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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

What can your 6 year old boy actually do?

89 replies

makawaka8 · 16/03/2016 21:46

Can anybody out there share what their 6 year old boy can actually currently do in terms of reading and writing? I'm not a pushy parent or into hot-housing my child. If anything I think I might have been a bit too relaxed about school, thinking my DS is still very young and will just get there with it all. I have spoken to his teacher today and basically he is not making a lot of progress in terms of his reading and writing. She doesn't seem that concerned because he is clearly learning in a general sense but he is below expected levels. He is in year 1 and has just turned 6. He is honestly a very bright child with a great vocabulary and he can talk about lots of complicated things. He is very poor still at writing and while he loves being read to, he is just not bothered with reading. He is progressing but slowly. His teacher today did seem to imply that this can by a "boy" thing at his age, where they are not as interested in sitting down and applying themselves? Now I'm wondering if I have been too laid back about it and should I be concerned here. Would anybody be willing to share what their 6 year old DS is actually able to do?

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Believeitornot · 18/03/2016 05:50

Art dos your ds have to attend an "assessment" to get in to the school, or an interview without you in the room? If so that's the selection right there.

BertPuttocks · 18/03/2016 06:35

At 6yrs-old my DS had very little interest in reading and even less in writing. Reading his school books at home was like some form of medieval torture for both of us. I think he was also put in with a group of children for some form of intervention to help encourage them to actually want to read. (Along the lines of doing cookery to encourage reading the recipes or somesuch).

I think he was about 7 or 8yrs old when he suddenly actually wanted to read. It was a combination of maturity/development and finding a subject he was actually interested in reading about.

The non-fiction books led to an interest in reading non-fiction based on the same interests, and that in turn led to a big improvement in his willingness to write things himself.

DataColour · 18/03/2016 11:06

Are we the only family that actually like the Biff, Chip, Kipper books?! My kids fight over those books! DD gets to chose her own books at school from her reading bank and she always picks them and DS 7, who is a free reader in yr2, loves reading DDs books. They love the magic key stories, and I quite like listening to the stories too
But the project x books now...there are a bore..

Artandco · 18/03/2016 12:06

Believe - no, no assessment before school. First time they stepped in school was to meet the teacher a few weeks before starting school ( they already obviously had a place then). The reason we chose this school was due to no assesements and tests when young

easydiy · 18/03/2016 12:18

At age 6 my Ds was a good reader(until it came to his school reading book) with an amazing memory he could count etc but struggled with anything which involved writing on paper. Speech wise he could join any conversation he was listening to and seemed to know more about the topic than the adults, he left me mouth wide open a few times wondering how the hell he knew what he did. He was(and still is) a very creative little man.

mynameissal123 · 18/03/2016 16:40

I would say a bit of homework each day is possibly worthwhile. It gets them used to it so it's not a sudden shock a few years down the line. Also they have yr2 SATS next year which might be tough without some home support. Maybe invest in some learning resources or orchard toys games instead? Pinterest is also great for homework ideas that aren't as boring as a basic worksheet. To help my ds with his writing I've got him a penpal from usa to try & make it more exciting. I sympathise with you though, it's tough going with boys sometimes & the key is to try & keep it fun!

user789653241 · 18/03/2016 17:08

Artandco, I've had a look into the past g&t post. You said you read at least 20 books a day , and let them learn times tables on cd with 3 years olds.
I don't think it's typical child.

user789653241 · 18/03/2016 17:17

Sorry for being nasty! I couldn't help, since you keep trying to justify yourself.

DancingDinosaur · 18/03/2016 17:28

You're not being nasty Irvine. Just stating a fact.

user789653241 · 18/03/2016 17:47

DancingDinosaur, I sometimes feels real nastiness in me.

validusername · 18/03/2016 20:42

My ds is 6 in June and is about the level Art's DS is at. He does sit on the top table in his class, with a group of Autumn born girls which he loves.

I know he is clever and certainly above average for his school but I wouldn't say he is gifted. He has a natural thirst for learning and will read anything he can get his hands on. I think that definitely helps.

DD is 4 and starts reception in September. She is the complete opposite and has no interest in learning at all, but I know she will get there in her own time too.

Feenie · 18/03/2016 21:18

That's an interesting post out of only two, ever, both this evening.

Nice of you to post to support your friend though

DancingDinosaur · 18/03/2016 22:13

Nice of you to post to support your friend though

Have we been joined by a sock puppet?

Feenie · 18/03/2016 22:18

I couldn't possibly comment

G1raffe · 18/03/2016 22:21

I'm fascinated by Arts posts and life!

Artandco · 18/03/2016 22:23

Erm have you ever read a 3 year olds book? It's about 5 pages long. So reading several at a time is perfectly normal at toddler age otherowse storytinw would be over in about 30 seconds

Artandco · 18/03/2016 22:24

*otherwise storytime

Feenie · 18/03/2016 22:28

Agreed, Art.

Why post it on a a G & T thread then, if as you say it's so ordinary?

Artandco · 18/03/2016 22:33

Well I generally just post on a thread I see of interest from active conversations. I don't actually check what section it's in. So I don't mean to post on any topic in particular, but on thread title. I have no idea what topics I may or may not have added to, it depends on whether the ops question is of interest or relavence.

DancingDinosaur · 18/03/2016 22:45

A little longer than 30 seconds for the average 3 year old learning to read.

multivac · 18/03/2016 22:53

aww, artandco. Is it always 'how clever is my six-year-old' threads that are 'of interest' to you - on whatever random board you find 'em? Why might that be, d'you think?

VoldysGoneMouldy · 18/03/2016 22:57

DS is six, we had parents evening a week or so ago. He's an advanced reader, always has been. He reads Harry Potter to himself. His maths is apparently at the same level (though I must admit I was surprised by that), he's always been interested in numbers. He has has adult level vocabulary for a long while now.

That said, until this half term his handwriting has been pretty atrocious. Normally because he's trying to get everything from his head onto a page, and it doesn't work!

OP you said he's just turned six. I don't agree with the whole 'boys will be boys' thing, but a lot of us have noticed a significant difference in the older and younger children in the year recently. Those who had birthdays in the autumn term seem to be finding school a lot easier in general than those that are younger.

Dovinia · 18/03/2016 23:01

My 5.5 year old is in Year 1. I've seen evidence of him writing an A4 side of fairly legible writing. He's on level 12 books (blue or green colour I think?) which I think is average - teacher likes them to finish Yr 1 on level 16. He can count in 2s, 5s and 10s but doesn't know them as times tables. Can do basic addition and subtraction but uses his fingers. I believe he's doing fine.

happy2bhomely · 18/03/2016 23:06

My son turned 6 in Feb. He has been reading for maybe 2 years. I didn't teach him at all, other than when we were out he would ask what words were on the bus or shop sign. He did some phonics in nursery and then all of a sudden he could read. At the moment he is reading 'My naughty little sister.' He can 'read' harder books, but he doesn't really understand them. He likes to listen to me read them to him though. His writing is lovely. He uses capital letters and full stops. He writes as well as my 8 yr old. He is still spelling phonetically mainly, but he remembers maybe 50 hfw. He doesn't enjoy writing though, and complains that his hand hurts. He is left handed and finds it hard to sit still. Maths is his strong point. He is very quick at mental maths and loves problem solving. He gets very excited when he notices patterns. He is obsessed with the water cycle and minecraft.

He found school boring and slow. I started HE at Christmas and he is loving learning again.

SansaClegane · 18/03/2016 23:07

DS1 has just turned 7 and is in Y2, but a year ago he was a free reader and read chapter books or non-fiction on his favourite topics, and had started 2, 3, 5, 9, 10x tables.
That said he is naturally academic and eager to please, I never do much with him apart from the (once a week) homework he's given and reading every day (I think it's important to hear them read out loud and discuss the contents, even when they are fluent readers).
This is still an age where there's a wide variety in what they can or can't do, so I wouldn't put too much pressure on. DS2 is still 4 and in reception, while reading also comes naturally to him he is a bit slower than DS1 when it comes to number work and really struggles with writing still, just the physical act of it. He is a very different personality than DS1 though and I'm confident he'll get there eventually.

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