Mom Is Teaching

I’m sure you have all noticed my child-like behavior of beating a dead horse.  You know, I find a topic and I just write about it until everyone is sick of reading it.  Well, that’s where I am right now, beating a dead horse. 

If you read my post from yesterday, you should understand where I come from.  Why I get bitter when I read about Alabama being number 46 or 47 in a list of 50 states as far as education goes.  Yea, it is simply that bad.  And, this week, I have a couple of major gripes and a couple of questions for you.  One question in particular that I want your opinion on before I cross the line drawn in the sand. 

For now though, I want you to take a gander at this. You can read the entire thing if you want or you can just continue to read this summary where I beat on the horse some more.

Basically, the students in our area schools have operated on a “block system” since the mid-90’s.  With the cutting of funds from the state, the system had to find a way to cut costs.  That’s plain economics.  What’s sad is this, they used our students comfort and level of education to cut costs.  How is that, you ask? 

In that article, the one and only reason listed for moving from the block system back to a seven-period system was because it costs less money to operate 7 periods than to operate 4 blocks.  They go on to give you reason after reason why it is cheaper that way.  But, it all boils down to it is cheaper to do it that way. 

Then, they quote student after student who say that moving back to seven periods has affected their grades, their ability to participate in extra activities (and I’m not talking sports here people) and one student says she is late to class a lot now.  That might sound like something simple to you.  But, knowing what I know about the school that this senior attends (it just happens to be my Alma Mater and the girl just happens to belong to a classmate that I was good friends with - and still am), I can see where her ability to get to class on time is affected.

The school is laid out in an horseshoe shape…wait, I feel a drawing is necessary…

I realize that the drawing isn’t to scale and it may be off in some ways but you get the general idea.  If you are in the AG dept. and need to be over on the far left in one of those classrooms and you have 3 minutes to get there…but your locker is on the very front of the building…..you have a lot of ground to cover to get where you need to go….now, this building was built to house 400 students, or there abouts…..or so goes my knowledge……it currently houses closer to 700.  Now……..300 kids too many and the length of distance to travel in 3 minutes is basically impossible. 

I went to this school before that front hall existed…so it looked more like this…

and it was horrible trying to get around.  I do remember that much.  Add another hall and 300 kids…..no way.

Anyway, back to beating my horse.  Numerous students, not just ones at this school, are quoted as saying that the seven-periods are causing them trouble.  The board continued to say, but it saves us money. 

I’m sorry, but my child’s education comes first.  And, surely, if you simply cut 3 or 4 administrators and a couple of board employee’s, you would surely have accomplished the same thing…..maybe?

I will add that I never experienced the block as a student.  We always had seven periods.  I taught in the block and I personally hated it…but that was just me personally…

I know it seems like all I do these days is bash public schools.  I really don’t mean to but let me tell you what it means to me and why it is so important.  I’ve mentioned before that my father was a teacher and a huge education advocate.  He served in many positions with our local association as well as on the state and national level.  He loved the social aspect of it, yes, but he also loved his job.  He had a AA from The University of Alabama and that was the last certificate he earned.  He was well educated enough to have been principal at any school in the State of Alabama. I add the State of Alabama part because I don’t know  about other states and it was 20 years ago.

Anyway, back to what I have in the education system that is so important to me, besides the upcoming education of my very own offspring.  In 1979 it wasn’t unusual for school systems north of us to strike.  But, when I say north of us, I mean, waaaay north…like Chicago.  I know, I’m a southerner, I think Knoxville Tennessee is way north.  Anyway, that was the situation in our country at that time. 

However, schools teachers in Alabama simply didn’t do that.  They didn’t band together for the good of the group.  My father was a leader.  And, he led the local association (which at that time was composed of only county schools, there were two city systems that had schools inside the county, but he was President of the County’s local association) to a walk-out in 1979 in the South…

It wasn’t a pretty sight.  I was only in the sixth grade (shut up, I know I’m old) but I have vivid memories of Dr.Paul Hubbert (who is still a huge education advocate in Alabama) coming to our house with other association members to talk about the issues of the strike.  I remember Dr. Hubbert staying at the local hotel and I would go swimming in their pool because he and others from around the state were in our city.  But most of all, I remember being in the strike headquarters, watching on TV as my father was interviewed time and time again about the reason for the strike, the on-going talks and the eventual settling of the strike. 

Needless to say, I didn’t cross the picket lines and go to school, however, many did.  After the strike, the students who had not crossed the picket line had to go to school on Saturday’s to make up the days, those who crossed the picket line were free.  Most of the kids didn’t go on those Saturday’s regardless of whether they crossed the picket lines or not.  There were many of those Saturday’s that I was alone with my teacher…who had indeed supported my father and the local association and did not cross the picket lines.  My father was insistent that I go to school on these days even though I lived with my mom at that time.

My father spent 19 years supporting an education system that he could be proud of, one that he knew would educate me in the best manner possible and when he died, he was making arrangements to start back to school the next day with his peers.  It is pointless to say at this point, but my father eat, slept, dreamed, lived to make our education system a better system. 

And now, when I look around, and I hear teachers say, “I’m not a member of the local or state associations anymore, they simply don’t stand for anything”, it makes me want to throw up just a little bit.  My father spent 19 years standing up for teachers to have our system here look like it does a mere 20 years later.  Yea, I throw up just a little…..

I’m not going to pretend that I have any clue what-so-ever how a homeschooling parent would teach that previous lesson.  But, I suspect that the method I mentioned might work really great in that matter.  If I were thrown into homeschooling tomorrow, that’s what I would do.  I would go through the map with the child, discussing a little about each state that we might already know or that we can look up and learn.  That way, the child has a better idea of what a state represents other than just a spot on a map.

And, the parent could help the child go through the labeling process with the student reminding them of the small pieces of information that he/she had just learned about each state.  I see this as beneficial because let’s suppose your child lives in Gainesville Florida.  You are homeschooling and you are to this unit.  You 8- year-old has been begging to go snow skiing.  But when you try to explain to him/her that you can’t actually go snow skiing where you live and it is quite a long way to travel in order to do so. 

As you were labeling your map, you could show your child where grandma and grampa live in Nashville Tennessee and also remind them how long it took the last time you drove to see them.  Remind them of the various bathroom stops and the number of miles traveled, etc.  Then, you could jump to Colorado and show them that in order to snow ski they would need to visit a place such as Denver Colorado.  Look what your child has learned and learned the location of:  state of Florida and capital, state of Tennessee and capital and state of Colorado and capital.  The student is so much more likely to remember this because it relates to something the child is already interested in. 

In a classroom setting the teacher could do this as well, the problem being the number of students and the ability to know their students and their likes and dislikes.

In that example, I would be able to teach my child many states and capitals just be using the knowledge they already have and adding to it.  The knowledge is so much more likely to be retained. 

Fast forward 20 years and this young adult still hasn’t been snow skiing but he has won a free airline round trip to anywhere.  He/she knows exactly where he/she wants to go:  Denver Colorado.  And, because you had the opportunity to teach seasons and such, he/she can plan their trip accordingly since he/she learned at a very young age that driving from his/her home in Gainesville Florida to Denver Colorado would probably ruin his trip.

Lesson learned.  No homework.  Child can then be left with blank maps to work through and a labeled map to check his progress.  Learning so much more than simply regurgitating knowledge back onto a piece of paper. 

Discuss.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time talking about abolition of homework all together.  This is most definitely the premises behind the book The Case Against Homework by Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish that I’ve discussed in great detail.   I’m going to go out on a limb here and shoot out an opinion that’s somewhat different.

As long as the definition of homework means that a child is sent home with “work” to do that could be done in class and is not necessarily to reinforce learning, then it is considered non-sense to me and shouldn’t be used.  However, as a college grad, there is one skill that I feel is more than is vital…learning to study.

I spent my high school years with teachers sending homework home with us and declaring it a way to “learn to study” when in indeed, it was just busy work, it didn’t reinforce any skill because most of it I did while I was talking on the phone.  Learning to study is a skill that is different for almost everyone.  Everyone learns differently and everyone learns to retain knowledge differently.

I actually knew friends who would go home, on their own and write their vocabulary words over and over to reinforce them.  They would write sentences with their words because they knew we would have to do that on the test.  They learned from this.  Me, that’s the exact kind of work I did while chatting up someone on the phone thus…I learned nothing from it.

So, if a teacher is willing to spend instructional time teaching a student various methods of learning, then the actual homework that is given reads like this, “study for vocabulary test”.  And, as many of students I’ve talked to say, “I skip those assignments all together”, but the truth of the matter is, these students are also earning extremely high grades, so somewhere down the line, they are spending time studying.

I’m going to give you an example of what I would say is a teacher helping a child learn to study.  You can give me your thoughts on this method in the comments as I’m anxious to see what you have to say, even Sara Bennett and Nancy Kalish. 

Ok, my example goes like this: 

Instructional Time has been spent discussing the states and capitals of the U.S. and where they are located.  There is a huge map on the wall and the students have access to see it during the day when they have free time.  An empty map is given to the children during class and they have 3 options for filling in the map:  one they can use their textbook and find the answers, they can use the map on the wall and find the answers or they can wait until the teacher goes over the map on the wall and fill in the answers.  The first two ways would make a great in-house assignment but not at home because if the student forgets his/her textbook, what good is the assignment if the child has no resources at home.

One study habit that the teacher puts out there for the students to help them learn is that she also has a blank map on the wall.  The students as a class group or in small group with a student leader (alternating the leader) points to the empty map and the other students try to identify the state and the capital.  Naturally, this can’t be done if the student hasn’t put some time into “studying” before hand. But it makes for great socialization skills and helps the students learn.  You know, the first one to get it right gets to pick the next state.

Sidenote:  One of my junior high teachers who basically never gave homework would work through using his instructional time and then he would do games to help us learn.  One of his games was he would pull down the blank map, split us into two teams and have us compete against one another.  It wasn’t a free for all because he would start with one team, the person in the front seat.  If that person missed it, the other person in the front seat had the opportunity to get the point.  If he/she go it, that team got a point, if not, he went to the second person in the row for an answer.  He would go back and forth so that everyone had to participate but it was somewhat competitive.  He even did this on occasion and instead of breaking us up into teams, he would give you an extra point if you knew the one that he pointed to when it was your turn.  It worked great and rarely even had to take his work home to study.  He had given us every learning opportunity during class plus every opportunity to retain the knowledge.

Another method of studying would be the teacher providing the student with copies of an empty map to take home along with their already “correctly identified map”.  That means that the teacher had to make the effort to check everyone’s map, not just assume that the child did it right because she told them to use the book or the map on the wall.  Many children simply can’t copy straight from a book or it takes them an eternity.  So, the teacher might find that on the final night, giving out a copy of the U.S. map that she has correctly labeled and then giving the students access to blank copies to study from.

Another tip that I think would be beneficial is for the teacher to also leave the map blank, number the states, give a child a copy of the number and state and capital that corresponds and then give the child a copy of the blank map numbered.  And, possibly give them a different one numbered differently.

Now, if a child takes that assignment home, he/she doesn’t need anyone to help them (or shouldn’t and realize I am assuming no learning disabilities here).  They can sit down and use the various methods with which to study.  My reason for loving this method is the child doesn’t have to lug a text book home which is something I always hated and I know many children still do.  Have you ever seen those kids coming out of the building with the back pack weighing them down?

This to me would be one proper way to teach the skills in class, the teacher spending instructional time going over the U.S. map and helping the children label it, giving them opportunities to learn with their peers or alone and finally giving them a study method to employ at home.

My reasoning behind this method is because students have to find their own niche’ for study habits before he/she gets to college and their life would be much easier if it was accomplished before high school. 

Study habits are in - homework is out.

Discuss.

Everything I’ve written thus far about public schools and homework seems very negative.  But, I want to make sure everyone knows and understands that I know I can’t do the job of a teacher.  I’ve tried, Lord knows I’ve tried.  I tried one year, quit for a couple, tried for 2, quit for a couple, tried one year, quit, until I had amassed five years.  I simply am not cut out to be a teacher.  So, please don’t get the impression that I am downing one teacher in one school or anything of the like.

And, that last sentence is exactly where the problem lies.  It is not that your child’s teacher is doing this, every teacher is doing it.  It is not that your child’s school administrators are pushing your child’s teachers to push the kids harder and further.  It is not even just your child’s system.  As a nation, we’ve lost our minds thinking we can push these little tots into being grown doing grown-up skills at the ripe age of 7.

I just chatted with someone in email.  I know she won’t mind me sharing but just read this…

“This weeks homework for 1st grade:

Study for spelling test and sight word test on Friday

Then choose four of the five activities to complete by Friday:

Alphabetize a set of four words

Read her weekly story they are doing in class from her reading book (they bring it home on Monday..return it on Friday) and then write if its fiction, non-fiction, or realistic fantasy. Then answer end of chapter questions orally to an adult.

List 5 words using the “bl” blend sound

Work a set of 10 math addition problems

Write to complete sentences using at least two weekly spelling words.

Last week one of the activities was to label out sentences with verbs, nouns, adverbs, and adjectives.”

People, come on.  When is this kid suppose to play with her Barbie’s?  Midnight?  And, you know what I’m going to say next right?  They do this to these kids and then complain because the kids don’t get enough sleep.  I am the very first to yell foul when I think a kid is sleep deprived.  But I know exactly what happens.  These kids actually need some time to play and for many of them it is through organized sports. 

I played organized sports from the time I as 12 until well after I crossed that graduation platform.  So, these kids want to play and in order to do that, they have to practice.  Practice then delays homework which in turn delays sleep AND WHAT DO YOU GET?

You get a kid that is too tired to even tell you what he does know.  And…….and the blame gets put on organized sports.  They (as in the folks who are pushing pushing pushing our babies to the brink) always want to holler that the kids are sleep deprived because of organized sports, or dance classes, etc.

And, at the same time, they are being pushed to color in a goofy bubble.  I took AP classes with the same 5 or 6 kids for my junior and senior year.  I made the same grades they made - A’s.  I know in my heart of hearts that only one of them had a greater intelligence level than me.  But, when we took college entrance exams, I would bomb. 

Coloring in the bubble is just not my gig.  Here’s an excellent example.  When I graduated from high school, taking the ACT as a junior was advised because they would “give” you a point for taking it a year early.  So, I did what all the other kids did, I took it early.  Out of those classmates, there was a 34 (high score being 36), 32, 30, 28 and a 18.  Guess who scored the 18? 

I don’t color bubbles well.  I took a class in test taking and the next year I scored a 24.  But, I sat in class with those smarty-pants above and I made the grades all on my own.  I didn’t get anything easy and to be honest, none of us did.  But, they were better at being analytical - two of those were girls, two were boys and then me (a girl by the way). 

So, what I’m getting at here is a bunch of rambling and off topic stuff.  But, my point is, do we want to teach our kids how to take a test or how to actually retain some knowledge?  There is a company out there that can teach you how to increase your scores a lot.  I took the class and later took the class to be a teacher of the course.  It is ridiculous. 

This class for the teachers shows you how to take a standardized test and know very little but score very well based on analytical thinking and basically mind-reading the producer of the test.  Big deal, I can decide whether the answer is a, b, c, d, or e based on the answer to the last 3 or 4 questions or the next 3 or 4? 

And, that accomplishes?  Nothing in my opinion.  Give me the opportunity to tell you what I know, I believe I could have scored just as well as my peers.  The tests I had to take in college to get into the “Teachers” program was all essay based with the exception of one part of the language assessment.  I did really well.  My graduate courses…..they didn’t ask me if the answer was a,b,c,d…they wanted to know if I had read the material, understood the material and knew what I was talking about. 

Ok, this is way too long and I’m going to post it.  I may break it down later into separate posts but I am anxious to hear responses so I’m going with it for now.

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I was simply reading through my feed reader tonight and found a post that caught me way off guard.  I haven’t been reading this blog long and I knew exactly what made up the family “unit” in this case.  Which in reality, is exactly what made me more interested than I might have been otherwise.  Anyway, I’m not going to steal her glory, I’m simply going to send you over the Lesbian Dad’s house and let you check it all out for yourself.  There is just so much to learn especially if you are teacher and have yet to encounter a family unit that isn’t just like the one you grew up in.

I personally think that the information here is undoubtedly some of the best I’ve run upon in the last few weeks.  Start school is hard introducing your classmates is hard, introducing classmates to your mom and your mom or your dad and your dad or you mom and your dad and your step mom and your step dad or whatever it is that makes up your family unit is not easy.  And, I truly believe that each and ever teacher out there owes it to their students to be objective and learn as much as they can. 

Lesbian Dad suggest “the most powerful thing she could do was to integrate references to alternative families, as a matter of course, into the curriculum.  I suggested that she reflect this inclusive understanding in her everyday language; that she try to be as conscious about family diversity as she might be about other ethnic and cultural differences in her classroom”

Now, quit hanging around here, go read it all and let me know what you think.

*Naturally this post and the last one and probably the next one relates mostly to public schools, but I think that is ok, especially with all the home school talk we’ve been doing…and hey, you never know when you  might need the information that follows.”

I entered high school completely alone.  I didn’t know anyone with the exception of a few people I had “seen” through athletics.  I didn’t even know their name.

This high school also had its own elementary and junior high school so the folks entering from feeder schools were all greeted with a group of classmate who not only were familiar with each other, but they knew their way around.  At that time, the seventh and eighth graders were in the building with the high school, so they knew where their classes were, they knew where their lockers were and they knew the general rule of walking the halls of high school.

Side Note:  Since that time, they have build another school that houses the 6th, 7th and 8th graders only and the high school only houses grades 9 through 12.  But, at the time the kids from that schools feeder schools and myself were entering into a land of unknown.

I also think it is important to note here that those students that had been together since kindergarten basically stuck together as did the kids transferring.  Maybe 5% of the feeder school students ever managed to work their way into the clique that was known as the Curry (name of school)  kids. 

Anyway, referencing way back up in that paragraph where I said that these old students “knew the general rule of walking the halls of high school.”  And, that’s where my post is headed…if…whew, if it ever gets there.

What exactly is that rule?  The rule is/was that you walk on the right side of the hall.  Always.  Then, when you needed to cross over, you approached the classroom doors just like you would drive.  You would move to the middle of the hall with those along with the others who were trying to get to the other side. 

Two important rules that existed went like this, if a teacher was in line, you moved your big arse over and let him/her go in front of you.  You moved and let them have the right away in the hall.  From my experience in a local high school in recent years, students simply don’t have enough respect for their teachers to understand and utilize this unwritten rule. 

The other rule involved one teacher in particular.  If you needed to get somewhere and get their fast, find her, if she was going your way, she would clear a path and you could take advantage of it.  This is a sicko example but have you ever moved over to let an ambulance pass you.  If you are quick and you get in line behind it, you can move quite quickly on down the road and get out of traffic.  This teacher would put her hands out in front of her like she was diving and the waters (students) would part for her.  And, if you were smart, you would jump in line right behind her because you then had a free pass to move faster than a snail’s pace. 

Anyway, back to what I was trying to tell you in the beginning (which would have been the beginning of the last post).  On Saturday night when we arrived at the condo for our stay at the beach, it was quite crowded.  And, although I’ve basically said that this trip was more for relaxing than pure learning (even though we took every opportunity to teach our kids a few things), we taught our children the rule of walking on the right side. 

Nothing annoys me more than to be in a store (department store, mall, walmart, etc) and have people wondering down the middle of the aisle or on the left side.  Walk like you drive!  Is that so difficult?  I think not, because both of my kids learned the rule as we maneuvered through the condo on Saturday and Sunday when it was most crowded. 

So, hey, it wasn’t all rest and relaxation, my 3 and 5 year olds both know right from left and they know to walk on the right, drive on the right, and pause in the median to cross over.  So there!

Our local paper did an article on my blogging.  I am not one to boast or brag about myself and I was perfectly content knowing that my information would be in the Lifestyles section of the paper yesterday. 

When word came through that the article would instead be front page of Monday’s paper, you know Labor Day, I almost threw up a little bit.  Wow!  I mean, it is Labor Day, right?  And, my article is about how I labor from home, right?  But, man….how fascinating is that?

And, I’m giving you the link, feel free to go check it out, as a matter of fact, I’d love it if you would go check it out.  And, if you have a minute to leave me some feedback, I would greatly appreciate it and I’m sure the writer of the article would as well.

So, I give you Carbon Hill mother makes money from blogging.

I had a comment on the last post that showed me that I was being misunderstood.  I commented back but finally decided it was worthy of a post all its own.  Here is that post:

Wow, I had no intentions of making the post sound like I think I am better than public schools.  I don’t even know where to start with explaining to you where I was trying to go with my post.  First, let me say that I had no reservations about taking him out of school this early and going on vacation before you commented that you thought it was too early.  And, then, I got scared.  So, Wayne suggested we ask his teacher who said (not a direct quote here, just summarizing) that because he had been in daycare/preschool that he was good with the schedule, he stayed on tasked, he transitioned well and wasn’t having a problem at drop-off and that she didn’t see that it would be a problem.
So, I went with her thoughts.  As for me checking him out early last week, that wasn’t a reward for him as much as it was for me.  As you know, we live in the boonies of no where and I had to be in “town” for an appointment (prior to the time we went to McD’s).  So, if I had not taken him with me, I would have had to make the 30 mile trek back and forth.  Normally my mom would have been available, but she had her chemo treatment and wasn’t able.  So, I did what I had to do.  Also, I don’t believe in rewarding behavior that is expected.  He is expected to behave in his classroom and he will be punished if he isn’t.  I know that some behaviors warrant simply rewarding with small items for good behavior.  But in my opinion, some behaviors are expected and not reward behaviors.  And, proper behavior at school is one of those.  I’ll deal with him at home differently, but he will not be a pain the arse to his teacher, ever. 
Now, I was raised in the public school system and you know that as well.  My dad taught in a public school for 19 years and was a huge advocate for educators in Alabama as well as nationally.  I taught in the public schools.  However, I think I’ve told you before and if I haven’t, I can’t imagine why but the schools around here?  They don’t hold a candle to the schools in Georgia.  I remember just reading the paper when I lived in Atlanta about on-goings at the schools.  I know from all the things that we’ve talked about before with your preschool knowledge that the pre schools here don’t hold a candle to that either.  That doesn’t mean I am anti-public school.  As a matter of fact, I am very much in favor of public schools.  There is no way Walker could function in a home schooled environment and even more than that, I couldn’t and don’t want to do it. 
Now, that said, there are plenty of kids who couldn’t thrive in public schools for some reason or another (outside the obvious ones) and need the home schooling option.  We had 3 choices of schools to put Walker in because there are no zoning laws here.  And, therein lies the problem in our area (remind me and I’ll post that topic later)…well, it is a place to start anyway.  But we had 3 choices and we chose the one with the highest national standard scores.  Which you and I both know that standardized tests are not the greatest source for information either.  My cousin graduated from one of the schools that we bi-passed.  She had earned the “highest grade point” award every year of her first thru eight grades.  Then in ninth grades, the kids from where Walker goes transferred in for high school.  She was immediately knocked off her pedestal by 3 of the kids from the school where we chose to put Walker.  That says something…..it wasn’t just a coincidence.  How do I know that, because my cousin who transferred just this year was in the exact position except she was transferring in and immediately the kids didn’t like her because she and her peers that transferred in were making better grades.
I can tell you right here and now, I would be hard pressed to home school my own child past probably the 4th or 5th grade in some subjects.  The year I taught seventh and eight grade life and earth science was a freaking nightmare.  I knew the subject matter, but teaching it wasn’t what I was trained to do and I was lost.  Also, the school where Walker goes is a school that I worked in, I know what goes on in that building and I know that compared to other schools I’ve worked in, that place really is as good as their scores say they are.
And, I may have used this example already but when I found out the class that Walker was going to be in and the class that his best friend was going to be in, I knew immediately that class selection wasn’t just something that had to be done.  His best friend’s mom teaches at the school, she teaches special education.  She and I both requested that the 2 boys not be in the same room.  She openly said that she had no control over who either of them got for a teacher and didn’t care and I felt that way as well.  Hindsight though, there was some thought put into the process and it wasn’t simply a matter of pulling names out of hat. 
Walker needed a teacher who would not tolerate his meltdowns or his desire to be silly and clown around yet would push him to keep learning more and more.  His friend needed a teacher that could tolerate his getting under the chair for the first week or so and under the table and just truly acting goofy alot but that would teach him without having to force him to be serious.  Both children got the exact teacher that fit their personality.  Even the 3rd teacher of kindergarten wouldn’t have worked for either of them, the 2 choices for the 2 children were made with the child in mind.  Now, that’s quality public education and it is right here in my back door. 
One of the other schools that I mentioned?  They aren’t even accredited.  I know of 4 kids who transferred out after the 2nd or 3rd grade and were almost a full grade level behind.  It happens.  That doesn’t mean all public schools are bad.  It doesn’t even mean that that particular school is bad.  It is just the facts.  As I said earlier, public school in Alabama is no where near what it is in Georgia.  Georgia ranks 39th, Alabama ranks 48.  48th out of 50, DC, New Mexico and Mississippi are the only places where it is worse.  That is a statistic right there that says a lot.  Now, it doesn’t mean that public schools are superior to home schools or vice - versa.
Also, I think that you have misunderstood when I talk in depth about parents teaching their children.  I honestly believe that there is way more for a parent outside of the school setting, to teach their children, regardless of whether they are home schooled or public or private schooled, parents have that responsibility and too many (and I know you as well as you know me, we both feel like we do our part) have just pushed that to the wayside and said, let someone else teach them.  I know that Velcro is the reason why kids don’t know how to tie their shoes as early as they did 35 years ago when I learned.  The reason is because my mom, the adults and the older children in my family taught me how.  The teacher didn’t teach me that, and it wasn’t necessarily her responsibility.  But many parents choose Velcro shoes more for the factor of not having to “teach” their child something.  THAT’S WRONG!  Period.
I do not know one single person in my real life that home schools right now.  Only 25,000 kids in Alabama, or there about, are home schooled.  I did have a cousin who home schooled her children.  Why?  Because she wanted religion to be part of their education.  How did she do it?  She simply went through an on line home schooling site and then the children did their own thing at their own pace while she worked 12 hours a day.  Neither of them graduated and I talked to one of them in an instant message when she was in the ninth grade and I could hardly read what she was trying to say because she couldn’t spell easy words.  So, I didn’t right that post for it to be pro or con anything.  When I say parents need to teach their kids, I mean they need to teach their kids outside of what is formally known as “school time” whether they are the one doing the formal schooling or someone else is, there’s way too much that parents are slighting their children out of.
I can’t find the statistics for the number of children that are home schooled in Georgia but I know it is much higher.
Just a side note, Walker’s teacher sent me his work yesterday for him to do next week.  I don’t know how well we will do with it, but he will do his school work.  Neither I or Wayne feel qualified but we will figure out a way.  Just from that, I know she isn’t concerned about him getting behind.
So, I hope this doesn’t seem that I raked you over the coals and I definitely didn’t dismiss your comment on the “going on vacation” post.  I went straight to his teacher and she even said he would be fine.  I knew he already knew some of his multiplication facts but she sent a note home yesterday saying she thought he knew them all through 3.  I knew he knew some of them.  However, the conversation goes like this, me:  “what is 3 X 4?”  him: 12; me:  what is 4 X 3?  him:  you know I don’t know the 4’s yet.
He is eager too learn.  There is so much he can learn in public schools that I could never teach him at home.  But, there’s also lots to be learned by exploring your world too.  Is the beach considered an educational trip.  Probably not, but will he be reading or at least trying to read every road sign all the way there, while we are there and all the way home?  Yep.  Will his mom and dad help him?  Yes.  Will his mom and dad go nuts trying?  Yes because our short trips into town right now of 30 miles are straining my brain because all he wants to do is learn more stuff.
I’m going to say this again.  I appreciate your comments more and more.  I feel like I know you more personally than most of my Internet acquaintances and you can guarantee that every piece of advice you gave me regarding daycare/preschool was taken and used.  If I didn’t use it for some reason, it was because it simply wasn’t possible in our little town of less than 14000 people.  And, yes I am the one that has actually taught in a public school (and a private church school for that matter) but as far as the knowledge of what is going on and what is being done to help kids, you have already proven that you know more than I do.  It has been a long time since I was in a public school, but I do know that you have seen, heard and been more involved than I have.
So, if anyone else out there took my post to be a bashing of public schools, it certainly wasn’t.  I’ve already received an email from someone who assumed I was bashing home schooling and one who thought I was bashing private schools and religious schools.  I’m not bashing anyone.  I just want you to remember that whoever teaches your child the “formal’ education, they can only do so much, we, as parents have to pick up the slack and teach our own children a lot of life skills.
Since this is so long, I’m going to make it a post as well.  And, please remember, I’m not here to bash anyone, I’m hear to teach you stuff I know, learn from you the stuff you know and then together we can teach our children what we all know.

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This is for the home school moms.  Since I shared my thoughts on how little instructional time it seems my child gets (and we will see for sure next week when we are home schooling him while on vacation), I wanted to know from you guys how much time each day to spend on what I call “instructional time”. 

See, my thing with home schooling is this, if I did it, we would never get anything else done because I would spend the whole day teaching stuff and my children would be close to killing me.  As it is, the oldest one is in public school and the 3-year-old is at home tying me to a chair playing with knives but mostly he is just agitating me. 

So, my decision to have “school time” sort of like he would if he were in the pre-K program that I had at my daycare seemed to be wonderful.  Except, once we get started, two things happened.  He doesn’t want to quit and demands my attention 100% of the day.  And, secondly, when I do convince him to go play in the road,  I still keep teaching.  Every thing we do, every move we make, I’m explaining stuff to him that is so over his head it is ridiculous. 

I’m not explaining it because he is asking either.  He wants my undivided attention yes.  And, yes, he follows me to the laundry room to unfold the clothes as I get them out of the dryer and fold them.  But, I catch myself explaining to him how the dryer works and how people used to wash their clothes with a washboard and a ringer.  And, of course, I lose him for a few minutes but the next thing I know he is saying something like, “if the electricity goes off, we don’t have to do anymore laundry do we?”  So, he has gathered the information somewhere about electricity and I’m sure I told it to him, but at the time, I didn’t think he was listening.

However, unlike my son’s kindergarten teacher who is sending kids to p.e. or to work on the computer or to sing songs in circle time, I have this kid attached to my leg wanting me to teach him all day.  And, unlike my son’s teacher, I have a visitor go with me to the bathroom every time I go.  I think he does it because he knows that at that point, I’m a captive audience.  Where else can I go?  I have no choice but to listen to what it is he has to say. 

Now, I’m attempting to work from home and do some writing.  But, have you ever tried writing coherent sentences when you have a three old laying across the top of the sofa with his feet over one shoulder and his head the other shoulder.  All the while he is saying, “1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 11, 40, 49, 50″.  And, that of course is my cue to stop writing and make him count correctly and here we are back to instructional time and not getting anything else done…all day.

So, I’m curious to know how the homeschooling parents handle educational time versus house chores time versus mommy or daddy time versus free time?  What kind of schedules do you go by, are you rigid, or do you do it as he child shows signs of being ready for “school” each day?  What about those of you who have children in different grades? How in the world do you get all that done AND manage to do laundry, cook meals or even make a bologna sandwich?  Do you find yourself involved in “instructional time” 24/7?

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Regardless of whether you homeschool, take your child to a public school or daycare/preschool, chances are you have a schedule.  So, I’m going to try to elicit some comments from the readers here about their schedules. 

I know that most of us make our schedules as a result of the way other events in our life are scheduled.  Obviously if you take your child to public school or daycare/preschool and you work outside the home, you have to get moving so everyone is at the desired location at the appropriate time.  If you are like me and you work from home, it is a little easier because I have the option of getting dressed, taking the kindergartener to school and then running errands before I return home to work.  Or, I can take the kid in my pj’s and come home and work from home until later in the day when I run errands and get dressed to pick up my child at school.

So, for me, these schedules are obvious that there are so many outside factors that interfere with schedules that most of us simply work around someone else’s schedule.

However, as I mentioned, the week of Labor Day, we will be taking Walker’s kindergarten lessons with us to the beach.  His teacher said she would get it al together and we could work through it.  She wasn’t at all worried about him missing a week.  My question for you, and mostly those of you who home school or have in the past, or even those who have taken a vacation and taken your child’s work along to do, is how do you do it? 

What kind of schedule to you go buy?  What do you suggest we try?  Am I delusional about the whole process in the first place?  Just give me your best advice.

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I’ve made it fairly clear that I believe the most important educators in a child’s life are the parents.  And, in some cases, the parents are substituted for babysitters, aunts, uncles, preachers, Sunday School teachers, etc.  But, the bottom line is, no matter how much outsiders try to take part in educating our children, I still think that regardless of whether the parents teach their children good habits or bad habits, they teaching is there, the teaching continues and the teaching is inevitable.

So, for the time being, I’m curious what you all will be teaching your children this weekend.  We tend to use weekends to do the fun things in life (now that we don’t own a daycare) and we have managed in the past to do the fun things like going to the Zoo, going to a water park, going to a small lake, or simply stringing out a sprinkler in the front yard and allowing the boys to play until dark and then start trying to catch firefly’s or moths or whatever.

Since we are on the verge of taking a trip to the beach in a week or so, I’m going to be on the outlook for buckets and shovels and the such.  Last year when we went and accidentally left all of our play things in a inflatable boat and then left it down near the back door of the condo.  And, naturally, someone else wanted the things.  I just hope we don’t forget our umbrella. 

And, the lessons to be taught this weekend will be the buying and preparation of our traveling supplies.  And, we can really teach a good lesson on buying in the off-season as we should be able to find quite a bit of stuff on sale. 

Then, the ability to contain ourselves and continue with life as the time nears for us to get in the car and leave.  And lastly, far and away, vacations lend themselves to many life lessons.  The lesson of being polite to the folks who open doors for you, or opening doors for someone else, the thank you and the please’s when people help you or you ask for help, the appropriate behavior for restaurants that we don’t frequent and possibly have different rules.

So, for those of you getting down and dirty with your homeschooling, I’d love some input from you on how you continue your lessons while on vacations.  Of course visiting the aquarium in my mind is one such way to ensure my children receive at least that lesson about water animals. 

We will be taking all of his school work and I have no worries about that.  Mini-me still takes a nap and that means that Ditto-Boy can easily do his lessons while Mini-me naps each day.  And, we plan to eat breakfast and lunch at the condo and that will give us plenty of time to continue our on-going study of manners and polite behavior.

This got a little wordy but my main purpose was to say, we are going on vacation.  We are taking our kindergartener out of school for a week.  We are taking his lessons with us.  Any suggestions from the experts who’ve been doing this kind of thing for way longer than I have.

I’m open to suggestions.

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I have offered to volunteer at my child’s school several times.  I’ve yet to be taken up on the offer.  His kindergarten teacher did say she might need me yesterday or tomorrow but she has yet to let me know.  And, since my mom had a treatment on Monday, I no longer have adequate care for Jace if I were needed tomorrow. 

I ran into a fellow classmate who has 2 children in this school.  She said she asks her children’s teachers if they need help.  If they do not need her help, she just chooses a day or two and shows up.  Then, she says, "Anybody need anything?" and she manages to stay busy all day for the most part.

She also indicated how awesome it had made her experience with allowing her children to go into someone else’s care.  So, the time now has come for me to figure out a plan.  I have to juggle seven blogs, care for a three year old and my own health.  Then, I’m going to at least choose one day to go help out. 

I also volunteered to help the physical education teachers as they administer the Presidential Physical Fitness Test because obviously  someone who knows how it works would be helpful.  Anyone can count sit-ups or laps, but if you know the exacts of how it is all suppose to work, plus the record keeping parts of it, then definitely I think they were happy to hear me say I would help.  Kindergarten children are not tested but I told them that I didn’t care, I don’t mind helping with any age.

Also, when I taught physical education, it was easier if you asked parents to come run the mile with their child.  They could keep up with their own child’s laps and it was easier to time as well.  Most parents don’t mind purchasing a 3 dollar stop-watch and then usually if a parent can’t do it, an aunt or someone in the family is willing to do the run.  It helps so much.  So, that may be my PTO project for this year….getting parents involved in their child’s physical education classes.

Parents are often asked to help in so many areas, but physical education is not necessarily one of them.  But, if you’ve never seen 60 six-year-olds running laps and trying to keep their own count and you try to keep their time, all while trying to write down the times as each one finishes….you’ve never witnessed chaos.  But, it doesn’t have to be that way, it can be organized chaos and I think parental involvement in our child’s health and fitness levels would be a great place to start.

So, if your child goes to a public school, have you ever been approached in reference to helping with the fitness testing?

If you homeschool your child, how to assure that your child gets enough fitness activities.  Not just play time, not just out door time, but true fitness?

If you are a physical education teacher, what are your tips or tricks for making this testing process go easier, faster, smoother? 

If you are a physical education teacher, would you welcome parent volunteers like I mentioned?

If you home school or send your child to public or private school, do you talk about fitness in your home?  Not just healthy eating habits but true fitness activities?

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I know that some of you are quite disappointed that I won’t focusing solely on homeschooling, however, I really believe that every day of a parents life is spent teaching or educating a child.  So many people prefer to simply tell their children "don’t worry about it" when they either do not wish to explain tasks or chores and some people, like me, do way too much explaining.  So, what is it that needs to be explained.

One of the many skills that every educator (parents, public school teacher, store personnel, as well as people who take part in homeschooling) should teach is the skills involved in every day tasks.  The tasks that involve socializing with people in authority, socializing with other people are attempting to handle the same business, and then in my case, tomorrow we will be discussing money and money management.

Finally, we will make it to the grocery store and this is the biggest lesson of the day.  A lesson in nutrition, and a lesson in money management

I will also be opening a savings account tomorrow and my children have no clue what-so-ever what a savings account is because we’ve never had one of those. 

With all of these lessons being on tap, the social lesson will revolve around his behavior in each situation.  He is generally very well-behaved, however, he tends to be shy and won’t speak to people when spoken to, so that will be a very important lesson for sure.

So, I’ve linked to places where you can find help in each of these situation where you can educate your own children and reinforce what other educators attempt to do as well.

Let me know what you think? 

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I wrote that last post for opinions just as it seemed.  Now, I’ll tell you why I’m asking.  My husband and I have worked hard in the last year.  Owning a daycare is seriously one of the toughest things I’ve ever done.  It wasn’t as bad as teaching public school, but it was quite unnerving most of the time.  Anyway, we had nor the time or the resources to take a vacation.  And, after our little rendezvous last year in mid-September to the beach, I grew quite fond of the beach at that time of the year.

So, we will be taking a family vacation and I will keeping my son out of school.  I will take his lessons.  So, that all makes it sound so simple uh?  My reason for asking is a deep rooted issue I have with missing school.

My lived with my mother until I was 13 (parents divorced at age 4).  She would allow me to miss school if I complained enough, which wasn’t often because I didn’t like missing out on all the social stuff plus that made for a ton of homework later.  Once I turned 13, I moved to my fathers.

My father had a philosophy about school.  If you could breathe and school was in session, then you should be there.  He would have never approved me missing school unless he could look at me at see imminent death.  And, well, I’m 39 and writing this so obviously you can tell I made it. 

The oddest thing is I never had perfect attendance.  I had a little female personal issue that would put me down for about 4 days.  My mom would always allow me to stay out at least 2 days.  From the age of 9 til 13, I was always allowed to stay out at least 2 days and sometimes 3.  It was totally necessary, trust me.

Once I moved to my father’s house, he thought I must have bumped my head when I suggested that I wasn’t going to school for that reason.  He simply thought that it was horrible that I had been allowed to do that in the past and there was absolutely no way I was staying home from school. 

When I had my appendix removed in the eleventh grade, he had me signed up for a homeschool visit from a teacher in the system (he too was a teacher in the same system but a different school - plus he couldn’t teach me algebra II and geometry, hehehe) before I came out from under the sedation.  The doctor insisted I stay out 2 weeks because I  had an exploratory surgery but you can guarantee that home school teacher was at my house 7 days a week. 

So, as I plan to take my kindergartener to the beach during school and teach his lessons myself, I wonder what my father is thinking?  I can promise you, if you had the opportunity, you could see him rolling over in his grave the second he misses that first minute on that first day.

So, tell me again, what would you do? 

Are you as strict as my father was? 

Are you more lenient than my father but wouldn’t keep a child out for a vacation? 

Where on the continuum do you rest?

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