Poll - are your kids striking tomorrow?

[WalkingdeadWHAT]

Yes or no

If yes, what will you be doing with them?

And Kess I can't comment on Rosen's views on phonics; I don't know enough about it. But while many authors probably do have a flair for language, maybe they were also taught 'just right'. Maybe they got taught the basics of what they needed but because of that their love of language was left to develop at its own pace.

I love words but I love them for a purpose - to communicate and express myself and be creative with them. Drubbing me with unnecessary grammar would have killed that love stone dead, in the same way that drubbing me with the body parts of insects killed my interest in Biology at school. We have to be careful to encourage kids to learn because that hunger to learn is the single most important element of education.

Such an eye opening thread. My son is in year 4 so presumably this is why the outrage hasn't hit us yet. Also I definitely think it's up to the school how they handle the stress. However he does bring home a (mind numbingly boring) maths worksheet, grammar worksheet and comprehension (as well as spellings and times tables) to do each week. Now I understand why!

When it comes to the grammar sheet I have to use Google to help! However he does seem to be getting it and I'm really glad. I remember at secondary school struggling with foreign languages, because it's really hard to learn the grammar rules of another language when you don't even know your own! However I do think the level of detail they have to go into is bonkers!

It's so difficult. We don't have the mentality as a country to apply the Chinese/Korean pressure to our kids-thank God! But to properly apply the Scandinavian model we would need a drastic overhaul of many areas in society I think...I mean, in Finland kids go to school for around 20 hours a week, with no homework! But teachers are trained to the same level as doctors, which presumably means they are experts at maximising those 20 hours and making it fun...but taxes are much higher which presumably helps pay for some of this. I don't know. I'd be up for a drastic overhaul in that direction!