Please don't 'baby' your children

[pineapple95]

Where do I start?

Parents of my y3/4 class routinely carry their children's bags in, take their lunch bags to the hall, hand in letters and money, put their reading diaries and spelling books in the right places on the right days, linger in the corridor chatting ... for goodness sake MAKE YOUR CHILD LOOK AFTER THEIR STUFF!

7-9 year olds can carry bags and remember books. Don't baby them. Even 3 year olds can carry their bags - don't be that parent who mollycoddles their children.

No. My position is that observation/drawing skills are really important for human understanding of the world around them and we should, as a society, be ensuring DC have the space to develop those skills. Early reading/writing is not helpful - indeed, the focus on early literacy and lack of focus on observation/drawing is a human tragedy.

But is it impossible to focus on both, user? My ds1 has, imo, quite poor visuo-spatial perception compared to his other skills, but that's not surprising to me, given his immobility early in life - he couldn't and didn't explore his environment, but did develop excellent verbal abilities to compensate for that and subsequently was an early, prolific and fluent reader. Ds2 is very observant and has superior visuo-spatial perception, he is also very good at drawing, so does not seem to have been impacted in any way I can discern by having learnt to read early. Mind you, he is less interested in books than ds1. Imo, ds1 was never going to have advanced observation skills!

My memory of my children's early primary years, mind you, is mainly of them cutting, sticking, pasting, drawing, and making stuff, or playing make-believe games.

Well, ds1 may not be able to draw for toffee, or work out how to operate simple gadgets without assistance, but he's a keen observer of people and their foibles. So it really depends what you think you mean by someone's perception of the world, doesn't it.

I dont think waiting holds then back hugley they will stoill pick it up quickly. It just makes it a bit fairer on the average-late developers. Who may be just as bright or more so. Just struggled with speech etc. Had no concentration.
Reading is a marathon because it isnt a skill measured long term, that is writing and comprehension.
Creating sure huge false 'ability' differences doesnt help anyone.
Making ones learn that arent ready will make them resistant.
We have just ended up with yr 1 targets in yr r etc. And although lots can achieve this, thoses that cant must feel rubbish.

And what about the self-esteem of those who can achieve the reading targets, but can't achieve other EYFS targets? Why does their self-esteem have to be harmed by being held back in the one area they can gain self-esteem and self-respect by excelling? Why are children only delicate little flowers when it comes to reading?

Personally,though, I think 4 is a year too young to be in school - too many children are not fully ready for school in one area or another.

Of course you don't zzzzz - my children learnt to read at home. Some children learn in pre-school. But to go from pre-school with reasonable adult:child ratios to a 1:30 underfunded school reception clas at age 4 is ludicrous.

Larry

Most American students will have done physics, chemistry and biology from age 11/12. They advance to high school with three years of lab sciences under their belts. Before that they will have studied science in a general 'science' class in elementary school.

Physics is often the last of the science sequence taught in high school because of the level and type of mathematics required. By junior year any students wishing to do honours level physics will have taken the prerequisite mathematics courses.

Because of the math quotient, I suspect UK students studying physics in year 7 are not that much further advanced than American students in late elementary school grades or the first year of middle school.

Most American high school students will take a broad range of subjects. Anyone hoping to go to university will have to have taken English, humanities, science, mathematics, and a mfl along with electives. The result is a broader knowledge base among a wider population than you find in the UK.

I think that there seems to be a desire for all dc to have the same skill set..

The common core skill set that all humans require in order to function in liberal democracies is quite significant. It in no way precludes DC from developing their own interests, talents and skills, but individual skill sets mustn’t edge out the common core skill set. Or else you get Brexit, Trump, populism etc...

A large proportion of those students will have taken Maths to Alevel and many Further Maths

There are higher standards Maths A level and FM A level in many school systems.

Higher standards than

IB Higher Level, US APs, reformed French Bac...

Higher level is the equivalent of A level plus FM but tougher!