This is a disaster. My 10 y/o son is doing an exam in a couple of weeks to get in to secondary school and I’m trying to help him with some “Bond” papers. Whatever they are. I have clearly failed as a mother. Not used nearly enough proverbs in life. I should have spent his childhood wearing an apron and saying things like “A bird in the hand….” and “save the pennies and the pounds will……” and mention “bush” a lot. But I HATE proverbs. Stupid things. I’ve always liked Dorothy Parker’s take on them – things like “don’t put all your eggs in one bastard” or “a friend in need is a nightmare. Run away”.
However, we now have a problem. He clearly knows less than he should about the bloody things. We’ve just had a section on proverbs. He had to fill in the missing word.
Here is how he did:-
1. “When the cats away the rats will play”
2. “Every cloud has a silver bird”
3. “Don’t put all your cupcakes in one basket”
4. “First come, first go”
And the best one:-
5. “No smoke without cigarettes“
Eclipse
January 12, 2011Wow, are they still doing those tests? I remember doing them to get into my secondary school. The other good ones were learning about animal groups e.g. a pack of wolves, gaggle of geese and pride of lions etc. and then there were some weird lateral thinking ones. You should be able to get some good books for these kind of tests though, at least my mum did and I remember her practically using brute force to get me to sit down and study each weekend before the exam. However, I have absolutely no idea when else you would need such random knowledge, I don’t think I have ever had a reason to know that a group of geese is a gaggle!
Family Affairs
January 12, 2011Yes, but you are very clever and maybe that was because your mum forced you to learn proverbs and animal groups Lx
janelle
January 12, 2011fantastically brilliant…love ’em! as a teacher i would have to give him some marks for sheer originality and relevance. x j
Family Affairs
January 12, 2011Well yes, I have to agree – cigarettes far more relevant than boring old fire…..Lx
Shiny
January 12, 2011I’m with Janelle… he should get full marks for originality. Cupcakes are so much yummier than eggs too.
I couldn’t help sniggering at your comment that you should’ve mentioned “bush” a lot. Damn my 13-year old boy brain.
xxx
Family Affairs
January 12, 2011Well, mine’s the same. Pathetic really isn’t it. Lx
furtheron
January 12, 2011I’m with him on the cupcake one – makes much more sense 🙂
Family Affairs
January 12, 2011Yes, it does doesn’t it. lx