The Education Meme (Part 1)

[smallhobbit]

used_songs posted this meme, and I thought it would be interesting to have a go.  Because I've decided to answer for myself (Me), our two adult kids (TS/TD) and my granddaughter, aka Mini Hobbit (MH), I'm splitting it into three parts over the next few days.

Adults responsible for your care actively helped facilitate your early learning. (Reading at bedtime, playing educational games, going to child-friendly museums...)
Me: Yes - I was read to, played card games etc, and was taken places although child-friendly hadn't really been invented then.  I do remember one gallery in the Science Museum in London with knobs to push and twist which was very exciting.
TS/TD: We always read to the kids, and they had educational games to play, which we played, and we went to various places, including seeing the mammoth in the National Museum Cardiff.
MH: Her parents have always read to her, played games and they go places like St Fagans National Museum of History

You had a library card.
Me: Yes.  My mother would take me to the library in the town and once they built a new branch literally down the road from us and I was a bit older I took myself.
TS/TD: Yes. We either visited the mobile library which came to the village or we drove up to the nearby branch.
MH: Yes.  TS takes her to their local library.

Adults in your life involved you in tasks that involved mathematical skills.
Me: No idea, but probably.  Both my parents were accounts clerks so were used to working with numbers.  I doubt they specifically considered that we did things involving mathematical skills, more that these things came naturally.
TS/TD: Again both husband and I worked with figures, so we tended to use them automatically rather than specifically.
MH: I don't know.  But she's doing fine with numbers at school so I presume she does.

If you started falling behind in school, you received help from a private tutor.
Me: I didn't, and if I had that wouldn't have been possible.
TS/TD: It turned out that both were better at practical skills than purely academic ones.  So we encouraged them in those areas.  Their basic skills were fine so we never felt the need to push, which since both were very determined, wouldn't have worked anyway.  When I saw a teacher to discuss TD's post-16 prospects he asked me what grades she needed to get for her GCSEs.  I told him and he said, 'and that's what she'll get'.
MH: As far as I'm aware she isn't.  The school have provided extra support for her handwriting.  (When TD had poor handwriting I resorted to bribery to get her to practise, which worked.)

You went to a well-funded school.
Me: I had standard state funded primary school, so have no idea.  I do remember they had a rebuilding project at my first infant school (in north London).  They knocked down one wall and we all had to stand on the other side of the playground - it was a while ago.  Secondary was well-funded.
TS/TD: Yes.  Their secondary school was well-funded and popular, which no doubt helped.
MH: Yes.  She's due to go to the same secondary school as TS.

Comments

[lucy_roman]

I love the museum in Cardiff. We used to visit there often. I remember they would give out worksheets and little folding stools. Then one year they had a talking statue (I can't remember who it was) but he gave a speech in English and then in Welsh and absolutely terrified me.