okay I knwo what bothered me about it, why base a whole month, why not be consistant through out the year?
Ok, I'm thinking maybe I didn't state clearly enough that I had NO problem with teachers doing this. I know it's necessary for classroom management, having BTDT myself teaching grades K-8th art each week. I was not meaning any insult to the teachers over there AT ALL! The point that I was trying to make by sharing that is that I think it clearly illustrates how we, as homeschoolers, do not need to fret over whether we are doing enough with our kids each day. Because we don't have to spend such a huge chunk of time on rules, procedures, lining up, it means that we have more time to teach and our kids have more time to learn. (I know that anyone who has HS'd for any length of time knows that, but many of us worry over it anyway.) But you know, the flip side to that is that I'll probably be whining a month from now about how teaching art to the 100 or so kids at our homeschooling group is difficult precisely because most of these kids have NOT had to learn much related to classroom management. :lol: I sat in on the art and music classes last year, and was kind of appalled at how many kids acted up, talked over the teacher, didn't listen, walked around the classroom, etc. I'm sure I'll begin every class with a rules review for the first month, at least, and need to come up with some type of award incentive for good behavior.
I think this would not be an issue if they would return the powers of control back to the teachers. Do not disrupt my class or I will smack your hand with a ruler! Ha! Not that that would ever happen again, but just making a point that poor teachers no longer are allowed to control their students, for fear of being fired or sued. I don't see how they manage at all, considering that as students get older, they begin to realize that teachers have little power.
It is interesting that it takes such a huge chunk of time to get everyone ont he same page. Especially at the 5th grade level.
I have to agree with Jen, turn the power back to the teachers. When I worked in PS as a aid the you could tell which teachers had the power and which one didn't. No wonder the kids are learning anything now days.
I forget where I saw it, but someone made a graphic that got colored in each day there was good behavior. If it got completely colored in, the kids got whatever it was a picture of. I wish I could remember! I think it was an ice cream deseert of some kind, but I don't know for sure..
I can SOOOO do better than that. Where I live, the kids do not learn basic writing (i.e. grammar, punctuation, capital letters, and the like) until 5th grade. Oh yea, you read that right. AND, our state is so focused on the stupid end of the year test that they only teach from August until December. After Christmas, all they do is drill the kids on the stuff that will be on the test!
I have two relatives who are in summer school. They are not in high school, nor are they in Junior High school.... One is 1st Grade... The Other is Kindergarten.. Really? Summer School for Kindergarten? Who was teaching THAT class?
Of course! It is one of my favorites. It helps me remember that if I am not getting the results I wanted then I need to change the way I am doing things. I found it--well, I don't remember where, possibly a blog somewhere on homeschooling vs. public school, so I don't know to whom to give the credit. This concept is used in the business world, mostly by consultants, I believe, but it certain fits so many other areas, doesn't it? In fact if you google one variation of it you will see it is used in evaluating churches, also: Your system is perfectly designed to produce the result you're getting.
You don't live in Ohio! They have to pass the Proficiency Test in fourth grade, and there's a writing component to it. But yes, they sure DO "teach to the test"!
Jen, one of most enjoyable summers was when I CHOSE to go to Summer School. They had not only "typical" summer school stuff, but also what we would consider "enrichment" courses. I took two...creative writing, and reading. They were two weeks long for about 1.5 hours each, and I loved them both! I was in 4th grade at the time. But yes, traditional summer school at that age is ridiculous!
Down here, Summer school was only for failures. Of course being imperfect, I went twice!hahahah! Anyway, it was usually highschool level and some junior high, but elementary school was unheard of til just recently. So, maybe it is a perspective, or experience thing, but it floored me.. not that one was in kindergarten summer school... but that so many needed it, that they actually HAD a kindergarten summer school to begin with. But, down here (And please live in our shoes before you get mad at me for saying so) we really have a ton of illegal emigrants and not enough federal money to pay for more teachers, and therefore the poor teachers and schools get over-run, with no money to cover the new kids, because they are not counted in the census. And of course No child left behind. In fact if you lived in SW Houston, you can walk into many elementary schools and English really is a second language to nearly everyone, there. Yet, in the school districts textbooks list (They have copies in the public library) are side-by-side spanish versions of the assigned textbooks.... So these kids get their legs chopped off before they get in the door, never really being taught English. Used to be that a person was taught nothing but English until they could understand enough to return to regular classes, and those kids usually kicked some serious academic booty, remember? Ok, I am babbling, sorry.... My point is to say that I think the numbers here are skewed, meaning it is not that we have worse teachers than we used to have, since elementary summer school is new here.... More that it is the school system trying to help up those who English is a second language. (And I have three members of my family who are recent LEGAL emigrants, so yes I have an attitude, but only because we followed the rules and we think they rules need to be streamlined and made free if not cheaper to get in...)
I agree with making it cheaper to get in. Man, I just had to pay 520$ just for the medical exam, and that was without the x-ray since I am pregnant. On top of that you have to pay about the same amount to the embassy (if not more, I don't recall) to get the actual papers. And then we need the US passport for the new baby. It all adds up, no wonder people immigrate illegally.
Exactly! And the problem with it is people not getting counted, and therefore federal dollars do not get sent to the right areas for stuff like schools and hospitals and social services.
Hey I wondered hwo that worked. Btw here Summer school is just anothe rword for "Put my kid in something so I can go work" I know a few parents who put thier kids in summer school this year because they could not find a sitter. But then our summer schools are set up much more like a day care anyway with the meals the games, the craft lessons, whatever class you are in, math, science etc, its like Math club or whatever.
Now our summer schools are make-up for what you didn't pass. I'm not sure they even have them outside of the high school. Kids are not permitted to retake a class, except in Summer School or some silly invention called "Credit Recovery". CR is done individually on the computer. (There's a CR teacher who supervises this!) Trouble is, you can take the (same) multiple choice test as many times as you want until you pass. The kids never learn the stuff, they just learn which answer is WRONG, and eventually figure out what's left.
