1st year study / homework

1966

Hi there - my son started secondary school last Sept. He's a great little guy really and is really happy in himself so that end of things went smoothly. My issue is that he really is going no work when he comes home in the evening. If he has homework to do its majically been done during the day during a free-class or if not will spend about 15 mins in his bedroom working on bits and pieces.

Cant seem to get through to him that School is different now and not like primary and that he has to put a bit of an effort in and revise whats been done during the day etc etc etc. He always agrees with what I'm saying but to be honest I dont think he grasps at all what I'm saying. He's always been an average student and reports home from school show the same but I am sure with his lack of work that he'll soon fall behind.

Anyone out there who has been through this - or any advice on how to get through to make him understand without turning this into a row next would be much appreciated.....................

He is still only 12 and a little immature I feel too.

4Xcut

You may be looking for a quicker colution but more than likely, the end of first year exams will wake him up. Realistically, in 1st year, as long as he's doing his homework for teachers and paying attention in class, he's doing fine.

How about seeing if the school has an after school study program. I remember the best work i did was there when i was in school. Maybe leave that to second year tho, but it is an option.

KatCookie

Im not a parent, but im a (slightly above) average student. You could try get him to do homework in a different place e.g. if your Dining Room is quiet, then you have some chance of supervising him there.
ALL 12 year olds are immature, Every Single One. Dont think he's not, I realise than im generalising, but its true!
In First Year most students either a) do homework quickly
or b) Spend ages doing homework that isnt really that compicated
the students in the first group tend not to give anything more than a cursory glance, but yet most of the HW will be done
Students in the Second group will spend hours upon hours attempting their HW and getting frustrated when they get tired and sometimes "burnt out" by the end of Summer Term
I know of ONE guy, in my year(and i'm in a large school), his mother makes him do at least 2 hours of honework since first year(!), IMO, its not necessary,
if your son grasps new concepts quickly theres no point in sitting down and not really focusing on anything. If he isnt such a great learner then he would need to read over something learnt in class-but then he may be less likely to want to do it.
If he doesnt understand something then he Should ask you, thats really the only help you should give him, that, and testing him if he asks.
Bottom line: Its only first year, dont worry yet and Your son will be fine, just make sure he takes good neat notes, they are the only things hes going to need for the J.C and L.C

It is a bit of a lose/lose situation, but your a parent- you'll never win!

G&T

Am in the same boat as you,
my son has
"load's of free classes and his teachers
are not in" according to him.

We thought from sept-dec
was a settling in period and the hard work will start this term.
Still the same since he went back last week,

Parent teacher meeting's are soon so ill be
interested to hear what is going on in school,

Told our lad if we find out he has been dossing
then he wont be allowed tv,soccer,youth club ect

Maybe what's reported is true,
there has/is a dumbing down of the
educational system,

Id get the school's side of the story
before taking action,

Maybe our kid's are just super intelligent:D

KatCookie

G&T Surely his Christmas School Report tells you how many days he's been missing, most teachers should have the absentee's list written in a diary so you can check with them

G&T

KatCookie wrote: »

G&T Surely his Christmas School Report tells you how many days he's been missing, most teachers should have the absentee's list written in a diary so you can check with them

Not him,his teachers

He is a bit young and innocent yet
to be going on the go:eek:

Thoie

I read "dossing" as taking it easy, not skipping school.

Talking of diaries, could you ask his teachers at school to check for your signature in a homework diary from time to time?

So he writes down his homework.
When he's finished the homework he shows it to you, and you sign that it's been done. A teacher checks from time to time that what he's written down matches what has been set.

Things have obviously changed since I was in school, but I don't think in first year you really need to "study" - as in go back over everything that you learned that day. I remember that the homework was the revision of the day's work - e.g. you learned in French how to say hello, my name is, etc, and then homework was to write a few lines introducing yourself.

Of course, the other side of things is that if he is getting all his homework done during free classes, how many free classes are they getting all the time? When I was at school, free classes were a rarity - you might get one a month if you were lucky, and generally you only got a single free class every couple of months when a teacher was sick. The worst ones were when you heard the teacher was sick, and then another teacher who taught the same subject turned up!

challengemaster

Ok first off - I'm in 6th year now, so here's my opinion. It's first year... it's not exactly serious business. Yes, there will be lots of free classes, heck even upto 5th and 6th year there's loads of free classes. I remember last year (5th year) I had no homework some days. I remember one day in 5th class I only had 2 classes out of a 9 class day, one of them was religion. Lol.

I never revised a thing until 5th year either (well, apart from JC revision). I felt the JC was nothing but a joke and meant absolutly nothing in the real world. Only study I ever did was for science because it's my true passion. I don't recommend doing it, but I'm not saying it's a totally bad thing either. It worked for me. Honestly, I wouldn't really class it as any sort of problem if he's not digging into the books in 1st year. I think you're expectations of things are a little high.

Most parents these days don't know the idea of the workload in school, try to relate it some way to their own school days, and when their kid isn't studying, get worried. My own father has completly no idea when it comes to how schools are run these days. He just thinks that it's still like his childhood, where if your child missed a day, there was a search party sent out and when you were back, people had missed you etc. Can't seem to comprehend that there's 600-700 people in the school and at any one day there's probably 40+ missing. (sorry for the anecdote there but.. just for illustration)

If by 5th year he's still not studying, then you've got a problem on your hands. The main problems usually associated with 1st years are -

1) they're finding the workload is way too much compared to what they're used to, or subjects are too difficult, or they hate some subject, or some such.
2) They're having some kind of bullying problem, or just don't get on with people well.
3) They're mis-behaving in school.

Honestly, If your child is having none of those problems in 1st year, all's going well I'd say.

KatCookie

Thoie wrote: »

I read "dossing" as taking it easy, not skipping school.

Talking of diaries, could you ask his teachers at school to check for your signature in a homework diary

USE WITH CAUTION: if he is remotely a target for bullies, your mammies Sig in the diary could be a very bad thing..

Thoie

KatCookie wrote: »

USE WITH CAUTION: if he is remotely a target for bullies, your mammies Sig in the diary could be a very bad thing..

Good point.

Eric Cartman

i remember first year, i was like that too, did homework at lunch with friends and in religion etc... up until about 5th-6th year i rarely had much homework, once his reports are ok and hes not skipping school i cant see the problem, once hes not failing its fine.

im only out of school 2 years and i never bothered really, was never the best in most classes (metalwork/engineering was the only thing i tried in) , what your saying sounds normal enough to me, dont bother making him revise,

just do what my parents did , let me continue and every year murder me over the report i got (parents thought i should be more academic than i am), first year and even everything up to junior cert has no real bearing on anything, obviously he shouldnt be failing, but getting c's and b's isnt bad

deisemum

My son's in 1st year, he's 13 and enjoying secondary school so far.

We got his school report today and we were delighted with it.

He gets a reasonable amount of homework. Parents are obliged to sign the homework journal and if it's not signed the pupil gets a tick, DS sometimes copies my initials with my permission. I do supervise him doing his homework.

He gets a good few free classes and manages to get some of his homework done then. Yesterday in a free class his class counted up how many free classes they had last term, from memory it was in the high 50's, most were down to one teacher.

Before christmas we became aware of what's happening with one of his teachers, this teacher of one of his subjects has only taught a handful of classes last term, he's meant to teach that subject 3 times per week not a handful of classes per term, we're talking 4 or 5 classes here. The teacher may turn up to class but then has to go to park his car or do an errand.

A few days before the christmas exams this teacher told his class what would be on the christmas test, talk about covering his tracks.

I'll be speaking with the principal about this next week.

1966

G&T wrote: »

Am in the same boat as you,
my son has
"load's of free classes and his teachers
are not in" according to him.

We thought from sept-dec
was a settling in period and the hard work will start this term.
Still the same since he went back last week,

Parent teacher meeting's are soon so ill be
interested to hear what is going on in school,

Told our lad if we find out he has been dossing
then he wont be allowed tv,soccer,youth club ect

Maybe what's reported is true,
there has/is a dumbing down of the
educational system,

Id get the school's side of the story
before taking action,

Maybe our kid's are just super intelligent:D

thanks G&T - you know its sounds so like my son we could be talking about there! Christmas report not out yet so will wait & see what that throws up. Tests up to Christmas have all been fine - so after that and all posts here I am starting to think I'm over-reacting. Posts from those still in school were great too.

Having spoken to girls in work too today and one with bullying issue and the other with her daughter who sounds so unhappy and miserable in school - the fact that hes so happy in himself has made me rethink. Suppose it goes with the territory - that we constantly worry !!!!

G&T

Ah yes the bad Mammy stick,
not happy unless we are beating ourselves with it.

Your son sound's like he is settling well and doing
some workHe is telling you about his day,letting you check
his book's,not slamming door's and living in his room!

Am hoping for us both it stay's that way....

Think it's time for us the mammy's to
take a bow.

cooperguy

In first year the homework is the revision for the day. I would not be too concerned about more revision yet. Wait until the Christmas report comes and the Parent-Teacher meetings. You will then have a much better idea of where he stands.

lostinnappies

solution, check with the teacher. Kids will try get away with anything they can. Check withthe teacher that he is doing all his homework and that it is up to standard. The teacher will appriciate that you are taking an interest. Warn him you are going to do this first and see if it makes a difference.

Fad

To be fair, you really dont get THAT much homework in 1st year, and you do tend to get it done during the day, Library@lunchtime/free periods.

I saw kids doing homework at the DART station today (me being a 6th year, them being 1st year)

fonpokno

Yeah, in first year you don't get alot of homework at all and I know we used to do it at lunchtime and in free classes. Also, very often our teachers would set the homework and let us start it about 15mins before the end of class so you'd be finished before you even left the room.

I would've been like your son when I was in first year, getting my homework done in ten mins flat. But because I'm the youngest my parents knew the drill very well already and encouraged me to get homework done at lunchtime and such so I'd have more time to relax after school. I really wouldn't worry too much about it. The fact that he's actually settled in happily to secondary is the best thing for him. He's only a first year!

Toto Wolfcastle

I'm a first year class teacher who has a few students who are losing motivation. I suppose the novelty has worn off. Anyway, find out if the school uses the results of summer exams to organise banding/streaming in any of his subjects. If so, mention how important it is to get into a good class from the beginning and this might motivate him to keep up with the work.

If this isn't an issue, then make sure you bring his journal to the P/T meeting so that the teacher can have a look to make sure he is taking down all his homework. I know that when I was in school I used the free class excuse the odd time even when I didn't have one in order to avoid doing homework.

In first year there really isn't a huge amount of homework given, but it is important that students get into the habit of going over what they learned in class each night. This will really stand to them.