My Kids Go to Public School

Lately I have seen dozens of articles on social media and the web in general about how horrible American schools have become.  There are articles promoting home school as the best or only way to educate your children and if you don't home school, you're basically throwing your children to the wolves.  Well, I'm getting a little tired of it.

Are there issues that need addressing in public education?  Of course.  No system is perfect and no doubt, in every system out there, there will be a child who slips through the cracks.  Even with home schooling, there are definite issues that should be examined when making that choice.  And I'm not against home schooling or parents having a choice on how to educate their children.  But I do not like all the negativity I see and read when it comes to public school as a choice.

As a former public school teacher and now the parent of five children in public school, I have seen both sides of this issue.  I have worked with fabulous teachers who dedicate their life work to the children in their classrooms.  They toil over lesson plans and worry about their students' home lives and stew over ways they can help them with their limited resources and all the rules and regulations that restrict them.  And while I have not loved all of the teachers my kids have had, my kids have still thrived in their public school classrooms, even during the years they had teachers I didn't feel were fabulous.

So I want to set the record straight.  Public school teachers are up against some difficult challenges.  They are given a set of standards they have to teach.  They are expected to have all students, no matter their background, at the same level by the end of the year.  They are graded on how well the students do on standardized tests, nevermind that students' scores can vary depending on what is going on in their individual life at that time and some may just be so nervous about taking tests that they do poorly no matter how well they know the subject material or how well they've prepared for the test.  The testing method is not conducive to all styles of student learning, yet teachers are graded on student performance on said tests.  Yes, there are changes that probably should be made but until they are, this is what teachers are facing.

And I'm getting really tired of feeling like a bad parent because I choose to put my kids in public school.  I spent the last few evenings and days walking with my three older kids around their schools and meeting their teachers for this year.  They are going to have some fantastic teachers and I'm excited for them!  They ran into lots of their friends while walking the halls and compared schedules to see they have classes together and lunches together and lockers near each other. 

I'm excited that my 5th grader gets to try art and choir and band and that he gets to have several different teachers and interact with a lot of different students throughout the day.  Is there a chance he'll be bullied?  Of course.  But we have had trouble with our own children bullying each other in the past, so it's not like public school is the only venue for bullying.  Is there a chance that he'll encounter situations that are opposite to what we teach religiously in our home?  Of course.  But hopefully he'll talk to us about it like he's done in the past, and we'll have some teaching moments.  Hopefully he'll remember what we've taught him and stand up for his beliefs or ignore whatever it is, if it calls for just being ignored.

I know for a fact that if my kids were home schooled, they would have limited opportunities to go out and meet people (due to the fact that I'm an introvert and don't like going out and meeting people, even when I know them really well, it's hard for me to leave the comfort of my  home) and limited opportunity to try new things, due to a very limited budget--public schools offer these things for free or very cheap comparatively.  It doesn't cost me anything for my son to have a choral music elective once a week for the entire school  year, for example.  If he were home schooled, he'd have to join a children's choir group, which around here are not cheap in the slightest, and I would have to drive him to and from all the rehearsals.  But he gets to do it at school during the school day for free.  Why is that a bad thing?

My high school student gets to take architecture!  I have no idea how I would even give him that resource if I were home schooling.  I could give examples of this in almost every subject area for which I have a limited knowledge base.  So while home schooling definitely works for some people, I just know it wouldn't work for me. 

Am I throwing them to the wolves, from a Christian standpoint, by sending them to public school?  I don't think so.  They are part of this world and they have to learn to get along with society, even with people who don't believe the same way they do.  I realize that this might create a situation where they might stray from my teachings and follow the teachings of someone else that differs.  I don't like that idea at all.  However, I am intelligent enough to know that they could do that anyway as adults, or young adults, if I were to home school them to keep them protected from the world.  If my kids were home schooled, they probably wouldn't be around very many people who are different than them.  The home schooling groups I am aware of in my area consist of many likeminded families (same religion, same social class, even same skin color).  My kids wouldn't have their Latino and Indian friends who practice other religions if they were home schooled.  It would all be white middle class Mormons.

My high school student's principal posted this on his Facebook page earlier this week:

"It is one of the most important things for me to do as we get close to starting school. This will be my 41st year and I am excited. Today I walk the campus in prayer for our kids and our school. I pray that God would bless this place with greatness and more especially with kindness and service. I pray for our staff to be relational and to love kids. I pray for the safety of our place. I pray for guidance and I pray to be able to give my best with kids and staff always at the forefront of my mind. I pray for the energy and enthusiasm it takes to do this job and to be able to listen and respond with vision. I pray for humor and I pray for the incredible support it takes from family, ESC, staff, parents, community and the kids. I praise God for the opportunity to do this calling and to be the best I can be. We have a great place and i send incredible praise to our Lord for this. I pray.....ceaselessly for our WHS campus and Pirates. Thank you Lord! Thank you Lord!"

I feel pretty confident right now that my kids are right where they are supposed to be.  Will they have problems?  Yes.  Will they come across people who are mean?  Most definitely.  But public school will not ruin them the way so many in this country seem to think it will.  They will be just fine.  And I'm excited for another school year for them.

The Stifling of Creativity vs. Rules and Standards

I keep seeing articles online about how we must encourage creative thinking in our children by not expecting them to do "busy work".  I read an article by the grandmother of a five-year-old boy, complaining about the developmentally inappropriate and stifling homework he was given by his teacher.  When I first read it, I was in complete agreement. 

Then I read the comments, several of which came from seasoned kindergarten teachers who explained the reasons for such homework.   As I read the woman's article, I nodded in agreement, but then I read the comments and agreed with those as well.

It is a complicated issue.  Where is the line between practice, which can at times be tedious and even boring, and the true stifling of creativity? At what point are kids expected to hone skills, such as the fine motor skills of writing without it being considered as squashing their creative juices? Must they always have leeway to color outside the lines?

I understand the complaints about how creativity is stifled.  They interpret the routines and structures of public school as taking away the freedom to be creative.  They argue that creativity is stifled because of these rules and these standards.

But I can also understand why there are such standards and rules in place.  If there aren't standards, then how do we teach groups of children at each age level?  If there aren't rules regarding the standards and the methods, how do we assess them and determine if they are learning what we believe they should learn?  In the lower grades, kids need a foundation on which to build.  They need to develop basic skills of writing and reading so those skills become so routine, they don't even think about them later, they just do them.  Is it truly unfair to require a 5-year-old boy to develop the fine motor skills with which to write words?  Is it ridiculous to teach him what a sentence is and once that has been taught, continue to reinforce it by requiring him to use proper punctuation?

This makes education, specifically public education (which involves teaching more than one student at a time by one teacher), a difficult challenge.  While we want to encourage creativity and instill a love of learning in the students, there must be standards and rules to give structure to all of it.

I disagree with large amounts of homework for very young kids, but I also understand why some of these teachers argued in favor of this homework. It is an attempt to get families to be involved in their child's education, since many families in certain socioeconomic groups do not get involved as much as the educator wishes they would.

But that is a separate issue.  Asking a child to draw thirteen boxes might seem meaningless and time wasting, but is it really that burdensome?  Most similar homework packets are assigned on a Monday and returned on a Friday, so if the child does a little every day, they get it done without it being a burden.  Will they be punished if they turn the boxes into robots?  Not likely.  Does drawing thirteen boxes really stifle creativity?  Does practicing penmanship force creativity out the window?  I don't believe that it does.

As in all other areas of life, there is a time and place.  In my experience, there are plenty of opportunities for kids to express themselves creatively in most of today's public schools.  If most parents who complain about this would spend a few days observing, they would see that there are opportunities.  You don't always see that on a homework assignment, especially at the kindergarten level where kids are learning those basic skills of writing and reading.  That doesn't mean they aren't doing activities at school that encourage creative thought. In my experience as a classroom teacher, an aide, and a parent volunteer in four states and several different schools, I have found that most schools, while they push hard for academics and testing, they also allow time for creative outlets.

While there are probably schools and situations where creativity truly does get stifled, I don't think something like a homework assignment requiring that a young child draw a few boxes is the problem.  Kids need to learn these basic skills and practice them so they will be prepared for more difficult learning in the future.  That doesn't mean they won't have other creative outlets throughout their day.  What we need to do is make sure that they do have those opportunities but not confuse the time that is necessary for practicing basic skills as taking away from the creative play of childhood.  Both are necessary components of child development.

Art Teaching Experience

On Friday, I had my first run at teaching art at the elementary school.  I was at the school from 8:30 am until 1:25 pm, the full school day (Fridays are early-release days here).  I taught each grade level a presentation about the artist Henri Matisse, complete with pictures on a screen using a "dot-cam" (not sure what that is short for and we didn't have those when I was teaching nine years ago).  I gave an overview of the artist's life, the art period he was from, and a new vocabulary term.  We also discussed some elements of the artwork the students were going to recreate.  Then the classes separated and teacher's aides taught the actual drawing portion in the individual classrooms while I waited on the next grade level of students.

One thing I gleaned from this was that I really do enjoy teaching.  I  have enjoyed teaching my own kids preschool.  I have enjoyed doing summer learning with them each summer, including art and music and culture.  I even enjoy tutoring them in their homework.  But I also learned that I am very glad that right now I'm doing what I do.  I stay home with my kids and it's the right place for me to be right now.  Maybe some day, when my kids are grown, I will return to teaching.  I will enjoy this year's opportunity of teaching art, but I'm glad it's only once a month and only for six months of the school year.

I'm glad I have the skill set I have for teaching school so that I can use it if I need to, but I'm glad that right now, I get to stay home and focus on being a mother to my children.

*Goldfish by Henri Matisse, 1911.

My PTA Participation

PTA.  If you're the mom of a school-age child who attends public school, you know about PTA (or PTO).  Because I used to be a teacher, I always felt that I needed to contribute to the school.  I should volunteer.  I should join PTA.  I should be at the school helping out as much as possible.

The reality is for me that I don't really like to do it.  When the teachers find out I used to teach school, they always want to put me with a small group of struggling readers and have me do a reading group.  Or help a student who needs help with math one-on-one.  But it's very uncomfortable for me.  Often they do it with no guidance, so I'm not sure what it is they really want me to do.  It's one thing to be in charge of your own class, have a curriculum that you use and are familiar with and do what you want with it.  But when you are helping out a teacher, you aren't the one in charge.  They are.  I once had a kindergarten teacher hand me a packet of letter activities and a list of students' names and thanked me for helping.  I had no idea what I was supposed to do.  Therefore, I have sort of avoided helping out in the schools.  I sign up for the teachers to send work home for me to do, like cutting things out or sorting through papers, even grading.  But I try to stay away from being in the actual classroom.

At the end of last year when PTA papers went out, I decided that it was time I did my fair share.  After all, I will have three kids at the school and I have experience teaching school.  So I decided instead of just paying PTA dues and doing work for the teachers at home, I would try to do something more.  I looked at the choices of what committees to sign up for and picked a few that seemed interesting to me, thinking I could help on at least one committee.  The things was, there was just a list of committees, no explanations attached as to what you actually did on that committee.

About a week later, I got an email from the PTA president asking me if I would be the Art Commissioner.  No explanation as to what it was, no information about the art program.  I was promised I would get more information in a couple of weeks and told that I would be helping with the school's art program.  I thought I have experience with art and know a little about it, this could be interesting, so I accepted.

I finally found out a few weeks ago what would be expected of me.

I get to teach art to the school.  Once a month, the second Friday of the month, I get to go to the school and teach an art lesson on a famous artist to each grade level.  It will be all day, from 8:30 am to 1:20 pm (Fridays are short days here) and I will see each grade level come through.  I'll give them a fifteen minute lesson as a grade and then they'll separate back into their classrooms to do the artwork and I'll walk around checking to see what help is needed.

I am very excited about this.  I do have a little bit of an art background--I studied art in high school and took some art classes in college.  Art was a favorite subject of mine to teach too, when I got the chance, which was rare, based on the 100% focus on reading and math these days.  I have been pondering the idea of teaching again when my kids are all in school, missing teaching.  But I don't miss dealing with the district and the parents and the contract, etc.  This will fill  my desire to be teaching again without all the hang-ups.  Plus, the curriculum is all made, all I have to do is follow the lesson outline and teach it.  Once a month.  It's just the perfect thing.

The best part is, they had no idea I had teaching experience and was knowledgeable about art when they handed me this assignment.  I'm so excited about this!

A Well-Rounded Education

American public schools are failing all over the nation.  They are failing to teach literacy.  They are failing to prepare students for higher education.  They are failing to prepare students for life. 

Reading and math, reading and math.  I just read an article from some small town U.S.A. (outside of New Jersey) about how they are introducing all day kindergarten.  Because of more hours in school, the article stated that they would be able to spend 30 percent more time on reading and 40 percent more time on math.  The other 30 percent of the time was to be spent on building social skills.  Let me ask this question.  Whatever happened to science, social studies, art, writing, music, speech (as in public speaking skills), and P.E.?  Why are these subjects being removed from schools all over the country in favor of reading and math?  Don't people see what a disparity this is, how this takes us from what used to be a well-rounded education and makes it so lopsided and boring that young kids, who have a natural thirst for knowledge, are completely disinterested and bored in school by the time they are only seven years old?  No wonder the public schools are failing--they are driving children away from loving learning and only teaching them to despise it.

I had a very well-rounded education.  In elementary school, we went to P.E., art, and music once a week.  They were pull-out classes with a certified instructor in that subject area that went for an hour each time.  We also had one library day, which was 45 minutes.  Those times were teacher prep times for our classroom teachers, plus we learned a lot in those classes.  In art, we learned art history and about various artists in each period in art history and their contribution to art.  In music, we learned about singing and various musical instruments.  In P.E., we learned how to play many different sports and participated actively in doing them.  In our classes, we learned science and social studies.  I remember learning about how batteries worked and how the incandescent lightbulb worked, all in elementary school.  We learned about the different time periods throughout world history, and that is when I developed my love for history.

Today's kids get plenty of instructional time in language skills.  They have "balanced literacy" (something I'm actually on board with and I think is great, but too much time is focused on it).  They have guided reading, shared reading, independent reading, and writing and word study (spelling).  Guided reading is when they divide into leveled reading groups and read.  Shared reading is when they read together as a class.  Independent reading is just that, reading independently.  They focus on phonics (now called something else but it slips my mind) and whole word studies.  They do spelling.  They touch on writing, but I feel they don't do enough with writing.  It's mostly reading.  This "balanced literacy" takes up much of the day, about three hours.  If they are in school for 6.5 hours (which mine are), they have 45 minutes for lunch, 15 minutes for a separate recess, that only leaves 2.5 hours for everything else.  Since math is also a priority, they usually spend 1-1.5 hours on math alone.  Our school has a time set aside for extra help, to help kids who have fallen behind or give enrichment to kids who are keeping up and need more stimulation.  I think that's great.  We are lucky to still have P.E., although it's only 30 minutes and is very different than what it was when I was growing up.  Library is 30 minutes, and they have computers too.  As far as music and art, that's not really required anymore so many schools skip them altogether.  Science and social studies are also often neglected, which is why 4th graders no longer know how to read maps (this should be taught in 1st and 2nd grade) and 5th graders no longer know much about history.

Education is always a big issue in elections.  Everybody realizes that our system isn't working very well but nobody seems to know what to do about it.  I suggest bringing us back to a well-rounded education.  Bring back science, social studies, music and art.  Include dance and theatre arts in that as well.  When I was studying elementary education, I had to take classes in each subject area and learn the basics of that subject as well as how to teach it.  We also took classes on how to integrate subjects into one another because time in the classroom is limited so it works to teach more than one subject at a time (like writing a history report using proper grammar and mechanics).  I don't know if this is how teacher education still works, since it has been more than a decade since I went through my program, but if it is, it doesn't make sense that they aren't doing this enough in school. 

I think more testing should be done.  Not end-of-the-year type of standardized testing, but testing that finds the child's abilities and strengths and then places them according to that.  Teach all the subjects but utilize methods that work for that type of learner.  Allow children to use their strengths as a ladder and then help them with the areas which which they are weak.  Allow them to excel in the areas they are naturally good at and praise and reward them for it so they feel good about something they do.  With the curriculum so rigidly focused on reading and math, that leaves a lot of children in the dust who are intelligent, even brilliant, but just struggle in those subjects. 

I realize none of these things will probably happen in my lifetime, but it's nice to imagine.  I'm starting to understand why home schooling is such an attractive option for many people because if done properly, it allows you to do just this, focus on your child's strengths and help them overcome their weaknesses.  Focus on their learning style and adjust your teaching style to help them.  Perhaps, though, if all these home schooling advocates spoke up about what needs to change in the public schools and then initiated that change, we'd have better schools. 

Writing this has made me miss teaching in a lot of ways.  I did love teaching all the subjects, especially finding neat ways to incorporate one subject into another.  I think it's even gotten harder to do that with so much emphasis on reading and math.  Reading and math are important, true.  However, more can be done to make public education in America more well-rounded and inclusive. 

A Favorite Book and Book Group

I haven't reviewed this book on Goodreads yet, and I actually want to post that one when I do it.  So this isn't the actual review I will write on this book.

I recently read the book "These Is My Words" by Nancy Turner.  It one an Arizona Book Award and was nominated for a Willa Cather award.  A friend of mine told me about the book several years ago when I still lived in Arizona.  She had read it for her book club.  I put it on my list of to-reads, and it kept getting pushed to the bottom.  A few times, I tried finding it for fun at the library while I was there, but it was never there.  Finally, I moved it to the top of the list because I felt like reading something from that period of time, late 1800's.  I reserved a copy at the public library and within days I had it in my hand.


This has got to be one of the best books I have read.  I loved it.  I couldn't put it down.  It wasn't exactly a page-turner, but I fell in love with the story and the simplicity with the way it's told.  I have always loved that time period and I think that was one of the factors that drew me to the book.

I was so excited about it that I decided to finally try and organize a book group, something I've been wanting to do for a while now.  So I sent out messages and suggested the book and got quite the response.  Tonight is our first meeting where we will discuss this book and I am quite excited.  In fact, I ordered a copy of the book for myself in the mail and got it on Saturday and have been re-reading it ever since.  It is just as good the second time around, even after only a month of having read it the first time.

I am excited about a book group.  One thing I have really missed about being in school the last 12 years is the discussions about learning.  Admittedly, a book group won't be like learning new things, but I'm looking forward to discussing what I'm reading with other people who've actually read it, not just my husband after I tell him the story of what I've read and then proceed to tell him what I think about it.  This will be much more enlightening and much more rewarding.  I have always wished I could put together a group of ladies who love learning as much as I do and would be willing to research out topics to learn about and then get together periodically to discuss them and share what we've learned.  I'm not sure anyone would want to form such a group, so I figure a book group is second best.  We won't always be learning new things, but we'll be discussing what we've read, and that is something I really look forward to doing.

Our Summer Learning

I promised that I would post about our summer routine and what we do for summer learning.  I love summer especially for this learning time.  I am thankful that my children attend a good school where values are still taught and expected and the community where I live reflects that.  Our state does not have set requirements for what children need to learn in music and art and even science in the lower grades.  Our school's teachers do try to incorporate these subjects with the core curriculum as much as possible.  However, I see that these "extras" are lacking in some areas.

For example, in art, they mostly do craft projects.  They haven't learned about the elements of art, like color, line, movement, balance, etc.  They know nothing of art history or influential artists from history.  So I take it upon myself during the summer months to teach them these things.  I have a little bit knowledge in art myself having taking a few courses and really loving that subject area, so I'm able to teach them what I know and research what I don't know.  I do this with music and science and cultural studies as well.


I am a very structured person, so it's pretty easy for me to formulate a summer routine of chores and summer learning with my kids.  First of all, I determine what subjects they need to review during the summer and which ones I will teach them.  They need to read every day and it's good for them to review language arts and math.  I also like them to practice their handwriting in the summer months because they tend to get sloppy by the end of the school year and they need that constant practice.  So each day they do some practice pages in these areas, either in a workbook I have found for them or pages that I have printed from the Internet.  We alternate days, doing language arts twice a week, math twice a week, and handwriting one day.  Fridays are for art, science, social studies, and music and any other non-core-subject learning.  Every day we also have a piano lesson (each child has a different day for their lesson) and the rest of them practice the piano.  We do all these things before they can have their freedom to go play.  Also, once a week the older boys have karate and the younger two (not the baby though) have gymnastics.  Starting next week we will focus on a foreign culture for a week, learning history and culture and ending the week by having a meal from that culture.

Here is our basic routine:

6:30-7:00 am      Wake up, make beds, say morning prayers, get dressed

7:00 am    Family Scripture Reading and Prayer (this is the main reason we get up early even in the summer.  We like to have scripture reading and prayer at the beginning of the day otherwise it usually doesn't happen.  We have to have it before Daddy goes to work, and he leaves at 7:15 am.)

7:15 am    Eat Breakfast/Brush Teeth/Reading Time (about 20-30 minutes, starting with personal scripture reading)


7:45/8:00 am    Learning Time--Piano lessons and practicing during schoolwork time; Monday and Wednesday are for Language Arts review; Tuesday and Thursdays are for math; Wednesday there is also a handwriting page.  Later in the summer we will probably do some creative writing as well.  I do one child each day for a piano lesson Monday through Thursday and the rest do practice time after the lesson is over, taking turns.  On Fridays, we do Music Theory together instead of a lesson and then they take turns practicing.  We also do art on Fridays.  Starting next week, after everyone has done their individual reviews and piano practicing, we will do a mini lesson on a foreign culture.

9:00 am    We are usually done with all learning time by 9:00 am. This is when we have a snack and run some errands or have some free time.  The baby goes down for his morning nap.

10:00 am    Tuesdays gymnastics for two of the kids, Wednesdays karate for two of the kids.
Wednesdays there is playgroup at this time and sometimes there are things going on at this time  for the other days as well.  Mornings are busy.

12:00 pm     Lunchtime, then baby's nap.  After lunch the kids will often play the Wii during the baby's nap.  
They earn their Wii time by earning tokens from their daily routine.   They pay me one token for fifteen minutes of Wii time and are limited to 30 minutes of Wii time each per day.  I set the timer for them.

1:30 pm      The rest of the day is free time until dinner.  They play outside, blow bubbles, bake, play with Legos, play at a friend's, have a friend over, etc.  Sometimes we'll take a family bike ride or go to the park.  When we join the pool for a month in July we'll go there almost every day in the afternoon.

Of course, some days we don't follow this exact schedule and we vary it up.  Like yesterday, after morning learning time, we took one of my kids to a doctor's appointment that happened to be near the zoo, so then we went to the zoo when the appointment was done and spent the morning there. 

Here is a copy of our daily routine, for which they earn tokens:

They earn one token for each set of activities that is surrounded by a black box.  So they can earn three tokens a day and can use two tokens a day for playing the Wii.  The chores vary depending on the week, as we have a weekly rotating chore system.  The Saturday chore and the level of chore changes too.  This is our first week of using this system for their daily routine.  Two of my kids are eating up being able to check off boxes and earn tokens and two of them don't seem to really care about it at all.  So we'll see how it goes this summer as this is the first summer I've implemented such a structured routine.

More on Preschool

This is a hot topic for me, one for which I have very strong opinions. Yesterday, I read on a news website that our state is considering making preschool mandatory as well as all-day kindergarten. For some obvious reasons (if you've read previous posts of mine), I'm not exactly in line with this type of thinking.

I wish that people could realize how much a child learns by simply exploring their world. That a child can learn so much more in five minutes of this type of exploration than they sometimes can by sitting in a preschool classroom for 2-3 hours three times a week. I wish that more parents would realize that their children can benefit so much from them spending good quality learning time with them.

I just recently read, and I wish I could cite the source as it was only a day or two ago, that by the fourth grade there is no difference between children who went to preschool and children who didn't, and also, in that same study, there was no difference in the early grades between kids who went to preschool and kids who came from strong learning environments at home that didn't attend preschool.

I'm not sure how the state will mandate preschool, if this bill passes. I know that kindergarten used to not be required, is it now? If it does pass and is required, I supposed I can always officially home school my kids for at least preschool, as I already do that and follow a pretty structured curriculum even. But it just makes me sick that so many parents buy into this notion that preschool is necessary.

As far as all day kindergarten, I really don't think that should be required. However, we wouldn't be the first state to do so. Many other states already have full day kindergarten as standard. I do like the half day option, but that's because for some kids, half days are just better. I taught all day kindergarten. Let me tell you, there were kids in that class for whom all day kindergarten was a horrible experience. They were exhausted by after lunch time and became my problem students when in the morning, they were my exemplary ones. They were in all day kindergarten because their parents worked and figured it was a better (cheaper) option than daycare. I get that some parents need to work, so make it an option, not a requirement!

I know that what I've said in the past makes it sound like I hate preschool. I just feel like lots of parents don't realize how easy it can be to teach their kids at home. But as long as it's not required, I guess I'll be happy to just keep my kids at home with me as long as possible. Early childhood goes by way too quickly, and I love to teach my own children these academic basics. I hope this doesn't pass.

Choosing Your Child's Teacher

This year, our elementary school has decided that parents will be more involved in their child's education by choosing their child's teacher.  I am excited about this, yet skeptical.

When I was a teacher, at the end of the school year, we put together cards for each student.  Each card contained information about how they did academically and socially and any special notes for that child.  It also contained their picture and other personal information.  All of the teachers of the grade level sat down one day after school and sorted through all our students.  Previous to this meeting, individually, we had sorted through our stack of cards and grouped the students according to ability and social skills.  When we got together, we would simply take turns grouping students into piles of no more than 20 (20 was the class size limit at that time) to piece together a possible class for the next year's teacher that wouldn't contain all students who struggled or all students who excelled, sort of a way to pre-determine the classes so they were evenly distributed.  However, there were several parents who would request certain teachers.  I had a few who came into my classroom to observe at the end of the school year and then they could make a formal request with the school to place their child in a certain class.  The school tried to honor those requests but sometimes just couldn't, based on the distribution of students in the teacher's classes.

Today, I went over to the school and asked about how they would proceed with letting parents choose.  I found out that they are not planning on having any sort of "meet the next year's teacher" night.  They don't have any biographies or anything of that sort on the school website for the teachers.   I asked about contacting the teachers to see if I could come observe in their classrooms or even just sit down with them for a brief interview before or after school.  The office staff said that was probably fine but they felt most teachers wouldn't want to do that.

So how, I ask you, am I supposed to choose the appropriate teacher for my child if I don't even know who the next year's teachers are and am not allowed to meet them or find out anything about them?  They have time slots for each grade set up during which we parents get on the website and select our child's teacher.  If we don't make it in during that time slot, they will choose the teacher for us anyway.

I wonder about how this will work out.  Will they end up with a class entirely made up of gifted students or students with special needs?  Will large groups of students who are friends ask their parents to request certain teachers and then those classes end up being a class of a bunch of friends which will make the teacher's job harder?

I applaud them for wanting to involve parents.  I was going to make a request for my next-year second grade son anyway for a certain teacher, but the other two, I really have no idea who I want them to have.  My son starting kindergarten would probably do fine with the teacher that my other son had, but I was kind of looking forward to working with a different teacher for him, depending on who the school assigned him to.  I have not met any of the fourth grade teachers for my oldest and don't even know their names or if they're male or female or how many classes they will have of fourth grade next year.  And for second grade, I really loved my oldest son's teacher and wanted to request her again for my second child, but I don't have a clue about any of the other second grade teachers at all.  For that matter, in later years, I don't know any of the other first grade teachers either because my two sons have had the same teacher.

If we aren't allowed to meet them and aren't given information about them, how are we supposed to make a good choice?

I wish I could get some other parents together to rally the school and show them how important it is that if we are left to make this decision that we have some knowledge to help us make the decision in the first place.  However, I've learned in the past that when I try to initiate such things, nobody sees them the way I do and they don't seem to care about the same things.  I wonder if any other parent at that school has even asked these questions.

Was my college education wasted?

Was it worth it? The time, the money. I don't teach in an elementary school and haven't for eight years now. I don't even help out at the school.

What about my husband's? He majored in the easiest thing possible so he could finish as quickly as possible. Communications. He is a manager for a fast food company. They train all their managers from within, and don't even take into consideration the education level. Having one won't hurt but it's not necessary for promotion. So was that wasted time and money on his part?

What about my sister-in-law who majored in physics? At least there is practical application in child-rearing with what I studied--how children grow and learn, different methods of teaching them, what problems to expect. Was her education, the time and money spent on that, wasted as well?

I think having a college education is very valuable. Is it the most important thing? No. Can we be successful and smart in life without one? Sure.

I think people who blast college educations, however, are somewhat ignorant. They don't understand that in college, besides hopefully finding a focus that will help establish you in a career, you are also taught to think. You are allowed to examine different perspectives and analyze the information you find and sift through it for what's important. You gain a broader understanding of the world, of other people, and of their thoughts and ideas. That is what general eds are for--to gain perspective and hopefully find something to narrow your focus.

Even meeting the people I met helped broaden my mind and give me enlightenment and understanding. I met people from many walks of life from all over this country and the world. I had friends from Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Argentina, and Chili. I spent some time in Mexico and learned Spanish. None of that I probably would have done had I not gone to college and had the opportunity through school to do it.

I think it's upsetting that college costs are rising through the roof. But I still don't think that negates the value gained from getting a college education.

Perhaps I will use my education degree again someday to help with income. Perhaps I won't. I still will never regret those four years I spent at BYU, paying them for my studies, and studying what I did.

A New School Year

*image courtesy Google images

Summer is almost over and in a less than a week, my kids will be starting a new school year.

When my oldest started kindergarten, I went a little nuts buying new clothes and other things for school. I bought him a backpack more than one that year), a lunch case, school supplies, and new clothes (no T-shirts, only nice clothes) and shoes. I walked with him to school, took pictures of him lining up with his class, walking into the school, etc.

When he started first grade, he got a new backpack and a few needed new clothes items plus some school supplies that he didn't already have. I forgot the camera and didn't take any pictures.

When he started second grade and my second child started kindergarten last year, I bought them both several pairs of new jeans and a couple new T-shirts (yes, I downgraded from nice shirts). I don't remember even buying school supplies.

This year, the school hasn't sent us any sort of a list of supplies that are needed, and I'm not going to buy tons of school supplies in case they're needed if they won't be used. Like last year I sent them both with pencils, crayons, pencil boxes, and folders and neither of them used any of those items. Thankfully, those were things we already had.

They're boys. They don't care if they wear cut-off jeans and an old T-shirt to school. They do need new backpacks since last year's backpacks are pretty worn out. I pulled out and dusted off the lunch cases and they are in good condition, a little dirty, but otherwise functional.

So I hesitate to even bother with school shopping. I don't have a school supply list. I bought new jeans at the end of last school year (it was still cold and they needed them!) and those still fit just fine. I bought them new tennis shoes at the end of last school year. Other than a little dirt from camping once, those shoes are fine, not worn out at all. And they are perfectly happy with the lunch cases we already have.

So do I even bother? I just feel like it's nice to start school with something new, but I don't think boys really care. At least my boys don't. Maybe I should shop the clearance racks at Target or Walmart for some new T-shirts and spend $20 or less for the both of them, just so they can have something new.

So how much do you spend on back-to-school for each child? What do you deem necessary or not necessary?

My Thoughts on Preschool

We become enamored with men's theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother's influence. It is mother's influence during the crucial formative years that forms a child's basic character. Home is the place where a child learns faith, feels love, and thereby learns from mother's loving example to choose righteousness. How vital are mother's influence and teaching in the home--and how apparent when neglected!
--Ezra Taft Benson

I have very strong opinions on preschool. Although there are probably a myriad of reasons to put your child in preschool, I think the general population has been duped into believing it is a necessary step for a child's education. Even if kindergarten has become the new first grade, as it has in some places, I still don't buy into this notion.

When I hear someone talking about putting their young 3-year-old in preschool, I cringe. I'm a firm believer that a child's own play is a great learning tool to help them make sense of their world and interrupting that play while they are too young to shove academics at them is wasting their precious early childhood years. It robs them of some great learning they can do on their own. A great resource on how important of a role that play has in early childhood is the book "Piggyback Rides and Slippery Slides" by Lynnae W. Allred.

Even though I don't put my own kids in preschool, I do teach them the basics at home starting at the age of 4, or the year before they will be starting school. Some basic academic teaching before starting school isn't a bad thing. The issue is how much is too much and what is necessary and what isn't?

I've had people comment to me when I bring up my opinions on this that not everyone can teach their own kids how to read or write or do math, etc. Generations of people have done it before this day and age when we can just pop our kid in the nearest preschool. And they've been successful. So why can't we be?

It's mostly about reading to them. You read to them every day. When they start showing more interest in actually reading, you teach them that words are made up of letters and individual letters have sounds. How do you teach that? You point to an easy word and point out each letter and tell them the sound each letter makes. Then you start teaching the ABC's. The most basic way to do that would be to write a letter, say the letter B, on a piece of paper. Have them trace it with their finger. Then say, "This is B. B makes this sound /b/." Then you name anything you see from where you are that starts with letter B. You do this for about a week and then you move on to another letter. That would be the most basic way. If you want to go more advanced, then you come up with activities for each letter. For B, you could go into a bounce house and bounce. You could go bowling. You could make an outline of a big letter B and get some buttons and let them glue the buttons onto the letter B. You see where this is going.

I think that any parent who knows how to read (and therefore knows letter sounds), knows how to count, knows how to distinguish between the basic colors of the rainbow and the basic shapes (triangle, square, circle, rectangle) can teach their kids the basics that will give them a leg up in kindergarten. If they don't make it a stressful "sit-down-and-learn" situation, they just go with the learning flow, it is something that is as natural as teaching your child to pray or even just play.

The key is to use the world around you to help your kids learn. Every moment is a learning moment in the life of a preschool-age child. If you use that and answer your child's questions and are reading to them every day, there is no need to pay money for preschool.

I just get so tired of listening to parents who think they don't have the ability to teach their own children the basics of academics. I don't think parents need to make sure their kids are reading before they go to school and I could see how the thought of teaching them to be reading completely would be overwhelming. But if the child has a basic knowledge of the letters and counting, they will be successful at school. Are they more successful than peers who didn't do any preschool? I doubt it. Are they less successful than their peers whose parents paid premium amounts for a highly academic preschool? I doubt that too.

I realize too that many parents put their kids in preschool to get a break from them. I agree that a break from your kids is something that is needed, but I think there are a number of ways to accomplish this without having to entrust them to someone else for learning during their most formative years.

If you want some home preschool teaching ideas, you can check out my preschool blog here. I will be adding some more basic teaching ideas like the one I discussed above and perhaps start keeping more of a record of those teaching moments that just happen upon us during the day to give ideas for that.

I realize everyone is entitled to their own opinion and may have their own valid reasons for putting their child in preschool. But don't expect sympathy if you whine to me about the cost of preschool as a factor in the high cost of raising kids. Early learning is so natural to just do at home that the cost of preschool is something you can easily forgo.

Putting together our alphabet train floor puzzle. As he does this, I have him say the letters and their sounds by looking at the picture. When he's done, we sing the alphabet song, pointing to each letter.

We studied the skeletal system. We put together this poster that I got out of one of my supplemental science workbooks I bought when I was a teacher. He also put the fridge letters in alphabetical order, practicing each letter sound as he went along.

Playing with a popular math manipulative--pattern blocks. I purchased a set of math manipulatives to do with my kids at home.

We made cookies in the shapes of items that begin with the letter "C". Cat, candy cane, car.
I always teach the letters of my child's name as the first letters they learn. Something a preschool teacher with more than one student couldn't do, but it really helps solidify those letters in their brain because they can immediately relate those letters to something very familiar.

Teaching My Children

I love being a teacher. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching in the public schools--everything but dealing with nasty parents. I love summer break because I get to be with the kids all the time and we do lots of fun and educational things. I'm teaching my older two boys piano and I'm teaching them art lessons as well and really enjoying it. Now, I think I would enjoy teaching other kids piano too, especially since they are less likely to talk back during the lesson, but even so, I am enjoying this time with them.

I love doing preschool with my children. I love teaching them one-on-one in a more formal setting and also doing some of the other less formal activities we do. As I look around, I wonder if I am the only parent in the world who thinks teaching them preschool myself is so much better than sending them to someone else for preschool. These preschool years are so short, so precious, and I want to be the one to provide them a foundation for a love of learning.

As much as I love teaching my children, I also love sending them to school. I think there are valuable things that they experience at school that they won't experience if I home school them. I think home schooling would be a wonderful experience. I think I would enjoy it and my kids would thrive. But I like that they have to learn to maneuver through the social pitfalls of school, that they have to learn to work with other personalities and meet new people. I like that they have to adapt to someone else's teaching style and learn how to follow another person's rules. I like that the particular school they are at is so big on school pride and they sing the school song every week and have assemblies all the time. Even with the incidence of my son being bullied a little this year during second grade, I feel like school is a good place for them, especially the school they are at. It doesn't have stellar academic programs or a super reputation. It is, in fact, a brand new school, opened in August 2009. But it's a good school, you can just feel that it's a good environment when you walk in. I like that they get to experience these new things and new ideas and things I might not be able to teach them at home.

These days, it seems that so many are turning to home schooling to teach their children and I think that would be great. I know I could do it and my kids would thrive. Is it strange, though, that even with the teacher in me and the fact that I love having them home 12 weeks in the summer (I can't believe we only have five more weeks of summer, I'm so SAD!) that I still want them to be in public school? I don't rejoice at the end of summer that I get to have a break from them; rather, I'm excited for them to start a fresh school year. I love the back-to-school time of year.

I guess I might always just feel torn between the two options. I love the idea of home schooling but I also love having my children experience new things and meet new people. They are very independent and outgoing and have a lot to give others and gain from others. Maybe someday I will homeschool. Maybe someday I will go back to teaching. Right now, I am just happy that they are home with me for the summer months and we have been very busy enjoying this time.

Beating Summer Boredom

I love summer break. It seems to me that I am the only mom out there who actually enjoys having the kids home for 2-1/2 straight months. I love it. I look forward to it. Perhaps it is because I still have kids at home that I am able to keep entertained and busy that I don't have much of a struggle finding things to keep the older ones busy too.

Summer is a wonderful time for learning. The best kind of learning, the kind of learning that naturally happens as a child learns to work and play with parents and siblings. The rich kind of learning that happens naturally that you can start with answering one question and it can lead into a whole series of events and activities. Perhaps this is why I love summer so much.

In April, I saw on the website Kids.Woot an offer for a butterfly garden. It was $5, with $5 shipping and handling, and then $5 for the live caterpillars to be shipped separately. In anticipation for the upcoming summer break, I went ahead and ordered it.

In addition to our butterfly life cycle, we have so many other things to do that keep us busy. In fact, we have been so busy these first few weeks of summer that my kids are begging for a breather and I have actually allotted a few hours of the afternoon time as "free time" or "playtime" when they can just play and do what they want.

The four kids are enrolled in swimming lessons. It wasn't cheap but I feel swimming lessons are necessary. Especially since I love to take them to the swimming pool on hot summer afternoons. It's much easier to handle four kids (well, five) at the pool when most of them can swim independently. Plus we visit Arizona every summer and my parents have a backyard pool. I feel swimming lessons are a safety precaution.

We also bought a family zoo pass for the year, which we'll use often in the summer. I find that $70-$100 is worth it to be able to return many times with such a large group. Last summer we had a pass to another attraction here that offered a museum, a farm and some rolling gardens. Unfortunately, budget constraints made it impossible to renew that pass for another year, but perhaps next year we'll do it again.

In addition to all that, I look for free or cheap events in the community, things like parades and carnivals. Where we live, the smaller cities often have "Town Days" where they celebrate the founding of the town with rodeos, parades, carnivals, and other attractions.

Just going to the regular park is fun. We have so many parks around our city that there are many to choose from. Perhaps it's because I don't take my kids to the park very often during the school year or maybe they just love parks and being outside, but they never tire of going to a park. We often ride bikes to the park and the parks have bike paths to ride around on too. Or we take sports equipment and a picnic. For some reason, eating at a park is so much more fun than eating at home, even when it's the same old pb&j's.

Also where we live there are paths in the canyons to take bikes or roller blades on as well as just walk/hike and enjoy nature.

And besides all the free time stuff, I decided to utilize my talents this year. I have often struggled with the idea that some people are extraordinarily talented in certain areas--they play an instrument really well or they are gifted in dance or a sport. I have no areas in which I am super-talented. But I'm finally realizing that being well-rounded and having an interest in lots of things and learning those skills is my strength. Therefore, I am using my strength to bless my family.

I am taking it upon myself to teach the basics in piano, dance, tumbling, and art to my children. Why should I pay someone else to do something I am quite capable of doing myself?

And in addition to all that, my school-age kids will be doing reading time and math time to retain what they have learned. They will be doing workbooks too, but I will be actively engaged in helping them, answering questions and helping them to review it.

I figure that since I signed on as mom, part of my job is to make sure my children are learning, so that is what I will spend my summer doing. Sure it cuts in on my own personal time that I'm used to having when they are at school, but it's worth it to keep them busy, out of trouble, learning, and happy.

So bring on summer. I can't wait! Sad that already two weeks of the summer break are already over...

If you would like to follow what we are doing to glean some ideas, check out my other blog Love For Learning.

On Public Education

I know bad teachers exist and they are definitely out there. There are also personality conflicts at times between teachers and students. I had an art teacher in junior high school who just didn't like me. Not really sure why, but she was mean to me. However, I didn't act very well in her class, which just created more of a problem. At one point, I complained loudly to my parents and they called a meeting with her, in which I meekly sat, realizing as they talked how very in the wrong I had been as well. My parents were disappointed in me for acting like I had and I realized that I had contributed to the problem.

There are some teachers out there who really shouldn't be teachers. Teachers who don't try and help struggling students. Teachers who are overly critical or unsympathetic. Teachers who do the very least they possibly can to get by in their jobs and then wonder why all their students are hating school and doing poorly.

But, I taught in public school.

Let me tell you one big thing about that.

Parents are a big part of the problem. They want someone to blame for their problems, so they blame the schools.

Most of the teachers I knew did the best that they could. They stayed late hours and worked hard. They spent lots of their own money on activities and supplies for their classes. They really cared about the students. The teachers that my children have had so far have been these kind of teachers. Are they perfect? No. Do they sometimes miss struggles or don't know how to handle something going on with my child? Yes. They are mortal, like me. I don't always catch something going on with my child, and I live with them! I have four children that I'm dealing with and I miss things, and these teachers have 30+ students that they have to keep a close watch on.

But teachers are up against a lot. They can't discipline properly because parents would complain and do complain. If the child has a problem with an academic area, parents are quick to blame the teacher for the child's inabilities rather than allowing the teacher to do some interventions to help the child. Often, parents just expect that teachers will solve all their problems without doing anything from the home end. Now, I'm not saying ALL parents do this, and it's highly probable that you readers are among the parents who are highly involved in your child's education and do all you can to help the schools succeed.

I've found though, that there are many times when I feel that something isn't going right and I complain before I've done anything about it. Then I go in to talk to the teacher and find that there's way more to the story than what I'm getting at home. And then after, the communication has happened, things improve.

I have a few examples from my own experiences as a teacher. I had a boy in my second grade class who didn't even know the letters and sounds. By second grade, most children should be reading at basic level, and most are above that. But not knowing the letter sounds is something that should have been addressed in kindergarten. So I talked to the reading specialist about the problem and she said she wanted to see him for testing. I needed to get the parents' permission to have him tested. I sent the form home for the mom to sign and after a week of it not being returned, I called. I thought maybe it had been missed, and that she would give her permission, etc. Instead, I got an earful about how I was the worst **** teacher on the planet and if I was a better teacher, I could teach him to read, no problem. She didn't acknowledge the fact that what I was seeing was linked to a learning disability and when I suggested it, she was highly offended. In the end, we did nothing. We held the student back in second grade and I moved to teach in another district. I have no idea what became of that child.

Another example is from that same class. Another boy came in a month or two after school started. He had some serious home problems. His mom was single, dad was in prison, and after getting into a fight with his mom, she sent him to live with his grandma, which was why he was at our school. He had a lot of attitude and anger; according to his short school record, he had been kicked out of two other schools for fighting. He was a behavioral challenge for me and I was constantly stressing out about how to manage his issues and still teach the rest of the class. I had ZERO support from the grandmother when it came to his behavioral problems. He even once tried to run away during the school day, and I had several people helping me chase him down and bring him back to class. About two months before the school year ended, when I finally felt I was making some progress with him, his grandmother came over to the school and confronted the principal, saying that he was being treated unfairly in class because he was black. I was blown away. I had tried everything I could possibly think of, even gleaning help and support from other teachers on how to help this child. I taught several lessons in class on loving one another, turning the other cheek, and the Golden Rule to try and help the other students be more accepting of him and hopefully to reach him somewhere inside. I had even spent time on my knees at home counseling with my Heavenly Father about how to reach this boy. The next day, he was withdrawn from our school and I never saw him again.

The point I'm trying to make is that there are a LOT of teachers out there who really are doing the best they know how. Sometimes the biggest problem in a child's success, or lack thereof, is failed communication between the teacher and the parent. A lot of times, the parents are uncooperative and unwilling to recognize that their child might have issues that need to be addressed and just want to blame someone.

One thing I really hate is hearing someone going off on a teacher and then ranting that they need to put their child in a charter school or just home school them before they've properly addressed the problem. How does that teach the child to deal with a problem? It teaches them to run away and not face their problems head-on. And often, it is not the school that is at fault. Sometimes changing to another teacher who is more willing to work with you is the solution to the problem, as I admit that some teachers don't do a whole lot to help.

Try seeing it from the teacher's perspective. They often have 30+ kids to deal with. In today's world, many of these kids are coming in with serious emotional baggage--abuse, parents in prison, split homes, step-parents, neglect, and even just absent parents who work too much. These kids are dealing with a lot, which affects their behavior and their schoolwork. And the teacher is only with them 6-7 hours a day. Since there are so many students too, the teachers are overworked. Aside from having papers to grade and lessons to plan and prep work to do, they don't get paid very well and they also have to deal with all these emotional problems that the children bring to school. They carry a lot of weight.

Teaching in the public schools is hard. But the public schools can still be great schools if everyone pulls together for the benefit of the students.

Church Callings

I have to be honest. I am NOT looking forward to my calling this year.

I have been teaching primary since last January. Before we moved here, I didn't have a calling for nearly a whole year. Before that, we taught the same class level out of the same lesson manual in primary. Before that, I was the relief society pianist and before that, I was the ward librarian. You get the drift. My callings have been less than exciting.

I have made up my mind to mostly just endure. Teaching primary is not my favorite calling. You'd think with my teaching experience that I would enjoy it more, but primary is a completely different setting than a public school classroom.

In the classroom, you are expected to set up rules and consequences. You enforce those and weed out bad behavior. You have standards and you have lesson materials and you keep the children engaged and focused. If they seriously act out, you send them to another classroom or the principal. You have conferences with the parents to track their progress and hopefully can expect some support from home.

Why is it in the church that many parents feel that primary is just a place for the kids to be baby-sat? They don't seem to care how well their children behave or even if they do, and they view it as the primary's problem? I know not all parents are like that, but it seems like a lot of them are.

I really don't like sharing time. It's so long and it annoys me how the kids can't sit and be quiet for any of it. We had a great primary presidency in both places that prepared good sharing times, but I noticed that a lot of times, they tell the children to be quiet and then continue on their lesson without actually waiting for the children to quiet down. There are no consequences for loud, noisy primary children, so they continue to be loud and noisy.

This year, my husband and I are supposed to teach in senior primary. The last few times, we've been in junior primary. I am not excited about this at all. I have a hard enough time being with little kids who love and adore you. I really don't want to work with older kids. And I'm quite sad that we won't be in sharing time at the same time as my other children, especially my daughter who is starting sunbeams this year.

And the fact that I will still have to prepare lessons every week because my husband doesn't ever contribute. If I leave it to him to do, he waits until Sunday morning, and I can't handle that. I don't want to show up unprepared.

Some day, I hope to have a calling I am at least enthusiastic about, but maybe that's my lesson. Maybe I will be stuck in primary until I get enthusiastic about it.

Early Childhood=Fleeting Freedom

My second child starts kindergarten tomorrow. If I were feeling better, the fact that it's going to be a gorgeous day today would spur me to do something fabulous to celebrate his last real day of being a kid. Even if we were homeschooling, just taking on that responsibility of a formal education sort of takes away that blissful freedom of early childhood. Sure, there will still be carefree times and holidays, family outings and true moments of learning. But that same freedom, where there isn't any responsibility at all, is gone for him after today.

Early childhood is so short. I remember looking at it from the beginning when I had my first baby and thinking that five years was SO long--it seemed like it would be AGES before he would be reading, writing and and all that.

I'm not sad that #2 is starting school tomorrow. He is so excited, that it's contagious. I am excited for him and all the wonderful new experiences he will have. His teacher is awesome. He and I spent lots of time this last year doing my home preschool and he is eager to be in school. I am so glad they still do half-day kindergarten here and they still believe that play is a big part of learning, at least that is the philosophy the teacher shared with me yesterday. This is truly the way kindergarten is supposed to be.

So, here's to the last day of pure freedom and to the beginning of a journey that will no doubt teach him a lot about himself and others along the way!

How Schools Turn Reading into a Chore

I read with my children. Every night, they each get to pick one book and we all sit together and read each book out loud. It takes us as little as 20 minutes, but sometimes as long as 45. We read other times as well throughout the day, but that is the one time we for sure read each night.

Here in our state, the office of education is distributing summer reading calendars to every student. The students are to track their reading and earn rewards based on their reading. I supposed it's a good motivator for some kids and keeps some kids reading who might not otherwise read. But I feel personally annoyed by it.

And actually, that goes for all and any reading incentives or projects for kids to read. I am okay with the occasional book report. I think that is necessary to learn to pick apart a book and break it down into its parts--learn what goes into a good book. But to do it for EVERY SINGLE book a child reads? To calculate every single minute they spend reading and give them rewards based on that or deny them rewards based on that? I really don't like it one bit.

The summer reading calendar, is optional, of course. I probably won't fill it out. I already can't stand making my son fill in little circles for every night he reads. He also has to bring home "teacher-approved" books to read and do a report on every single one he finishes. That equates to about 1 book report every 1-1/2 weeks since he reads one chapter every night. He reads that book when he first walks in the door from school and then we read again at bedtime, something he chooses and actually WANTS to read.

I guess my gripe with it is that some kids are good readers and might be more motivated to read if they just read for the fun of reading. The more work a child associates with reading, the more they view it as a chore rather than entertainment. I really didn't like reading books for school very much, you know books like "The Grapes of Wrath", "A Tale of Two Cities", "The Brothers Karamazov", "My Name is Asher Lev,", etc. Having to take quizzes and write essays about books I never did like. I like to read because it's entertaining and enjoyable. Not that I don't like to talk about the books I read and pick them apart for literary value because I do, but I hated being graded on it. Sucked the fun right out. For me. My son is the same way. I can tell he views the chapter books that he brings home as a chore. But at night, when he can pick whatever book he chooses, we have a lot of fun learning about spiders, or the digestive system, or volcanoes, or wildfires, or sometimes listening to a good story about a moose and two ducks who travel to Florida from New Hampshire for the winter ("Duck, Duck, Moose" by Dave Horowitz).

So there, state board of education! I refuse to make my child participate in your summer reading program. We read enough without that incentive!

Oh, and my other annoyance right now is the new law they just passed here that will hold students back in grades 1-3 for not reading on grade level. I get that they need them to be able to keep up with the work in the next grade, but some kids just take longer to develop the necessary skills to read. So someone who might be brilliant in every other area will be kept back one year because they aren't reading at exactly the right level? I just think it's ridiculous. There needs to be more to the equation than just reading level.

Bad Mom Confession

I have a confession to make. I'm a bad mom. You know how you're supposed to be all supportive of the school by volunteering to help out? I'll be honest. I don't want to go into my kids' classrooms and help out.

I know, I should want to. I have the time to do it. My husband is generally off two days a week on weekdays, so it would be really easy for me to go in at least once a week. And you'd think I'd really want to, having a teaching background. But I prefer to fade into the scenery, I'm not a take-charge person (other than with my own family), so when I go in to help, I'd rather just be handed a bunch of papers to help grade or some materials to prep for a lesson. I don't want to take aside a group of students struggling in reading or math and help them, unless there is a clear cut lesson plan for me to follow. I don't like winging it.

So there. That's my confession.

And to be honest...when I was a teacher, I didn't really like having parents come in and help. They got in my way more than they helped.

Home School vs. Public School

It was only a matter of time before I tackled this touchy subject. I know there are people who have strong feelings on the matter, but please feel free to comment and share your opinions.

Why this is such a controversial issue, though, is beyond me. I guess it's because people have strong feelings about it. I personally feel strongly that my children will fare just fine in the public schools. I think they will have valuable experiences by attending public school in which they will learn important life lessons--such as learning to get along with many different personalities, realizing that it is not all about them, but that they are one of many, and even certain types of failures that come in a public school setting that will make them stronger.

There are also many good reasons to homeschool a child. Many parents don't want their children exposed to certain "gentile" beliefs and attitudes that abound so plentifully in the public schools. They don't want their children exposed to inappropriate ideas or actions nor do they want them to learn that something is acceptable when it really isn't. Some parents homeschool their children in an effort to challenge them more and keep them motivated to learn. Some simply want to spend more time together. Some homeschool because the public school programs weren't doing enough for their child--perhaps that child has special needs that weren't being met. Whatever the reason, the beautiful thing is that parents are entitled to have their children learn whichever way best suits them.

The only problem I have ever seen with homeschool is when the homeschooled pupil is behind his or her public school peers for certain grade level benchmarks. That is when clearly homeschooling isn't working either.

I don't necessarily believe that "it takes a village" and that's the reason I feel public schools are best for my children, but I do know from life experience that there are many topics I know nothing about that another teacher perhaps does and can generate interest for my child. For example, if a certain 3rd grade teacher my older brothers had hadn't been so fascinated with Germany, my brothers may not have ever gotten so interested in the country, culture and language themselves. Both of them eventually studied the language to fluency, spent time in Germany, and even got degrees in German, which probably wouldn't have happened had that teacher not generated the interest. Since neither of my parents speak German nor had visited the country then, there was no way for my parents to generate that interest. How different my brothers' lives would have been had my mom chosen to homeschool them instead of putting them in the public school.

It's merely a matter of preference and choice. I choose not to homeschool. I'm not saying there won't come a day, however, when homeschooling might become the better option. But I am going to do my best to contribute my time and effort into making the public schools better places first before falling back on homeschooling.

What do you think of homeschooling?