After my rant back in September, I think most people know my stance on homework, particularly in primary school – ban it.

Now, a teacher friend of mine has started a petition on Number10.gov.uk to stop schools giving out excessive formal homework.

As a qualified teacher of more than 30 years’ experience, I see children being loaded down more and more with multiple subjects of homework every night of the week and weekends. I am very concerned about the effect it has on them.

At the end of the school day, children should pursue other interests; Brownies, Cubs, Guides, Scouts, learning an instrument, sports, voluntary work, youth clubs, gardening etc. Those with talents need time to hone these lifetime skills.

Time spent with family is limited enough as it is. Time together to sit down for a family meal once a day used to be the norm. Now if they can have one meal a week sitting together around a table, they are doing well and homework is a major divisive factor in family evening life.

The musicians, writers, artists etc of our future should be learning these skills in their spare time. Excessive homework as a concept is out-dated, unnecessary and the last resort of teachers who fail to cover the curriculum in class time. We urge you to have OFSTED examine the practice urgently.

I know many of you expressed similar homework annoyances at the time (it’s something that seems to get a lot of parents riled!) Could I ask that if you have similar feelings and are a UK taxpayer that you spare a couple of minutes to sign it yourself and/or pass the link on to other people you think might be interested? It would be really good if this could get some attention. Thanks.

Akra Jr is quite good at maths. I know this because every single teacher he’s ever had has told us this. However, Akra Jr doesn’t believe that he’s good at maths and unfortunately, that perception completely colours his willingness to try.

Now he’s in Keystage 2, he’s starting to need to know his times tables, and let’s face it – how utterly BORING is learning times tables? Yet it’s a really crucial skill to have at your fingertips and a huge part of feeling that you can “do maths”.

As a result, I’m constantly on the look out for fun websites and games to give him more confidence and this time I think I have found the perfect thing: Timez Attack.

Timez Attack, unlike most educational software, is a PROPER game. Looks very similar to some of the RPG style games that I play, so Akra Jr really enjoys playing it (and nags me to play). At the same time, it’s not short on the educational content either – it reinforces each sum over and over in a fun way, so it becomes an automatic fact rather than having to count on in your head all the time. You don’t get to move on to the more difficult tables until you have “passed” the lower ones.

The absolutely brilliant thing about Timez Attack, though, is that there is a free version which helps you learn ALL the times tables. It costs nothing, zilch, nada, nowt. The paid for version costs $39.99 (roughly £20) and includes additional scenery, not additional educational content. I think this is absolutely awesome and really makes it accessible to everyone. I actually bought the full version in the end, as Akra Jr liked it so much and I wanted to support the company.

Available for PC or Mac. If you have primary school children who are struggling with their times tables, you really should try it.

Somehow, I’ve got out of the habit of writing here. Sorry about that.

It’s been a mixed week. I’ve been busy (nicely so) and have written posts for Chocablog and Fotonomy (okay, the latter was a bit over a week ago), got some stuff done in the garden, been watching talks on TED, but the main reason I’ve not been around much is that I’ve also been a bit up and down with my health.

I had a migraine a couple of weeks ago – completely out of the blue and the first in over a year. Since then, I just haven’t been quite right – I’ve pretty much had a headache every single afternoon since, starting around 2pm ish, with a few exceptions. There’s lots of different reasons why I might be getting them: hormonal changes, light changes (I’ve also had to start my light therapy again this week), end of a sinussy cold, some sort of allergy… none of them really explain it 100% though.

On top of that, just to really make sure the headaches get most bang for the buck, the kids have been particularly argumentative and antagonistic towards each other. The level of vindictiveness and spite is definitely getting me down – yet I find it hard to know when to intervene and when to just let them get on with it. When I’m not feeling 100% I know I end up intervening more than I should (just so they’ll stop the yelling!), so I suspect that’s drawn the ill-feeling out longer than necessary.

So, this afternoon after school I downed a couple of ibuprofen, sat them down and together we’ve come up with a list of ground rules:

• I will not interfere unless someone is about to get badly hurt.
• They will talk nicely about the problem instead of fighting.
• They will go away to calm down.
• They will not hurt each other by hitting, kicking, throwing or in any other way.
• They will not use name calling.
• If they want what the other is playing with they will suggest other things to play with, play with something together instead, or take turns.

Any guesses as to how long they’ll stick to this?! If it lasts the afternoon, I think I’ll be happy!

I’m pleased to announce that we have a winner for our recent competition. If you remember, to enter you had to come up with an imaginative alternative use for a Mooncup Pouch.

The winner is: Spinky who would use hers as “An on the move condom holder; for those couples who like to travel safely!”

Congratulations, Spinky! I’ve sent you an email to the address you used to post the comment to sort out where to send your prize, but if for any reason you haven’t received it then please email me using an alternative email address to Pewari AT may DOT be.