School Days – post Christmas lull and school disco

We’re back after the Christmas holidays, and the first ‘week’ of school is over.  I know some aren’t even back yet, so if you’re still enjoying the holidays, I hope the first week back goes well.

N seemed happy enough going back to school. When he was asked if he enjoyed school, he even answered yes (before then remembering that maybe he shouldn’t give that away, and saying no!).  I’m really glad he enjoys school, even though he sometimes moans about doing work.  But he obviously does like to learn, and takes things in. He’s always asking questions about why things are, how they work, and can then repeat back things he’s learnt in school or otherwise.

The latest thing he was discussing was the about mating cows, and how hard it is for the bulls because they’re heavier than the cows and so is has to happen fast. And the bull puts his penis in doesn’t he mummy?’ In his words, ‘it’s a lot easier for sheep because the tup is much smaller’. The OH claims he’s not told him anything about it, and I’ve only told him the minimum needed about making human babies, so he’s certainly on the ball.  Apologies to any parents with children they’ve not told about the birds and the bees, if he lets the cat out of the bag!  At least he’s accurate though.

Anyway, back to this week’s School Days.

It was a short week thanks to bank holiday and an inset day.  I’m not sure how much work he actually did because he’s still not done reading to anyone (no-one’s written in his reading journal for weeks so that’s something I need to check because his best friend who’s in the upper class has a lot of adults writing in his journal having listened to him read.

Reading

This week’s reading has been painful. He came home with what we thought might be the last book on level 5 on Wednesday and he read that well, then another book on Friday.  The latter was simple, but he’s moaned so much about not reading it. I don’t know whether he’s just not back into the routine (I hope that’s the case), or whether he’s bored with those books. But any little scribble, stuck together page or any other distraction makes him moan or talk about other things. Just READ THE DAMN  BOOK.

So fingers crossed, next week he’ll be moved up a level. He’s now on the same level as his friend in the class above though so I’m really pleased with how his reading’s come on since September (and the summer). Now just his writing formation to work on.  Oh and finish off his phonics because he still doesn’t know any of the final set as far as I can tell.

School disco

In the past the disco has always been after school and N hasn’t gone.  But with children having after school activities and parents not wanting to come back to school later (twice) they tried it on an afternoon.  Children who didn’t want to go had other supervised activities to do. N was determined he wasn’t going until school asked him if he was going and then got confused whether he was or not. So I got a call from the office asking to check.  Instead of the disco, he and another boy from his class played Lego and magnetic shapes for the duration.  Oh, and ate an ice lolly!

I’m not sure I like the school time disco.  Yes, maybe in the last week before Christmas (although I think they do enough fun and play during that time), or the last week of the school year), but I think a one off disco in the early evening is fair enough. It might be a hassle for parents (it would be for me because it would start before I can pick N up from afterschool club), but I’d rather he was learning in school and I’m sure most parents would agree.

Losing teeth

There’s one thing that N really does do well and that’s lose his teeth.  He turns 6 in a few weeks and this week at school lost his 6th!  While eating said lolly above. It did mean it came home neatly packed up in wrapping and an envelope.  School look after teeth a lot better than we do, when he mostly loses them outside on the farm.

Birthday party invites

Birthday parties when in the younger school days are a lot of pressure. This year N and his best friend are going joint again, but not having a big party. We just don’t have the time to organise it, and to be honest, I can’t be bothered with the hassle.  Instead they’re just taking 3 people each to do a pizza making party.  It’s cheaper, we won’t have to do anything other than turn up with a cake and party bags (already in hand) and hopefully the boy will still enjoy it.

The hard thing is a) getting them to choose who they want to come. N’s were easy enough because his cousin gets an invite straight away, and his friend/neighbour who’s in the year above. Then his 3rd was easy to choose. His friend chose another 1 they both wanted straight away. But choosing the last 2 was hard because his friend really wanted children much higher up the school.  We had to veto those because what 10/11 year olds want to come to a 6 year olds birthday party.  So trying to choose from 20 odd kids was hard.  We also need a minimum of 8 and one can’t come so it’s back to rethinking again.  It’s turning out harder to limit the numbers than it was to decide and book the actual party.

Then of course getting the invites to parents in the playground where sometimes it’s grandparents or others picking the kids up, being discreet about it in front of others, and telling N not to go round class or playground yelling out to those invited or those not, about his ‘party’.  It’s hard for him but maybe he’ll just have forgotten and that’ll be it.