Is your DC going to have to write an essay?
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Is your DC going to have to write an essay?
Hello,
I have a bit of a problem. I live in France and I am home educating my ten year old son. There is very little other home education going on, either french or english over here, his old school was french of course, and he had no peer group competition there as it was so small.
We are aiming for independent boarding school for 2012 and I think he is doing quite well. But the problem is that I don't really know.
We have downloaded lots of old papers, 11+ ones, independent school past papers etc, and we use Bond and various other books we have bought. We also follow the Essential Maths books which I gather are used widely, and CIMT online maths which we find very good.
If we were in the UK, no doubt we would know other children also going for selective schools, but here there are absolutely none.
I am particularly bothered about the level of his english, as he is a bit allergic to actually knuckling down, using his imagination and writing freely. I much prefer doing maths with him, but I know he is going to have to write an essay for his exams in November. He is fairly okay with the comprehension paper, but the essay is really troubling me.
He is writing them, but because I have no other kids whose essays I could snatch a peek at, or ask parents to compare with, I am really at a loss to know if he is useless, on a par, or better than he should be.
Are there any parents out there who would be prepared to type up their kids essays that they are doing as exam preparation and compare them? We could maybe get together every week, or fortnight (probably better as I can see my ds complaining bitterly at having to write essays more than once a week) and sort of have an online seminar. ie email our child's essays to each other.
It would probably be quite a good thing to be able to see what other children are producing, even though we might all be trying for different schools.
Hoping to hear from you all soon,
Flicka
I have a bit of a problem. I live in France and I am home educating my ten year old son. There is very little other home education going on, either french or english over here, his old school was french of course, and he had no peer group competition there as it was so small.
We are aiming for independent boarding school for 2012 and I think he is doing quite well. But the problem is that I don't really know.
We have downloaded lots of old papers, 11+ ones, independent school past papers etc, and we use Bond and various other books we have bought. We also follow the Essential Maths books which I gather are used widely, and CIMT online maths which we find very good.
If we were in the UK, no doubt we would know other children also going for selective schools, but here there are absolutely none.
I am particularly bothered about the level of his english, as he is a bit allergic to actually knuckling down, using his imagination and writing freely. I much prefer doing maths with him, but I know he is going to have to write an essay for his exams in November. He is fairly okay with the comprehension paper, but the essay is really troubling me.
He is writing them, but because I have no other kids whose essays I could snatch a peek at, or ask parents to compare with, I am really at a loss to know if he is useless, on a par, or better than he should be.
Are there any parents out there who would be prepared to type up their kids essays that they are doing as exam preparation and compare them? We could maybe get together every week, or fortnight (probably better as I can see my ds complaining bitterly at having to write essays more than once a week) and sort of have an online seminar. ie email our child's essays to each other.
It would probably be quite a good thing to be able to see what other children are producing, even though we might all be trying for different schools.
Hoping to hear from you all soon,
Flicka
Re: Is your DC going to have to write an essay?
I hope all goes well.
My ds is sitting Grammar school tests with no writing component, so is not really writing essays right now, however I have seen the AE Tuition Creative Writing books (set of 3) and thought that they were a pretty good way to improve writing methodically
My ds is sitting Grammar school tests with no writing component, so is not really writing essays right now, however I have seen the AE Tuition Creative Writing books (set of 3) and thought that they were a pretty good way to improve writing methodically
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Re: Is your DC going to have to write an essay?
Flicka, I'm assuming you're a writer / author of books? So, I suppose you'd be in a good position to teach composition?
Are the online sessions for the purpose of interaction as well as to motivate your ds (who is currently homeschooled in France?) or simply for comparison purposes?
Home-schooling can be quite lonely for a child. I had to resort to it for three months when we returned from abroad to the U.K as there wasn't a place for DS1 at any primary school! With hindsight, I know having another student of a similar age would have been a good support for him (interaction wise) and for myself-just to compare levels.
Anyhow, if you're looking to ascertain his level of writing amongst peers then alternatively, you could try the SAT papers for Y6. I'm not sure which school you're aiming for but it does give you a good indication about the various levels with marking schemes available. The CGP's little composition booklet also provides examples of essays written by children that you could use for comparison.
Are the online sessions for the purpose of interaction as well as to motivate your ds (who is currently homeschooled in France?) or simply for comparison purposes?
Home-schooling can be quite lonely for a child. I had to resort to it for three months when we returned from abroad to the U.K as there wasn't a place for DS1 at any primary school! With hindsight, I know having another student of a similar age would have been a good support for him (interaction wise) and for myself-just to compare levels.
Anyhow, if you're looking to ascertain his level of writing amongst peers then alternatively, you could try the SAT papers for Y6. I'm not sure which school you're aiming for but it does give you a good indication about the various levels with marking schemes available. The CGP's little composition booklet also provides examples of essays written by children that you could use for comparison.