Homework.....and why I believe it has no place in Primary Education

Today I wrote a letter to the Principal & Vice Principal of my children's Primary school.

A few years ago I wrote a VERY long piece to them about why I believed Primary school children should NOT be doing homework.

A new system was implemented and is now under review.  I jumped at the opportunity to once again state my position.

What makes me sad is I know that the majority of teachers everywhere are on my side so why is it that we are even having this argument?


Here is a copy of the letter I wrote today.

Dear (insert names of Principal & Vice Principal),
I believe home work has ABSOLUTELY NO place in primary school education.
I feel VERY strongly about this.

In the past I studied Early Childhood education.  And although I am no longer teaching,  alot of the principles I learnt about are a feature of my parenting.

I feel passionately about children and their welfare.  This will NEVER leave me.

My whole ethos as a parent revolves around slowing down childhood.

We live in a world spinning so fast with technological advances & information overload from so many avenues.

As adults we struggle to keep up.
Kids are amazing at keeping up.

But at what expense to their well being is it?

And is the information they are exposed to really appropriate for their mental & emotional maturity?
I think alot of the time the answer is no.

As a parent I watch as others juggle the transporting of children from school pick-up to a different activity- some each day , and some more than one on the same day.

Some are whisked off to do more school-like work at tutoring.

Some of these children are putting in LONGER days than a work day.  And they are not even teenagers. Some are not even in double figures. They are babes in the scheme of things.

And then these children come home only to be hassled to complete homework.

Why?  Of what benefit is it to their education?

Here-in lies the heart of the argument for me.

Education is about SO much more than academics.

For me education should be all about learning to LOVE learning.  Learning to LOVE asking questions.

Learning to acquire an appetite to find out MORE and to give people the skills to find out HOW to.

This should be the focus of the Primary years.

And to do this a child needs these things (a by no means exhaustive list) :

To feel happy.
To feel safe.
To feel valued.
To be able to rest.
To have friends.
To have time to play.
To have time to be read to.
To have time to socialise.
To have time to laugh.
To have time to hug someone they love.
To have time to do 'nothing' for a while.


In amongst the rush to encourage our children to 'be prepared' for life as a grown up, the meaning of homework has become blurred.  We now seem to see it as a means to get children 'prepared for high school'.  Only that has filtered down to little preps doing homework too….and so begins the fights & stress between parents and their children regarding 'getting the homework done'.

Research clearly shows that children are no more prepared for high school by having done homework  at primary school.

If it is indeed academic success parents are hoping for the Queensland Education Dept. review on Homework (1994) found that "Academic success has been associated with ‘safe, calm and quiet home environments in which adults have the time and energy to interact with children’." (follow the link here: education.qld.gov.au/review/pdfs/homework-text-for-web.pdf) .

We all know that homes where parents are fighting about homework are neither calm nor quiet! 

And the key part of that sentence is "time & energy to interact with children"- not…... "hound your child to get his/her homework done".

I understand that our school changed the whole approach to homework a couple of years back and integrated the new Work at Home system.

It was great to see such a progressive stance taken…..however I actually don't feel that much has changed.

I still see that in order to fulfil the homework Matrix my children would have to be sitting down for what I consider way too long in order to complete the tasks.  On the rare occasion that one of my children has completed the Matrix it takes AGES!!!!!!!
I just don't think they should be sitting down at a desk at home AT ALL!  They do enough of that at school.

They should be doing the things they already do when they get home, like:
Sitting with me and having a chat, going outside and playing in the sandpit or mud, playing with their brothers, making dinner,  relaxing, patting the dogs, riding their bike, playing their instrument, reading a book, RELAXING!

I know as their parent that they do MORE than enough in their everyday life to fulfil the Matrix requirements.  And you and I both know the true educational value in all of those things.

However I have not and I will not make them sit down and do homework.  They do enough.

And my kids in comparison to most at our school  do very little at all in terms of after school activities- and they go to bed a whole lot earlier too!

The team of teachers at our school are FANTASTIC, DEDICATED, DYNAMIC, PASSIONATE,  & KNOWLEDGABLE.  I consider myself lucky to have my children in amongst you all.

But when their school day is over I want them to just come home and enjoy being a CHILD without any more 'work'.

I hope to see that very very soon there will be a new homework system come into place at our school called "Go home and LOVE being a child."
We all know it doesn't last long enough!

And if not- be warned I will not EVER make any of my children do homework!

Yours sincerely (and hopefully),
Ruth
xx

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S HAPPY CHILDHOOD RECIPE:

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• LOVE
• PATIENCE
• HUMILITY
• PATIENCE
• A SENSE OF HUMOUR
• TIME
• WINE (for the parent of course!)
• COFFEE (ditto above)
• MUSIC

METHOD:

Mix together all ingredients in any given ration on any given day.
Watch carefully so as ingredients don't boil over.

Most of all take the time to enjoy the recipe you created.


Today's tune is Jose Gonzalez playing The Nest:

Lazy kind of days......and cardboard boxes.

Do you have days when you just don't want to get out of bed?

The warm duck down is wrapped around you and the cloud of comforting 'just right' air envelops you.

Yet the alarm beckons.....

My alarm rings with a statement of "Mumma sandwiches must be made.....wakey wakey rise & shine".

And invariably I leave behind one or two little snugglers in my spot in the bed as I make my way to the kitchen.

They can stay.

They don't have to make sandwiches.

They don't have to get out of bed for anything at all.

I leave them be.

They will follow me soon enough...tummies gurgling for brekky.

Today after I dispatched the big ones, one by one off to school,  I sat on the couch.

I could have stayed there ALL day.

It is a bit drizzly outside. 

But a parcel arrives.  I arise to answer the door.

It is in a big box.

We unwrap it.

The contents are inconsequential.  

A box A box. my kingdom for a box!

Perfect indoor toy for the two littlest.  I mean really is there anything better than a cardboard box?

GOURMETGIRLFRIEND'S WONTON NOODLE SOUP:
Wonton noodle soup is one of my absolute favourite foods.  A bad one is sooooo dissapointing but a good one is close to heaven I think!
Mine is always different depending on what is in the pantry or fridge or garden.
It's surprisingly easy if you haven't made it before.  DO give it a whirl!
It uses ingredients that I consider MUST ALWAYS have pantry items. Especially if you love Asian cuisine as much as me!  It needs other ones too from the fridge but I make sure I ALWAYS have these as I make quite a lot of recipes that rely on them (I store little portions of pork mince in the freezer for dumplings and wontons).
The MUST HAVE pantry items are: dried noodles, maggi seasoning (as pictured below),

chicken stock, wonton skins (I always have these in the fridge),

shao xing wine (distinguishable by it's distinctive duck egg blue & red label as in pic below),

sesame oil. (Most of these things are at your local Asian grocer- it is worth finding a good local one in my opinion. I love asking about ingredients I haven't used before. Asian grocers are treasure troves.)
The most difficult part to this recipe is the making of the wontons.  And it isn't actually that hard. They are very forgiving and once you have made it once I bet you will be going back for more.
Experiment with different flavours & noodles too!  It is delicious with slivers of chicken or silken tofu....go crazy!
The recipe I have written here is the mix I used on that day.  It tasted great but I haven't done it like that before- i will again though!.  I had some gorgeous Giant Red Mustard leaves to use, some chilli and some Vietnamese mint- all growing in my garden asking to be made into something delicious.  Vietnamese mint is one of those magical asian herbs- like Coriander- it was perfect for this soup, it added an amazing fresh zinginess that lifted the soup to another level. Soooooo good. and you could just feel it doing you good too!  My kids LOVED it!  It grows really easily- you really should plant some- you should!  Giant red mustard is the same. It grows easily and loves to be plucked!

WHAT YOU NEED:

• 1 inch knob of ginger
• a handful of Vietnamese mint ( i used 3 in the soup, 2 in the pork mince and another one to garnish)- I would often use coriander but didn't have any
• 1 red chilli
• 2 inch knob of ginger (1 inch grated into pork mince & other 1 inch sliced and put in broth)
• 2- 3 drops of Maggi seasoning (this is SUPER strong- don't over use this sauce.  It is to me the 'secret' ingredient if you like, to the authentic flavour of Wonton soup but be very careful not to overpower the broth with it. )
• 200g free range pork mince
• 2 tablspoons sesame oil
• 1 egg
• a bowl of water (for helping seal the wontons)
• a pack of wonton wrappers
• 2 litres of chicken stock (if you don't have good home made stock you can substitute with a good powdered one)
• a dash of LIGHT soy (it is more salty than dark so you don't have to use as much & will also leave the broth a lovely light colour)
• green veg of your choice (I had Giant Red Mustard leaves in the garden so used those)
• dried soba noodles (it was all I had in the pantry- i don't have any rules about which to use- but the rule I stick to is to make sure you boil the noodles in  a separate pot as it will taint your broth otherwise)
• extra salt if required

 METHOD:
In a pot bring a prepare your dried noodles as per packet instructions.  When cooked drain and run cold water to stop cooking process. I add a dash of sesame oil to keep noodles loose and to add flavour. Set aside.

In a large bowl add pork mince,  grated ginger, egg & sesame oil.  Get your hands in there and amalgamate the ingredients very well. It will resemble a paste almost.

On a floured surface put a wonton wrapper so it lies as a diamond and add about a heaped teaspoon of pork mince mix to the centre.  

Dip your finger into the water and baste the edges.  Then fold over and squeeze the edges firmly to make sure they are sealed.  Repeat till all mix made into wontons.

Now for the broth.  Bring  2 litres of chicken stock to the boil. Add 1 inch of ginger slices, a sprig or two of Vietnamese mint,  maggi seasoning and soy.


Once at a boil drop in the wontons.  You will see the wrapper start to shrink around the meat mix to create that lovely little shape you know and love!


Cook the wontons for about 5 minutes.  I added the mustard leaves only about a minute before I served- I love them to be crunchy.


In each serving bowl place a small amount of noodles,  some wontons & some green veg.  Now ladle over the broth till covered and add chilli & fresh herbs!


YUM!!!!!

My listening pleasure today is a band from Norway I've been listening to alot lately.  Theya ren't new but I love them. They help add some quiet to my busy-ness:

How do you celebrate?

A couple of weeks ago our eldest child turned 13.

We had talked about the impending celebrations for a while.

13 is a biggy.

We don't usually do the whole big birthday party thing.

I am kind of disillusioned by the way kids birthday parties have become another way to compete as parents.  Surely being a parent is hard enough without all this competitive stuff?

Birthday parties have become big business.

The idea seems to be that the bigger & more fantastical the party you give the bigger & better you are as a parent.

And inviting every child in the class?!

I don't get it.

Why?

My children are certainly not friends with every child in their class so why would I invite them all?

Isn't a birthday something you celebrate with the people you love and who love you?

I know it isn't very popular to take this stance but I don't do what is popular in anything I do.

I do it because I believe in it.

Because I think it is right.

It is important to me that I live with honesty.

It doesn't make me popular all the time but I am the one who has to live with me and as me.  I need to do what is right for me.

Mr. 13 had thrown around the ideas that are kind of common for a child of his age in terms of party ideas.  Laser war parties, or go-karting, bowling etc.....

I struggled to get excited...and really so did he.

Then one night as we were sitting around the table chatting as a family sharing bad jokes, stories, insights, music, food & love; as we do.......then  Mr13 said something.

"Mum I know what I want to do!  I want to have my friends come around and just hang out; you know like we do.  Just sit around the table chatting, maybe have a campfire & maybe we could do our Portuguese chicken for dinner."

His eyes had lit up.

Mine too.

It was fabulous.  I couldn't have been happier.  I love that he wanted to share his family with his friends.  How could I not be happy with that?

He wrote the invites himself.  He chose his friends carefully.

It will go down as one of my favourite parties EVER.

His friends were a delight.

They sat around the campfire.

They climbed the treehouse.  They played ping pong. They played with potato guns. They jumped on the trampoline.

We ate sitting around the fire and then they toasted marshmallows for smores.

Kind of old fashioned stuff.... but on every single child's face was a SMILE. 

It rained for some of it but we just found enough raincoats and stayed outside anyway.

What was so lovely was to see how they engaged with each other & with all of our family.

It was a great night.

We talked the next day and I asked Mr 13 what he thought of his party.

"It was everything I hoped it would be."

Me too...........

How do you celebrate birthdays?

GOURMETGIRLFRIEND'S PORTUGUESE STYLE CHICKEN:
You can change the ingredients for the marinade.  Mine is never quite the same.  I like that about recipes like this.  It kind of evolves as you discover what you do and don't like & what is available to you.  Have the confidence to try different stuff and see what works.  For Mr 13's party I kept it relatively simple as I didn't want to scare off his friends!
We cook ours on our spit roast over charcoal in a special chicken press but you don't need to have this.  It will be delicious cooked in a regular oven too. The marinade will make sure of this!
Splitting a chicken to flatten it for Portuguese chicken is super easy.  I find using Chicken shears makes it even easier.  Once you have done it once you won't ever be afraid again I promise!
Just cut the chicken from the parsons nose through to the neck- NOT the breast side but the other!  Once cut turn over the chicken and give it a good punch to flatten it down.  Hey presto!  You are ready to marinade. Told you it was easy!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 1 large organic chicken
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 lemon (rind cut off and reserved & juice will be used too)
• generous glug of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
• 2 teaspoons spanish smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 large red chilli (remove seeds if you don't want it too spicy)
• 1 whole bunch coriander (be sure to rinse well as you want to use the ENTIRE plant- roots & all!)
• S & P

METHOD:

Flatten the chook as described above.

Add all other ingredients to a food processor and blitz baby blitz, till it's a paste like consistency.

Smear marinade over every part of the chicken, bottom and top.

It is best to leave overnight but a few hours ahead will still be great.

We put ours into the press and it spins happily for a couple of hours basting itself as it goes.  The result is incredibly juicy chicken as the basting keeps the juices in the chicken. Truly amazing.

If using a regular oven it will be best to place it on a rack and cook for an hour at 175C.


Here's how it looks out of the chicken press- so good! 

We like to serve ours with my spicy wedges, roast pumpkin wedges that are cooked with a little garlic & rosemary and a crunchy green salad.  Add a squeeze of lime if you like! YUM!

Happy Birthday Mr13! You make me so proud each and every day.  It was a joy to be part of your celebration. xx

Making your limitations your strengths......

My 11yo has had a really rough trot.

He is the one who has been having the nightmares.....you may have read about it here.

He is an incredibly intuitive child.

He teaches me things.

EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

Soul important stuff.

The stuff that helps us in difficult times.

He sees things others miss.

he hears things in songs that no-one else does.

He has amazed quite alot of people with his insights into things.

They are the sort of things that kind of make you do a double take.

He is only eleven after all!

We have been reading The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff (I blogged about that here too) with him.

Do go out and buy a copy. Do.

You won't regret it.

And you won't regret re-reading Winnie-the-Pooh either.

I have mentioned this book to several people and been happy to hear they know it.  It is a treasure.

On Friday little Mr11 had an all day Basketball event.  I'm exhausted just writing that!

He came home and I asked how it went.

He told me "It was great.  I used something I learnt from the Tao of Pooh today"

Of course I was thrilled and wanted to know more......what was it that he had used?  What was it he had heard in that book that helped him?

"Well mum it was the bit where they talked about knowing your limitations.  You know how they said that if you know your limitations you can make them your strengths."

"Go on" I said..........my eyes were welling.

"Well I am not very tall and usually I try and run all over the court and try to get goals too but today I didn't try to do that.  I left the tall kids to do that and I just ran and tried to get get the ball off the opposition.  I think I did a better job.  Normally I am trying to do everything and then I just get too tired to do anything well."

I held him tight.  Really close.

I wanted a little of his wisdom to flow into me...........

MR.11's POTATO, LEEK & PARMESAN SOUP:

He is an amazing cook too.  Today's recipe is his.  He tried a Potato, Leek & Parmesan soup at a farmers market, loved it and came straight home to try and replicate it.  He got it right first time and has made it quite a few times since. It is DARN good!  The addition of the parmesan adds the most amazing flavour to this soup.  Feel free to grate more on once served!
He made it for all of us for dinner last night.

PapaGourmet and the 5 boys at the Gasworks farmers market.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 2 leeks
• 2 onions
• 6 potatoes (we used dutch creams)
• 300g Parmeggiano Reggiano
• nutmeg
• salt
• white pepper
• chicken stock
• good quality butter

METHOD:
 Chop the leeks straight down the middle leaving the root section on.  This allows you to hold the leek under a tap to wash away any dirt and keep it in tact.  A useful trick! 

Then trim leek and chop coarsely.

Chop onions.
In a pot (big enough to hold all ingredients) melt a good size knob of butter at a medium heat.
Add onions and leeks and cook till translucent.
Chop potatoes (we don't peel them- so make sure they are well scrubbed) into rough pieces.
Add them to the pot and add enough chicken stock to JUST cover the vegies (you can add more but we like this soup quite thick).
Grate a generous amount of nutmeg and season with Salt (don't add too much salt as the parmesan is salty- you can adjust at the end if you need to) and white pepper.
Cook till potatoes are soft (about 10 minutes).
Add grated parmesan and BLITZ BABY BLITZ! (my super technical term for using a stick blender).

Serve with crusty sourdough spread with good butter.   You could add a dollop of cream if you were feeling super decadent! x


My kids love music as much as me...Mr.11's fave at the moment is Quincy Jones' Soul Bossa Nova. This is not Quincy's but another Bossa Nova clip I found on youtube that I thought was great. Bossa Nova is great kitchen music. Turn it up y'all!

You can NEVER have too many bikes....

We were looking forward to giving our eldest a present he had been coveting for some time.

His 13th birthday provided the perfect opportunity to give it to him.

We are bike enthusiasts here.

I think that bikes are one of the most spectacular design objects of all time.

They are beautiful examples of the perfect marriage of form & function. 

My bike is all about comfort.   It has baskets on front and back and a comfortable seat for pootling around.  It is sooo not about speed and all about comfort.   Much like me really!

For others in the house it is about different things; road riding, mountain biking, riding fast.

Hubster has a collection of various bikes for various purposes.

Too many bikes?

NEVER!!!!

We have just finished 3 weeks of lost sleep watching Le Tour de France.

Hubster & I stay up watching in the dark & silent night whle the children are asleep.

The kids watch the highlights the following day, eagerly listening and watching the intricacies of this amazing event!

It was an amazing Tour this year...but then every year is really.  An incredible feat of endurance, strategy & downright hard work!

I wrote in my previous post that our eldest turned 13.

And so he received the item he had been dreaming of for quite some time.  A bike he had designed himself.

Here it is....hiding in the shed before meeting it's new owner.....

www.mojobike.com.au

To say he was happy with it would be a fairly LARGE understatement.
We all think it's a pretty spectacular machine. What do you think?

For his birthday dinner he requested Homemade Hamburgers.

We love doing that.  A spread of different & delicious ingredients on the table so you can add what you want and omit what you don't.
Simple fabulous food using quality ingredients.  You can't go wrong.

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S HOMEMADE HAMBURGER RECIPE:

This mix will easily make enough for about 9 burgers.  Adjust up or down for the amount of people you want to feed.  And you can play around with what you add into the mix too.  The golden rule is to use quality ingredients (as always) and REALLY good bread! You'll never want a bought burger again. Have fun!


WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 1kg organic beef mince
• 2 onions
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1/2 bunch Italian parsley & other herbs of your choice - last night I put basil in too
• S & P
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 loaf of day old sourdough (strip of crust and cut into chunks)
• a generous glug (4tblspns) good quality tomato sauce or relish - of course we used our 'Made in Tassie" sauce (see here for our blog about that)

 METHOD:

In a food processor combine the onion, parsley (use the stalks too) and garlic. Blitz till combined.

Remove from bowl and place crustless sourdough loaf in.  Blitz till it is crumbs.

In a large bowl add all ingredients and combine with your hands until mixture is well integrated.

Roll into fist size balls.

Flatten and cook on the BBQ (or frypan in a little oil) for about 4 minutes each side.

Serve alongside ingredients of your choice.

We have all sorts of things including;  cheese, pickles, caramelised onions, bacon, beetroot, my beetroot confit, tomatoes, lettuce, mustards, horseradish, different sauces, chargrilled eggplant & zucchini, home made mayonnaise, and lots more.  It's different what we have each time.

Here is the birthday boy's hamburger!

I was so sure he wouldn't be able to get his mouth around it. He proved me wrong.....

 I have been listening to Kings of Convenience lots this week. In amongst the busyness it takes me to a peaceful place: