Project time is here again!

James seems to have settled into Big School very well, to my immense relief. Being now twelve years old and in Year 7, he has started in the local Secondary School. This is now called "The Dusty Mouldings Science and Technology Business Enterprise Centre", which is a fancy way of saying it has got industry sponsorship. The upside is that the school has been given a lot of money to spend on science equipment and trips to industrial processing plants. The downside is that the teachers all use business jargon and act like junior management.

Still, they are very well organised. James has brought home a booklet detailing all the homework he should be doing this year. I don't really understand much of it. He has to learn about brainstorming, project planning, milestone setting and quality assurance. For someone who struggles to remember to eat his sandwiches each day they may be expecting too much in the way of task management from him.

Some of the assignments I can understand. By the end of the school year he must:

research his family tree;
observe the growth of a seed;
use the internet to communicate with someone who does not live in our town;
research the life of a famous historical person;
demonstrate that he can use a library;
study some theoretical aspect of reproduction;
observe and record the play of young children;
consider and resolve an ethical dilemma;
learn 250 words in a new language;
draw pictures of himself as an baby, an adult and an old man;
describe a place far from his home town;
design and make a set of clothes;
write a play with a non-linear plot;
design and build a device that can move about by itself and make simple decisions;
demonstrate that he can manage a complex project.


"That'll keep you busy for the rest of the year!" I remarked.

"Not necessarily!" answered James smugly, his eyes never leaving the TV screen.

"But you're supposed to spend at least 20 hours on each project," I reminded him. "15 projects means 300 hours work. That's about an hour a day."

"Not if I make one project do for all subjects," answered James.

"I'm not having you cutting corners on your homework!" I scowled. "Promise me you'll really make an effort. I want to to make a real impression on your new teachers."

"I think you can count on that!" muttered James. "They won't have seen anything like this, I promise you!"

I'm afraid he may be right. It might be simpler if I lose the homework leaflet and forget I ever saw it.