I spent a bit of time in Logan's classroom yesterday. In short, it was a tornado. Complete chaos, disorganization and lots of waiting around. And he has THE sought after teacher for 2nd grade. Ms. Frizzle if you will. Lots of fun, a room packed (and I mean packed) full of things. Yes, they are interesting things but I couldn't pay attention to what I was supposed to and I'm almost 40, not 8 years old. They get a list of spelling words every Monday with a test on Friday. But they don't work on the words once during the week. Metacognition. Labyrinth. Museum. Those are words for 2nd grade? He can barely read and they say he is doing fine but his spelling words don't match his reading level.
Avery has been telling us that they never have time to go to recess, have circle time, do share, etc. She says that they have to do things over and over because "the boys don't get it." So they practice lining up. They practice coming in from recess but don't actually do recess. Most days when she tells us what she did it is "Wait for the boys." And she came home in tears yesterday because she got in trouble. For grabbing her granola bar back from a kid who took it at snack.
I've decided that they are just managing large groups of children and any learning that takes place is incidental. But what do I do? Homeschool with the freaks and religious zealots? I could never unschool but I can imagine homeschooling. In theory. But I read my local homeschool yahoo groups and they are nuts! Opposed to the use of capitalization and punctuation? Yikes! I can't write well but I think I can get basic ideas across.
My kids aren't joiners so I can't just cram in some academic stuff in in the morning and then let them loose on activities in the afternoon which is what I would love to do. Logan says he likes school. But he also says he doesn't have enough time at school or at home. He wishes for more time to play star wars legos, spy on neighbors and play with friends. We both wish we had more time to just sit and read together- read Harry Potter, read the Star wars stuff, do projects and generally just be. Avery has found some books that she likes to read (BOB books) and that she likes to be read (Junie B. Jones sadly). She like to work on spelling words and gets the first ten of Logan's words each week and is doing pretty well.
This sums up my feelings about school right now. Big Sigh.
1 comment:
Me thinks that all this new technology has led to too much frivolity like computer games etc. which gain precedence in young minds. Yikes is right ---What to do, What to do ?? Maybe K & G W have some hints since we're WAY out of that ballpark. We wish you well.
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