Friday, April 17, 2009

Conversation of the Day

M: Mummy, I'm going to learn about life......

M: Mummy, which came first, the romans or the egyptians?

Me: The egyptians.

M: I don't believe what I'm hearing.

Accountability and Knowledge

So, I'm sitting here, translating the curriculum for years CIN, CYP1 and CYP2 into English, and its strikes me how little parents of schooled kids know about their education. I wonder how many of them have even considered looking at the curriculum, or the education departments website, or know what is expected of their children to progress to the following year. How many parents turn up at parents evening, listen to all the positive words that the teachers has to use and go home again glowing at the report, and happy in the knowledge that the school is doing everything it should be for their child, even if they have no clue what that is.

Maybe I'm doing a disservice to other parents, and everyone is sitting there, as I am, reading or translating this wonderful 100 page document (but I doubt it!).

This may be a thought that is obvious to seasoned home educators, but really didn't occur to me until I was trying to work out what
"By language activities, the competence to communicate already acquired by the child's family environment is developed. This skill is essential to develop the best in authentic communication situations where the child is the receiver, or the issuer."

actually means!