Sunday 26 January 2014

A slower Sunday

After taking the service this morning, it felt like the rest of the day was mine.  I could relax a little and not worry about needing to do this, that or the other.  I had a cuppa when we got home from church and sat down to pootle round a couple of blogs and MSE.  Then I pulled the tupperware of leek & potato soup out of the fridge, and the FH and I had some lunch.  The girls had not long had their breakfast so we left them to their own devices.

This afternoon, I have spent some time with the YFG sorting through her revision books and helping her to work out what she needs to do.  The amount of homework that she is getting is nowhere near what I got at her age, and even in this modern age, still not as much as the EFG got in the same year group three years ago.  The school is trying to drive up standards and aims for the children to achieve, but seems reluctant to give homework.  Whatever the folk at the top say, I firmly believe in homework, and so in some ways, we are going back to some of our home-education ways, and she will be doing some consolidation work at home.  Now that the course is linear with all the exams at the end [the way things used to be!], she has got to learn to retain the information for much longer, so all the consolidation she can get will help her.  This is something that she understands our concern about because she saw how much work her sister did, and realises that she doesn't "get" everything.

Here’s where I shop…
(image from mortgagefreeinthree.com)

I managed to work my way through the Approved Food website and find enough that I wanted to put together an order to make use of my free delivery code.  I ordered some of the Gluten-free breadmix that Froogs was recommending too, so I shall look forward to making some of that bread and hoping it tastes good.  All I have to compare it with is Sainsbury's Free From bread, which is OK but really not brilliant and quite expensive.

(image from collider.com)

We three girls spent some time on the sofa this afternoon, watching a film called the Robot and Frank....I think...it may have been Frank and the Robot!  Anyway, it was a good film on Netflix and one we had been trying to watch for some weeks.  It deals quite sensitively with a man in the early stages of some kind of dementia where he is clearly losing his memory and the ability to recognise people.  The FH is battling with a 500 piece puzzle - it isn't huge but it does have an overabundance of foliage on it, which always bamboozles him rather.  He is still struggling tonight, and he has been at it on and off all day.

(image from digitalspy.co.uk)

The supper was cooked whilst Countryfile was on, and then the FH retired to his puzzle whilst we watched Call the Midwife: he always thinks there is a little TMI, but we enjoy it.  I have read all of Jennifer Worth's books and found them very interesting, particularly her attitude to death.  I shall probably read them again and again!

I would like to tell you that I spent some time knitting or doing crochet, but I didn't.  I will get back to it soon because I find it very relaxing.  One thing at a time.

3 comments:

Wendy P. said...

Hi Morgan!
Sounds like a lovely day was had by all. Yes, I cannot believe how little homework DD3 gets -- in Year 10! Ever since year 7, it's not really been a lot, I think...again nowhere near the amount I had. I clearly remember being squirreled away in my bedroom with my transistor radio on very quietly. I did half before dinner then carry on and do the rest afterwards. Sometimes if everyone was in the front room watching telly, I could stay in the back room (in the days before it became a through-lounge) to finish it. It was usually a bit warmer there, too!
Some days DD3 has no homework at all, and other days it seems minimal. An A4 sheet of quiz-type questions requiring one- or two-word answers, not even full sentences, for 50 mins or an hour?? I was writing essays and compositions a lot of the time, in most subjects. Perhaps this might explain why DD2 has been struggling with all the essay-type work in Y.12! Then she has to design a Facebook page for all the major religions...on an 'A'-level course? Even she thinks that idea's crazy!

Morgan said...

Completely agree, WendyP. The YFG is also in Y10 and the EFG in what I would call Upper Sixth, as I lose track, but I suppose it is Y13. She did AS English last year, and got a C, which I am convinced is because nary an essay was set all year! I was gobsmacked by that, as when I did A level English, I was taught at least two strands/papers at a time and was writing an essay a week for each one, so for example, I could be writing an essay on Shakespeare and one on TS Eliot the same week. It taught us so much about structure and argument, and I am worried, and I have told her so, that she is going to struggle to write good essays at uni, just because she hasn't had the practice. I could rant on! Sorry.

Thanks for your contribution xx

Sue said...

Sounds like a good day for you all.

I suppose a lot of parents are not as supportive in getting their children to actually DO homework so the schools are drawing back from setting it, which is entirely wrong.

Children have to learn to find things out for themselves and to know that they can ask parents and that sometimes their parents actually do know the answers to school questions, sometimes I think they think we were educated on another planet!!