Could I have some advice please

[puddinmama]

Hi

I would really like som advice from some wise mumsnetters, teachers also if possible. Anyway, I had been homeschooling my 7 year old son, I took him out of school in December of primary 2 and he has just went back into the end of primary 3, we are in Northern Ireland. Anyway, this is test week, and its becoming obvious that he isnt going to do very well, it seems that the spelling scheme I used with him is totally different from the one they were doing at the school and the math they seem to be concentrating on money and we havent reached that as yet so now I feel really worried. He is a bright young lad, but now that our circumstances have changed and he has to go to school, I'm feeling awful like its my fault for him missing out and I want to know whether I'm thinking too much into this or what can I do to helo him over the summer before primary 4. The principal did say that they repeat alot of stuff in primary 4.

Could someone maybe a teacher let me know how important these class tests are etc

Thanks

I'm a teacher but in England and am afraid I don't know how important the tests are in Northern Ireland, however... Your son is still really young and anything he has missed he should be able to catch up pretty quickly at this stage. It's not as though he's doing public exams and there's no immediate time pressure. As the principal says, there will be lots of consolidation of topics (esp. in Maths) over the next few years, and you really shouldn't beat yourself up over him missing out - he has loads of time to make up any lost ground.

If you want to help with any catching up over the summer I'd make an appointment to see his teacher/s and explain the situation. (I don't know how it works in his school but if I tried to grab my children's teachers unofficially after school I'd probably get a fairly dismissive brush off). They should be able to suggest topics you could usefully go over with him or even recommend easily available maths and literacy publications if they themselves are not keen on setting work for him to do over the summer.

Don't know if that's any help but I would def. ask for some support from the school. Good luck :-)

Hi

Thank you thats very reassuring to hear,I will make an appointment and see what they say, maybe she'll have a better idea about where he is after he has done the class tests.

Thanks again