Littlemummy.com

I was invited recently to a roundtable discussion on technology in education, unfortunately I was unable to attend however they sent me this video and I’m pretty blown away with some of the content. If this is the future then I’m pretty glad that Erin is the age she is now. Well worth a look for any parents interested in education.

Open University
I’ve now completed the first section of study on the Open University course and submitted the first of four TMA’s (tutor marked assessment). The first TMA was only 500 words which I thought was a bit ridiculous, the first assessment for the social science course was 800 words. I completed the case study and submitted it for marking, the results came back and my first reaction was dissapointment, I did far better on my first TMA on the social science course, however the comments from the tutor …

A few weeks ago a large box arrived. In the bottom right hand corner ‘Urgent: Educational Materials’ as in quickly, get this girl an education The box was of course from the Open University and carried five books, a study companion and a laptop style bag with the words ‘OU Business School’ on the front. This is what ?160 gets you from the Open University (well ?360 if you don’t get the ?200 grant).
I studied social science with the open university last year, this time …

Erin finally started nursery on Monday, she was due to start in April but the class was full so she was more than ready. On their first day they only stay for an hour which was a big dissappointment to her, it was difficult to drag her away, it was a beautiful day and she was happily playing in the garden. The teacher said she’d had a great time and that it was as if she’d been there for years! I couldn’t help but feel proud, it’s …

The Daily Mail had a piece on the future changes to the national curriculum last week. The article was from the angle of children as young as eleven being taught about gay relationships.
Here is the new proposed curriculum;
Age 4 – 7
Physical changes to body
Personal hygiene

Understanding the different types of relationship they have

Healthy eating and physical exercise
How substances can help or harm the body

Controlling strong emotions and feelings

The different types of work people do

Ways to contribute to enterprise
Age 9 – 11
Human reproduction
Function of reproductive organs
Medicine, alcohol, tobacco and other …

My social science course with the Open University (OU) started in May. The first ‘package’ arrived late in April and included workbooks, cd’s, dvd’s, study pamphlets and the main course books. To be honest it all looked a little intimidating and I wondered where to start, until I found the most important document – the study calendar.
The study calendar provides a week by week guide as to where you should be on the course and what you need to achieve to stay on target. I started at …

I haven’t done a post for review me for ages, perhaps a year or more – however, this offer really caught my imagination.
LVUTV
It’s basically a website that has collated the information of colleges across America into an easy digestible format for prospective students. Students can study the wealth of information and make comparisons before settling on a shortlist.
You can search for colleges by a number of criteria, including rank, state and size. Each college website offers various other information including the basics such as address and phone number …

I’ve just been reading a news article on Raising Kids – Do Kids Start School too Early?
Well my view on that is yes, but what really caught my eye were the comments by Steve Sinnot of The National Union of Teachers and the Goverment respectively.

Uniquely, England is a country where testing is used to police schools and control what is taught. “I call on the government to initiate a full and independent review of the impact of the current testing system on schools and on children’s learning and to be …

As you know I have bought a new house exactly 9.15 miles from where I live now, which means a change of catchment area for both primary and secondary schools. I’ve done some research on the education in the area;

Firstly, I checked which primary school Erin would attend.
Then I checked the inspectors report for the primary school, I found this fairly easily on the internet.
I then went and actually saw the school (just from the outside), I think you can get a good feel for a school by doing …

I’ve been fascinated and curious about homeschooling for a while, how it works, and why some parents choose to abandon the state system altogether.
A blog I found just today and am currently delving into provided me with a link to this article from the Guardian.

School’s out, for ever
For all the pitfalls and complaints we have about the education system the crux of the problem can be found in the following two qoutes;
She added that, “Common to all families involved was their flexible approach to education … Children benefited …