Maths games using balls/beanbags and buckets

I was thinking about teaching active children, the other day, and I thought of an adding game for young children who love to run around

You will need: 
3 buckets
Quite a few bean bags or balls - Click HERE to watch a short video on making your own beanbags (while doing a search for a make your own beanbag video - it looks like in the US there's a game called cornhole beanbag - that's the kind of thing I mean when I say beanbag)

Have a start line which the child stands behind.
Fill one bucket with the beanbags or balls and place it away from the child
Place the other 2 buckets next to the child

The object of the game is to teach addition. So you give the child a sum (e.g. 4+3) and they run back and forth fetching beanbags or balls to put in the buckets - one bucket will end up with 4 and the other 3. When the correct amount are in each bucket - let the child count them and tell you the answer. 

You could use the balls/beanbags and buckets for subtraction

Put a certain amount of balls/beanbags in a bucket - say for example 8, then ask the child to take away 2. You could have another bucket, a bit further away for the child to throw the subtracted balls/beanbags into. They throw the 2 balls/beanbags away and then count the ones which are left - that's their answer!

If you had a few buckets you could always play a divide game with them and the balls/beanbags.

Human Rights vs 'Illegal' Home Education

The United Nations Human Rights Charter:

Article 26

 1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. 
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. 
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. 

The European Convention on Human Rights:

[Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Paris, 20.III.1952 The Governments signatory hereto, being members of the Council of Europe, Being resolved to take steps to ensure the collective enforcement of certain rights and freedoms other than those already included in Section I of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms signed at Rome on 4 November1950 (hereinafter referred to as “the Convention”),]

ARTICLE 2

Right to education:

No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions.


One wonders how Home Education can remain illegal in nations like Germany when they have put their 'names' to the ECHR, which clearly says:  the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions. Surely this includes Home Education?

Then there is the UDHR [Universal Declaration of Human Rights], which Germany must also have signed up to which says: 3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. 

Sources: 
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf
http://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Convention_ENG.pdf

Education Reform

Liberalism and socialist agenda seem to dominate our education system. THIS is a newspaper report from Brighton at the beginning of this year. Why should children HAVE to identify their gender? It's ludicrous. 

The Education Dept has lost its focus on what educating a child means. Schools aren't there to be used as a political platform, for the government to push its own agenda and 'values' (such as they are). Schools should be academically focused - surely that's why they were set up originally. 

I also think parents have lost focus on what school really means. Many children are being sent without breakfast - it's not the duty of the schools to provide care before school. Whatever happened to parenting? Some schools even clean their pupils' teeth! THIS article from 2013 states

"Latest NHS data shows that dental problems are now the fourth most common reason young people under 17 are admitted to hospital. According to other recent statistics, around 33 per cent of 12-year-olds have some kind of cavity."

What has happened to schooling? What has happened to parenting? 

What the UK needs (including those devolved education systems), is education reform. A realisation that schools should be there to teach subjects, which develop a child's understanding of the world around them and prepares them academically for their chosen profession! NO political agendas; NO liberal agenda, just pure academic teaching, with help and support for those children who have special needs. 

Inspections should raise the morale of the teaching staff, instead, teachers dread them, because they know they will never be good enough for the inspectors. 

Parents should step up and not complain about the teachers if their child isn't doing well at school - set the example, spend time with your child, they are not a burden!

Read THIS today and this isn't the answer. By opening Grammar schools in the poorest areas of England is like taking a tiny sticking plaster to heal a gaping wound. 

For children to succeed, they need the support of their parent(s), but a lot (not all) people who are caught in the poverty trap have their own problems, without being able to deal effectively with their children's education. 

Ask teachers who work in poor areas, generally the children receive little support at home. IF a parent wasn't interested in education because their parents weren't, then perhaps they can't help their children or they don't see a pressing need to help, because they're doing fine (on 'the dole', in a low paid job etc). It's a downward spiral which needs to be addressed and halted! 

The root of the problem needs to be dealt with before anything else, or as previously said, it would be like taking a tiny sticking plaster to heal a gaping wound! 

Overview of the Finnish education system

Education system

Equal opportunities to high-quality education

The main objective of Finnish education policy is to offer all citizens equal opportunities to receive education. The structure of the education system reflects these principles. The system is highly permeable, that is, there are no dead-ends preventing progression to higher levels of education.

The focus in education is on learning rather than testing. There are no national tests for pupils in basic education in Finland. Instead, teachers are responsible for assessment in their respective subjects on the basis of the objectives included in the curriculum.

The only national examination, the matriculation examination, is held at the end of general upper secondary education. Commonly admission to higher education is based on the results in the matriculation examination and entrance tests.

Governance has been based on the principle of decentralisation since the early 1990s. Education providers are responsible for practical teaching arrangements as well as the effectiveness and quality of the education provided. Local authorities also determine how much autonomy is passed on to schools. For example budget management, acquisitions and recruitment are often the responsibility of the schools.

Polytechnics and universities enjoy extensive autonomy. The operations of both polytechnics and universities are built on the freedom of education and research. They organise their own administration, decide on student admission and design the contents of degree programmes.

Most education and training is publically funded. There are no tuition fees at any level of education. In basic education also school materials, school meals and commuting are provided free of charge. In upper secondary education students pay for their books and transport. In addition, there is a well-developed system of study grants and loans. Financial aid can be awarded for full-time study in upper secondary education and in higher education.

From: http://www.oph.fi/english/education_system

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