Week 2     What have we been doing in class?

This week a number of parents arrived anxious that they hadn’t been able to complete the work. Don’t worry, consider this week a fresh start. After Christmas you’ll be able to do 2 folders a week and after Easter, 3 a week (assuming I have caught up with replenishing lost stock). By the summer, you will be able to do a folder in an evening. I promise!

 

The plastic folders go from one child to the next so please write your answers on separate bits of paper and mark them yourselves. The folders don’t have direct internet support but there is usually a video somewhere that will show you how to do that type of question. Ping me an email if you are stuck. Go to YouTube and look for Sarah Beswick Channel. The “channel” is important it will give you easier access to everything

 

I am impressed by how hard the children have been working, I can tell by the number of video views and the number of maths sheets downloaded and handed in. Well done!

 

We take a couple of minutes at the beginning of class to explore the seven deadly sins and how they relate to the 11+. The children who come to me are generally bright and are used to coming top without any real effort. For many, this hasn’t been true this week and their pride has taken a hammering. So, they learn some humility and a bit of robustness: not bad things to learn. If they get upset, it is simply frustration; we are all allowed a little cry every now and then. They key is not to join in. If someone is drowning you can show solidarity and jump in and drown too but that really isn’t very helpful: stay on the outside, nice and toasty warm, chuck them a lifeline and pull them in. 

 

Computer games: give them up. If I ask them to give up washing-up or cleaning the bathroom, they have no difficulty with that. The harder it is to give up computer games the bigger the addiction. This is never pretty. Bite the bullet, put on your big girls’ pants …  whatever it takes, give them up.