...if my children went to public school. I have no patience for arbitrary rules and I will not put up with my children being subjected to them. A couple of weeks ago, through conversation with a friend, I realized that I am just not cut out to be a PS parent; I'd have gotten my kids kicked out at least a dozen times each. :lol: Case in point: Today a friend posted a disciplinary note her Ker brought home, scolding him for (again) singing opera in the bathroom. I, of course, asked why there was a rule against singing in the bathrooms. She said there isn't, per say, but they kiddos are expected to keep control of themselves. I said, "Hey, if he can sing opera at 6, he's got great control." She said that it might disturb the other kids who are also using the bathroom; when I asked if any kid had complained, she admitted none had. It seems his behavior simply bothers the teacher, and this is grounds for discipline. If it were my son, I'd offer him $1 for every day he sang in the bathroom. :wink: [Anyone else think they'd have gotten the PS boot if it weren't for HSing? Or maybe a story about how this sort of thing led you to HS?]
I would have been called in many times for pictures of weapons being drawn. It is what my son likes to draw, but not what is allowed in school. I remember being a teacher, and I would not allow it (or turning any objects into imaginary weapons). That is just the way it was.
DH was a published poet in highschool, and got suspended many times for their graphic nature. Published or not, they dind't like that sort of thing. I got 3 hour detention for wearing a leather Duster in the middle of a winter snow storm. (It wasn't a trench coat, but it was the only coat I had at the time, so I got 30 inute detentions everyday, until my parents made a deal with them that I just got a 3 hour detention once, and had to leave my coat in the gym all day (just inside the door to come in.) I got a detention in Middle school for failing an impromptu spelling test (and my detention was served by helping the teacher move out of her apartment.......) The main rule of school here is Conform Conform Conform....I eman...they make MOVIES out of kids who succeed well in Public Schools for goodness sakes...
When Ds was 7 and in public school, I took him out midday so we could go stand in line and wait for the opening of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. His teacher was very displeased. :lol: My kids spent a few years in ps. My kids questioned idiotic rules, as did I. It was a mutually uncomfortable fit.
A friend of mine was just telling me that her son's teacher (he's in K) drew a picture of a person in bed with the sun outside a window. She asked, "What do you think is going to happen in this picture?" Her son answered, "The sun will go down and the moon will come up." The teacher responded, "No." Nice, right?
My son has an art class at the high school, and then stays an extra hour for reading and math tutoring. Anyway, last year he got "lunch detention" because someone in art asked if they could borrow a pencil and he tossed one across the room to them. Lunch detention consists of spending the entire lunch period in the art room, eating your lunch there....while standing up. :roll: Of course...he got lunch detention, but the girl who slapped my son across the face (hard!) because he touched her phone got nothin' (yes....same teacher saw it all).
Yeah we would not succeed in public schooling at all. I have no patience for all the rules even if there is some "reason" for them. I find myself at home going "Now why did I think THAT was so important before?" and my poor kids wouldn't know what to do in a public school setting and frankly I'm ok with that.
I've had a couple of kids go through PS and one who is a senior in PS. I can't wait until he's out of there because I'm not a good PS parent. The rules get more ridiculous by the year. I understand some sensitivity to school shootings, but the gun phobia is silly. I had one mother tell me that her first grade son got suspended for saying, "That was so loud it sounded like a gunshot!". I had a first grader who got in trouble because he had been playing before school and found a ONE INCH plastic toy gun in his pocket. Oh, and just to show how gun phobic they are, we have a display case with pictures of our Cub Scout activities in the school lobby and they removed the pictures of the boys shooting BB guns. I'm usually a pretty laid back, easygoing person, but there was the one time I told off a high school principal who suspended my son because he laughed at a sarcastic comment that a friend made during a private conversation. Another student overhead and thought it was racist. The principal even admitted that my son hadn't even made the comment, just laughed and said "Yeah". This is the same principal who didn't give any consequences to the boy who stole my son's bike from the school bike rack WHILE I WAS WATCHING because the boy was already on probation and would have to go to jail!! I even overheard a PS teacher complaining this week about her child's school and its stupid rules and saying she understands why people homeschool. Sorry I'm rambling, but I have so many examples of stupidity in schools that it really sets me off.
Gun phobic is so true. When Ds was 6 or 7, I got a call to come once again to the school. He was making his hand into a gun shape and shooting at the TV screen the kids were watching. What were they watching? Elmer Fudd shooting at Daffy Duck. The. Most. Stupid. Thing. EVER.
Yes, We have been a part of those idiotic blanket rules.. Dumb.. My son spent 6 weeks in public school last year.. Was a hard decision to send him back then but hubby really felt he needed to go back.. Well right before the first report card came out I get a call from hubby that he had just left the school after getting a call that my son had taken an allergy pill to school.. My son has AWEFUL allergies and forgot to take his meds when he got up so as he was running out the door to the bus I told him to grab his pill. He grabbed the bottle which had TWO pills in it.. OVER THE COUNTER pills at that and took them to school. Yes, they are supposed to take them to the nurse, but my son just took the pills he needed for that day... He was turned in by another student and hubby was called and my son was ordered to spend 3 MONTHS in the alternative education school across town.. For taking an allergy pill to school!! Hubby said no way.. Principal said that it was Texas Education policy that any child caught WITH "DRUGS" automatically be suspended or sent to alternative education campus.. Hubby left my son there in "in-school-suspension" for the day because he did disobey the policy and when he got out told me to send him in to get his stuff and not send him back.. Obviously, we did give in and send him back this year, but this time it's been a better transition.. And unfortunately, no matter what he will probably stay there.. And in 2 years my daughter will be back in that system.. :/
Yes, they are.. My son has a poetry assignment that he has an assigned partner to complete it with.. He's irritated over the partner he has because he doesn't do any work and the work he does is "morbid". He showed me his partners idea of a good poem and the teacher said it was fine.. went something like "Bang Bang went the gun." Splat, splat, Went the man" Dead, dead, dead.. WOW and THIS is okay but a first grader who forgets and brings a plastic gun to school gets suspended.. Hmmmm.
Oh, I'd be a terrible PS parent! One of the biggest beefs I'd probably have right now would be homework for DS2. He's the type of child that wouldn't need the extra work and I wouldn't make him do something he didn't need. His teacher would know that and probably hate me. ...the evil mom that tosses her son's homework in the recycling bin! lol I remember when DS1 was in public K, I had so many issues. There was hardly a day that went by that I wasn't biting my tongue over something or other. One time I wrote a short, polite note to his teacher about him missing outdoor play time as punishment for something (can't remember now). I value outdoor play time for children as much as math and reading, so I didn't want him missing out on this valuable part of his education (we're talking 5 and 6 year old kids being cooped up inside all day). She sent back a 5 or 6 page letter, on fancy paper, with neat handwriting and perfect line spacing. It reminded me of having an argument with a spouse, you know the ones where you bring up one issue, and they talk about 5 other issues. She was bringing up things like me volunteering in class and other unrelated things. I just bet she would have loved having me volunteer in class with my bounce-off-the-walls 2 year old. lol Anyway, I shook my head and knew from that moment that I couldn't be a PS mom anymore.
Well, my girls never went to public school, but did go to a Christian school.. We got in trouble for taking her out for a full day to go see then Pred. Bush speak at a rally. Hubby took that day off work and we made a family day out of it.. and I took off from helping at the school so we could go. Come to find out... many parents took their kiddos out of school for the SAME thing! hahaha... I could not deal with ps ... I could hardly deal with Christian School!
While my kids were in PS, I think the teachers were more upset with me than they ever were with my children. I was always either emailing the teacher about something I wanted to know about my children's progress/development, etc, or showing up before or after school to talk to them. After a while I knew they didnt like my questions, because I made it quite clear that I didnt agree with many things that were being taught. The lack of individuality is what really annoyed me. If my son says this homework is toooooo easy for him, then WHY can he not do something more appropriate to his level? If my other son comes home complaining that his questions go unanswered, why oh why can you not take out 5 min to explain it to him? What I hated most of all was the ESL issue. During registration I checked the box that said that they boys speak a second language at home. Boom! That kid belongs in ESL! No questions! Ugh!! I asked the teacher why she sent him there every afternoon, where all he did was sit miserably while the Spanish-speaking kids bullied him, the teacher replied: "yes, I know he doesn't need it. But his form says that he speaks a second language, so we have to send him there" Of course I suppose it didn't matter that that second language he spoke at home was NOT Spanish! Or that he even spoke it fluently. Or even at all. I was always polite, of course But the conformity was just too much. And it's funny, since I am the product of the PS system too (although not in the States)
Oh, I could never be a PS mom! I was a product of PS and I'm just lucky that I catch on to things quickly and like to work alone. My oldest DD picks up on things quickly and when she gets a concept, she doesn't want to practice it over and over. She wants something new and challenging. My son is 2 and already like that as well. I would drive the teachers nuts if I had to put my kids in PS!
Yes ! ME! I would have been at the office so many times questining thier way of teaching, I would have been on the case of the teacher who assigned ...
My daughter has been homeschooled for a few years. My boys were in public and this last summer I decided I would homeschool them also. Last school year second graders were cut down to 1 15 minute recess per day after lunch and 45 min of P.E. twice per week. They are not allowed to talk in class, in the hallways, in the lunch room or in the restrooms. In the morning when they get off the bus they are not allowed to talk in the gym or in the hallways before school and again after school they are not allowed to talk in the hallway or gym while waiting for the bus. My son is a talker... he was constantly getting in trouble for talking/whispering, making noises etc. the kids are only allowed to talk to each other during the 15 min recess after lunch. That is a really dumb rule
That sounds just awful! I don't know any kid who would be able to handle not talking pretty much ALL DAY!
you know - we spend the first few years teaching our kids to walk and talk and then we send em to public school where they're required to sit down and shut up.
my aunt informed me yesterday that my cousins daughter is required to wear strict uniforms and they have no recess. they have 30 minute pe everyday in the gym. how, repeat HOW?! are kids supposed to run and play in uniform pants or jumpers?! and sunlight is just good for the soul cummon! my dd haas uniforms at her school but ive gotten around it with black jeans that i keep pressed and either a polo or a plain colored shirt. i iron her school clothes and she always looks clean neat and put together so whats the deal? so ready to bring her home!
