MagiKats Blog
Tips and advice for parents
What do your kids do during the school holidays?
The other day, whilst reading an article about the merits of study in the school holidays, I found myself reflecting on what I used to do in the school holidays.
A rough guide to the stages of learning and what it means to you when helping your child succeed in a positive manner.
Some new parents ask that their children be given more homework. This is a natural thought. They can see their child making good progress on 5 or 10 minutes a day so it seems a perfectly logical expectation that they could be ready to go to university by year 7 if only they did half an hour a day! Unfortunately, rather like pensions, what you put in does not necessarily relate to what you get out.
The culture of coaching
I've just read an excellent article by Alice Pung in today's Weekend Australian and The Monthly magazine. My favourite quote from that article is this one: "Even private schools are beginning to acknowledge a coached student may not necessarily have the type of rounded, inquisitive mind that they are after.
Home Schooling: some observations
We have recently come across two very different examples of home schooling with children at MagiKats, leaving our debate to whether home schooling is successful or not wide open!
KS2 English
In the recent change to KS2 English SATs, a bigger focus has been placed on spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPAG). Working in a school, I can’t help but notice the lack of immediacy when it comes to corrections of SPAG errors.