Anyone else not bother with all the on-line educational sites?

[decena]

My DD is 7 and I would describe her as average at all her school work. She has quite a lot of HW each week which she does with a bit of prompting and moaning.
She has little interest in on-line games, DS etc and I have never bothered with any of the on-line educational sites as I think she has enough already.

But then I come on MN and there are posts about all these extra curriculum work that can be done on all these sites, some free, some to sign up for.

Is there really any advantage for a young child in these? I can see for a teenager perhaps, then I worry that everyone else's child is doing more work and mine will get left behind!

Nope we don't bother either. My DSs love to play on the computer and you would think that educational games on the computer would make homework more palatable but it doesn't. They aren't any more interested than they are in the normal paper and pen homework.

They are not fooled into thinking that me giving them number games or whatever is any different from what they do at school and as you say, they have had enough when you get home.

Mine are in Yr 6 and Yr 2 and haven't been left behind at all.

I can barely persuade my DS to do his homework. The thought that he might voluntarily 'play' on an educational site makes me laugh out loud.

He is a lovely boy but at aged 8 he wants to play with his toys, make a mess and run around the garden doing strange things with sand and weeds?!

I couldn't say if there is any advantage in using them. I just know that the hassle of getting him off Club Penguin would not be worth it!

It is highly unlikely I will ever be posting on the Gifted and Talented threads.....

Sometimes it gives kids more confidence because they learn about a topic in more detail.

A lot of subjects are introduced at school, but because of different abilities and time factors, some children might not get all the attention they need or could do with.

Sometimes when they "learn" something on a computer they remember it and it helps when do do something in school.

Not all kids respond to computers so it is an individual thing.

Whether its an advantage or not, I dont know. I personally think it helps to understand what they already know because questions get asked in different ways.

It does let parents know or establish if their children are struggling in certain areas (you dont always get told by (some) teachers)and then you can provide additional support if you wanted to.

Some schools hate it, other schools support extra learning, depends again on the school

I have also found it has exposed my DC to topics that have never been covered at school (thinking along the lines of science, history, geography, environment, culture, music, etc.,

I find my DD likes them because she thinks it's not real work...but imagines them to be simply fun. That might change as she's only just turned 6!

Never bothered in the past and the only reason I will try to find some online work now is because ds is disabled and needs to learn touch typing very quickly, so we're working with the school on this.

But otherwise, I always felt there were so many ways in which I could offer to expand their minds in the fields mentioned by RoadArt that I really didn't need anybody else's educational games: we sang together and look at the bugs in the hedgerow and visited local historical sites and talked to them about books we enjoyed.

Although I post links-mainly because I think they are more fun than doing workbooks or worksheets-there is no need to ever go on them! It is up to the DC. Playing board games, card games, shopping, cooking etc RL in general is much better. She isn't missing anything. Fine is she wants to go on-fine if she doesn't.

We stuck it out at a school that was all wrong from the beginning - everything about the school screamed at me that it was not the right environment for my dd. Still I persevered and made excuses to myself for their lack of care and shitty attitude. Dh although admitting the school were crap, feared all schools were the same and I wouldn't be happy with anywhere for my pfb anyway.

We moved from a staid, lost its way, Ofsted Outstanding school to a rapidly improving satisfactory school.

Turns out all schools are not the same and since leaving the old school more and more parents from the old school have spoken to me about how awful they feel their school is, it's almost as if the blinkers have been removed - I feel for them but I am so glad we took the jump, everything about the new school seems "right" and for the first time in 3 years I feel dd is being properly educated in an healthy atmosphere of fun and encouragement.

Maybe you can turn it around - I couldn't, I just didn't trust the school or respect any of the teachers we encountered.

Oops misposted, sorry.