school stinks

Yeah, it seems to me like they are skipping all of the basic building blocks. They don't require kids to memorize the multiplication table anymore, either. It's like tossing the kids into a pool and expecting them to pick up the butterfly, when they never leraned the doggy paddle.

actually, it's because everyone uses calculators. also because we now attempt to teach everything more holistically and in a problem-solving format--kind of like the things that life throws at you. it's not always the easiest thing to do--for us or the kids. the lack of recess is due to the level of expectation from the state. our high stakes tests demand more time. it comes from things like recess and electives. again, not always the best thing, but we have no say in this beyond what you do. the hour of homework is likely for the same reason. try to remember that it's not the teacher's fault. it's probably not the school's fault either. we have to respond to the demands placed on us by our lawmakers. when No Child Left Behind became law, we lost much. our Race to the Top does not include things like recess, free time, gaining automaticity, or electives. it does include higher levels of rigor and an increase of academic standards. the problem is that the human brain has basically the same structure it did 10,000 years ago--but we expect every child to learn at the same rate and be on grade level all at the same time. let's not mention the fact that brain physical maturity plays a big part in what kinds of things a kid can learn. try teaching the stuff when we know our students' brains aren't ready to learn it yet. it frustrates our kids, our administrators, and us. but the people passing the laws? not educators. they don't know. but they know best. i hear your frustration. my daughter is in the same boat. and it's also sinking.

and that is why I ended up home schooling Kids number 1 2 and 3, tried school with 4, have home schooled him the last two years, planning on next as well, and although have registered my daughter for kindy next year, fully intend to home school her grade 1.

I'll be blunt I don't care that much about the education. The purpose to school is to teach her to read and do basic math but the most important thing is to teach her to fit into society, get along with other people and be able to get a job. I wouldn't trust her actual education to that bunch. As far as no child left behind I don't think there ever was a commitment to that. My neice is passed and passed and she should have been held back years ago. I didn't realize there was that much of an issue until recently, now she is 12 not the time to be held back. Her school is full of "nice" teachers who assume who assume since her parents speak spanish and she is pretty that is the end of her so they are nice and pass her. Yea, that is nice. I can't believe the things those teachers tell her, like President Bush knew about Sept. 11 ahead of time and didn't do anything. The bottom line is if they don't go along with what the government wants they will cut off the funding. Yea, well take the money from the child tax credit, the earned income credit and instead of giving people $6,000 checks that they spend on vacations, big screen TV and drugs and put it into the schools where they know it will really go for the kids. Don't get excited I know that isn't the people here but it is the reality on a lot of people getting those credits. If the credit is intended for kids, put doctors and dentist in the school, give us free day care and somewhere for kids to go in the summer so they aren't sitting home watching TV and getting pregnant. Those are awful expensive buildings to be sitting empty that much of the year. Ughhhhhh

I didn't even bother with public school for my now 7 almost 8yr old. I did it with our RAD kid for the 3.5 yrs we had him (at sch age) and while he obviously had a whole bunch of other issues that led to him having all sorts of problems, I learned a lot about the public education setting in our area. First, I'm just not stupid: how is a normal kid going to learn in a class of 25 first graders when 3 are RAD and 5 are on the autistic spectrum?? No wonder they need homework. Not like the teacher is exactly going to have time to teach them when 8 of them are as out of control as mine was! Second, I knew full well that if I sent my neuro-typical child who isn't overly bright but certainly not stupid and who happens to be compliant and sweet (for the most part, she is normal, lol), I'd get to spend 2+ hrs/night actually educating her. Well, if I wanted to do that, I could homeschool her and not have to worry about the rest of the lovely stuff they pick up at the public school. As I work full time and have another younger child, I chose to send her to a small private school in the area. It has been perfect: in her 1-4th grade class there are six kids, all with parents with high behavioral and academic expectation. Her homework: works on her spelling words during the week (maybe 20min/night) and has to read for 15 minutes on Saturday and Sunday. Every so often she has a little project to work on, but less than once/wk. However, I really think that if she's in school 7hrs/day with six kids in the class, she ought to be able to learn what she needs to! And, she does get two recesses...so long as she gets her math done in time.