Year 4: what to do

Introduction

Above all: play and be curious!
There are some things you can only do as a child. It is now or never (or risk an ignominious mid-life crisis).

First and foremost: do not spend money on tutors or workbooks. There is a whole industry feeding people’s insecurities. They are interested in their bank balance not you, nor your child. Resist the temptation and trust in yourself: you are your child’s greatest teacher, use this resource generously.

The 11+ draws on the children’s life experience, so give them just that. They learn so much better from doing things rather than through books.

The questions in the exam are written by examiners who had a less protected childhood, with no computer games or day-time television. They did chores and helped with DIY. Their mothers made dresses and knitted jumpers and fixed their own washing machines. They ate their greens. They caught buses on their own and would nip down to the local shop to get “stuff”. They thought nothing of being off on their own for hours at a time returning home for meals. No one was in the least bit interested in what they had been up to, in the certain knowledge that had the children been naughty; an adult, any adult, would have promptly dealt with it. Despite the fact that the examiners have their own children and know that children now have a very different life experience, they still base their 11+ questions on their own more independent childhood.

So here are some lists of thing to get your child to do before commencing their 11+ training. This way they will genuinely understand the substance of the questions.

Spatial awareness

Origami
Jig-saws
Making boxes
Drawing posters
Opening and flattening boxes for recycling
Lego
Making book marks
Knitting
Sewing
Crochet
Making cards and decorations

Personal responsibility

Caring for a pet
Cleaning out pets
Gardening
Bathroom cleaning
Helping with laundry
Drying up
Laying the table
Buying small amounts of shopping

Maths

Go shopping
Bake cakes and biscuits
Catch buses
Go to the cinema, buying your own tickets
Make things
Budget for anything and everything
Pay for things and check the change
Help with DIY
Put up flat-packs
Calculate cloth/wood/wool needed for craft projects
Use maps and plans
Be aware of the milometer and speed dial
Play guess the weight, length, volume
Help unpack the shopping
Be around when the car gets petrol
Eat chocolate (area and perimeter)
Play with dolls’ houses or train sets
Build models
Post letters
Help put together flat-pack furniture
Write a newsletter on paper
Play the Numberquest Game
Manage time, plan activities, set and use deadlines
Guess
Do the daily maths sheet

Reading

Anything. The children will not be required to read a novel for the exam, so don’t get hung up about it. However, they do need to read for fun. Try:

Novels, they are good
Books for younger children are better than nothing
The Guinness Book of Records
Food packaging
Magazines
Instructions
Recipes
Joke books
Writing / spelling / punctuation