The laptop has just mysteriously broken, so he can't do his homework. Actually I heard a big thud from upstairs when I was getting dinner on.

Homework cannot be done my ass... it's called a PEN and PAPER! I remember using it when I was in school almost 10-11 years ago, it's not extinct. No supper, no phone, no going out, no TV, nothing to drink until he WRITES his things out.

In fact, I'd probably have him by his shirt collar screaming in his face about now

He did get a bollocking, it's a tough one. Teenagers.

I'm too ill to get worked up about anything much at the moment and Mr P has a stinking cold now. I might as well paint a cross on the door, the bunch of lepers that we are.

I'm sorry, I can't stop layging...
.................................................................................................................................
OKAY *deep breath*
I'd offer to come yell at him and do some crawling down his throat like a drill sergeant for you Lesley, but unfortunately, I fear doing it via phone call would either go through one ear of his and out the other, or the kid would hang up on me in under 5 seconds or less

No probs, I'm seriously considering running away to join the circus when I'm feeling better.

wake_up_bomb wrote:
This is exactly how I feel about homework too. I'm of the very strong view that it's purely another way to have control over our kids for all the wrong reasons. The five school days are long enough for the state to dictate over our children and the time at home should be able to be spent doing all the things kids should be doing along with spending quality time with their parents. Three kids later, I can honestly say that the whole homework regime has caused more than it's fair share of problems between me and mine over the years.

If I had the power to erradciate it altogether, I'd do it in the blink of an eye!

Not many people enjoy it, but I tried to explain that he would get the school off his back if he got on and did it. I'm not a fan either.

That's the problem. You just have to get on with it or have social services banging down your door as well as the school constantly on your kids back.

I despise the education system.

LesleyPumpshaft wrote:
I may be wrong, but I think something is going on at school, he could be torn between the studious goody good kid's, and the little mini delinquent's, and this is pulling him sideways, you may need to try and contact a school teacher without having the other kids see you going to his school, to discuss him and some possible bad influence that is effecting him, that he won't talk about to you.

I agree that there should be no necessity for homework. It really bugs me that they even get homework at junior school now, which we never did. I'd even say it's counter-productive, 'cause the little ones are tired when they get home, and need to play & be kids - forcing them to sit still & do stuff they don't want to in that age group can make them develop negative feelings towards school.

I only did the absolute minimum necessary, and then, only when I was nailed to the seat and forced to do it. I suppose it's different now that the exam structure has changed to this continuous assessment.

But like Sketti said, you need to conform if you don't want the interferers at the door. They seem really quick to label kids as having 'problems'.

all my bad habits i learned in school. i dunno what you can do les. isnt he supposed to hate it. or did i miss the point of school?
lots of kids here in usa are of the fuck school opinion and drop out only to take a GED instead. thats like your school diploma that you can get. and some counties are providing online lessons for home schooling.
you could always tell him you'll bring that 5 year old to kick his ass if he doesn't get cracking.

my advice to your son is to get himself suspended. its better than expelled, when you are expelled you just end up in another school. when suspended, your still technically at school but you dont go. do it right and he could drag out whole terms.

then spend his days legitimately bunked off, doing worthy stuff.

psketti wrote:
Apparently teachers don't like being told that the amount of homework they give correlates with how bad they are at teaching everything their pupils need to know in a 6-7hour 5 day a week timetable...especially by pupils.

I hardly ever did any home work. I hardly ever did any work when I was sat in class. I just used to pretend to write until the lesson was over.
When it came down to it, they couldn't make me do it. I generally just pretended to be a bit thick.

I wasn't a fan of comprehensive? Secondary? school...the dinners were lovely though

Gilly wrote: Christ, they'll be giving them homework at nurseries soon. Okay everyone, before you come back to class tomorrow I want you all to find out what the cow jumped over, who ran away with the spoon, and who was caused to laugh by the whole incident.

wake_up_bomb wrote:
Well, funnily enough I had a set to with one of Sarah's teachers when she was about 5, over just such a thing!

Because I was working f/t, I'd take her to the school breakfast club and she'd stay in the after school club till I arrived, so to my mind, that was a long day there for her.

This one day, when I collected her, she was upset, because her teacher had kept her in at lunch time, because she'd not done her homework the night before. That was because she'd forgotten to bring it home - an A4 sheet with a pretty small, intricate pattern all over it that they wanted her to colour in.

This woman was pretty confrontational, accusing Sarah of lying about forgetting it - she claimed it was in their book, till I told her to show me & she realised she was wrong. She said things like, "The parent's always seem to think they know best".
I told her off, and it was only the other day that Sarah told me this teacher had then been nasty with her for a while afterwards. Water under the bridge, but I really wish I'd known that at the time.