I was lucky growing up, I enjoyed school for the most part and found most of my subjects easy. I loved English, History and Geography and would happily spend hours reading about my favourite subjects. Maths was the big exception. I hated it, didn’t get it, could have lived quite happily without it. I was very lucky to have a very patient father, who spent hours going over my homework with me, again and again until I could complete the necessary coursework. Sadly he couldn’t sit next to me in the exams!
Progressing through school isn’t always easy, especially if you are not great at remembering and recounting information. In my day exam results were purely down to your performance on one particular moment in time. Something I’ve always thought rather unfair, particularly for those who crumble under exam conditions. To me, a mix of one-off exam results alongside coursework seems a much fairer indication of a student’s ability.
I had my head in a book, writing away for as long as I can remember. Looking at a nearly 6 year old Monkey as he starts progressing through school, I have no idea whether he’ll be studious in the years ahead or hate every moment! Only time will tell I guess. But I can encourage him to show an interest in the world around us. I’ve read to him since he was born, he’s grown up surrounded by books and he knows that a lot of them are books for Mummy. He knows that I read every night, without fail. I share my love of nature and history with him at home and as soon as we leave our front door. I want the subjects he learns at school to be real for him. I hope that way Monkey will get a really good grasp on the subjects he’ll learn as he progresses through school.
Daddy P should have been an engineer in my eyes, it was too easy for him to join the family business instead of studying hard at school. I know he is already keen for Monkey to join him one day, but I’ve told him that before Monkey can join the business, if that’s what he chooses, he must experience the world beyond the business so he can bring skills back with him. That will hopefully involve continuing with education. Again, only time will tell what Monkey decides he wants to do, all I can do is encourage and help him as best I can.
Should he come home with maths homework I can’t fathom or ever be struggling in an area I can’t help him with at school, I’d certainly look at getting assistance from a private tutoring service like Fleet Tutors if needed. One of our neighbours used this sort of service to help their son prepare for the grammar school entrance exams a few year ago, with great success. I’m not that’s a route I’d take with Monkey, but I would do whatever I could to help him achieve his goals and aspirations in the years ahead.
disclaimer: this is a collaborative post
We’re exactly the same. I’ve basically said that N needs to get some kind of qualifications to fall back on before going onto the farm. He seems to think he doesn’t need to learn to read or write because he’ll be a farmer – I had to explain that he’d have to read and write to pass driving tests, tractor tests, fix tractors, fill in cattle passports and more. Hopefully he’ll find a subject he really loves at school to make the most of that before farming. Also, so many farmers’ kids I went to school with all went to uni before going back to the family farm. In this day and age there’s so much more to business than just doing the day to day.