand your frustration with your DD school, I went to a nice but very basic primary school and an awful High school that had terrible exam results with very low expectations of its pupils.

IMO it was my love of reading that feed my love of knowledge and kept me from being board, in high school whenever I had finished my class work or there was a discipline problem involving half the class and the teacher I would take out my book and read whilst everyone else argued, used there mobile phones or just zones out.

I would encourage her to read widely.

What a great teacher!

their not there Must start using the preview button!

She reads a lot, it's true; dh and I are both bookworms too. I just wish they'd try a little bit harder - every time we go in we're told how exceptional she is and all that, but they don't do anything about it.

Her old teacher is fab and we miss her sorely. Wouldn't have had her this year anyway, though, and the guy she's got is brand new to teaching. Maybe he just needs time to get into the swing of it, but it's a shame for dd.

I may have it sorted well enough through MN and the wonderful Mrs D. Thank you everyone.