We're properly back into the swing of the school term again around here. That morning routine comes back all too easily and all the little joys and pleasures that go with it. For instance my little darling who will inhale full loaves of toasted bread during the holiday, almost needs to be force fed three cornflakes during the school term. Go figure.I have to say though, it has been a very slow grind getting back into the habit of completing homeworks. I'm not sure how it works everywhere else or even at other schools in the UK, but basically every Monday Chloe brings home a homework schedule listing four tasks, each to be done on a different night in whatever order happens to take your fancy.Four nights of homework sounds like a lot, but it really isn't. They're quite small things and are designed to fit around that week's homework theme, phonics, math, story, learn through play etc, so more often than not they're things like bringing something to school which is blue or reminds them of the story or starts with the letter 'M'.Anyway, way back before Halloween (you know, a couple of months ago) I thought it would be a great idea to suggest that if Chloe needed to take anything into school as part of her homework, we would make it and not only that but we would try our best to make them using as many recycled things as possible. We started off well making a pumpkin and some leaves and dandelion clocks from scavenger fabric and yarn for her Autumn table.I'll admit though, what started out as an innocent enough idea is becoming more and more complicated with each week. So far we're sticking to it but at this rate Chloe will have a pretty substantial collection of little bitsy things lying around school, all destined to arrive back home again at the end of term.This week's homework is based on phonics or more specifically 'M' and 'R'.I'd like for you all to meet Morris.
A bit of string a few tiny scraps of leftover felt and the most ill conceived jumper I've ever bought (white on a 4 year old, I never said I was clever). He's pretty cute I think and he's only a couple of inches long so he fits in her pocket.Now we just have to think of something for 'R' bearing in mind that it's already Wednesday night and they need to be ready on Friday morning. Of course, the obvious choice is a rabbit, a little finger puppet variety, but she was bitten by her cousin's pet rabbit at the weekend and has gone right off rabbits, though I'm sure that will only last a week.If it wasn't for the fact that Chloe's sock creatures have now ascended to "collectible" status and reside on a special shelf all of their own in her bedroom (seriously, they get one hug per day because she says they're "precious") she would have taken theothermousie's Itty Bitty Pirate Kitty in to school. I mentioned the idea, because seriously how many bonus points is the kid going to get for bringing in something that doesn't start with 'r' but instead says "Arrrrrr" but she was having none of it. Apparently, her teacher might lose her kitty and that would never do!So any ideas? Because I can't think of another (simple, two days people) thing to make that begins with 'R'. Do you think we'd get away with sending in a raft?
I somehow only realised this week that Chloe's school has a scheme of sorts in place.The idea is that a child in P3 is paired with a child in P1. Chloe's teacher told me this morning that their idea behind it is that the kids in P3, being about 6 or 7 years old are at the perfect age to be given a P1 (4 or 5) to watch over. The P3 kids are old enough to have a bit more sense than the P1s but still young enough to feel proud of this new responsibility. The older kids don't have to actually be responsible for the little ones as such, but just say Hi if they see them or take a couple of minutes to just have a chat with them about general things, what did you have for dinner last night, I had to do my homework, that kind of thing. It means that while Chloe is in P1 & P2 she will be paired with the same older girl for the two years and then in P3 she herself is paired with a younger child, then in P6 & P7 they're left to concentrate on their 11+ (the scheme must have been in place a while!).
And what's Chloe's opinion on the whole deal? She absolutely loves it!I've met the little girl paired off with Chloe 4 times now this week. On Tuesday when she saw Chloe and I walking across the playground to school she made a point of separating from what she was doing with her friends and taking Chloe by the hand and off the two of them skipped chatting away merrily. The little girl really does seem lovely and I think will be a great influence on Chloe.Chloe's quite mature for her age conversationally in that she has no trouble keeping up with and engaging in a full conversation with everyone from kids her own age and older and with adults too. The point is that kids a bit older than her don't see her as being childish in any way so they don't tire of her quickly.Chloe now seems to have four little friends. The little girl she was originally paired with and three of her friends seem to have attached themselves to Chloe. I'm sure the girl's three friends have kids of their own that they've been paired with, but I'm not going to complain. She stood at the school gates with them while they talked about all the usual girl things, they said they loved her hair and she said she sometimes wished it was straight like theirs and they said no that her hair was really beautiful and she wouldn't want it straight and they talked about homework and how Chloe was lucky that she would get to do all the fun homework soon and she'd have to find colours and shapes and go outside to get things for school and make things with her mum.It was like standing back and watching a group of women having a chat over coffee, a couple of times I had to stop myself from laughing. I think this is a brilliant scheme, Chloe can't wait now until after Halloween because the girls told her that they all have lunch together on Wednesdays and Fridays and then she'll have homework to do as well so she'll have more to talk about.I wonder do any other schools have schemes like this, is it s standard thing. I hope it is!
