My church packs and passes out 500 new stuffed bookbags. My kids, since they are a part of Sunday School, each get one, too. It thrills them every year! And every year, we take them out to shop for supplies to take to church to put IN the bookbags, lol! This year, I'll be attending staff meetings at the church every Tuesday AM. That means my kids will have to work independently on schoolwork in another room during that time. They will actually have a REAL SCHOOL USE for their bookbags this year! (They're excited about that!)
I am starting feel more blessed by the positive experience we did have in the first three years of ps. But like I siad before...we have a really good elementry school here. I hate to hear what others have gone through at such a young age. I am thankful we got our dd out before any real damage was done. My dd is a very social person and was the total example of "school spirit". LOL So I worried about how she would really do at home...but she has not even one time asked to go back, even when she spends time with her friends that go to the ps. The things she started to experience before we pulled her out turned around so quickly once she was home. she has lots of friends and cousins to spend time with and competes in tap dance, so she is still very active.
Leslie, I have a friend who really wants to homeschool, but her husband is against it. But she has had a WONDERFUL experience with her public school, all the way through. She's graduated two, and her youngest isn't even in Kindergarten yet! One of her kids' teacher was a wonderful Christian lady. My friend discussed some of the "public school issues" with her. She understood exactly, but also told her that this school wasn't "there" yet. (She also said she'd let my friend know if she ever felt it got "there"!) These schools are all covered by a "Moms in Touch" group, which I also feel makes a big difference.
You have Mom's In Touch where you live?? We do too and our school was covered by this also. I know that's why this is a good school. The majority of the teachers as well as the principal are christians...great people. So, that's why I say it is such a good school. But in any school, imho, there comes a time when things can go bad. I have a positive perspective from my dd ps experience...but it was just the opposite with my ds. Well...he did justfine up till 3rd grade, too. But we weren't perceptive enough at that time to get him out right away...it took alot of tears and teacher conferences to get our attention! I am just glad we finally figured it out!
I really love Mom's In Touch. The group out here started a few years ago and is growing. They pray for the homeschooling program as well as the public system and our children. It has made a big impact on our program. So many doors of opportunity have opened up for our children and group. I am glad to hear it is also in other states.
Having started this thread, I thought I'd like to share a positive update. Our public school kids have been in school for three days now. Even though I get ticked off when some of my family members play-up going to school to my kids, this year I had to appear a bit gung-ho about ps myself when my niece and nephew, who just moved to America, started 5th and 7th grade. After all, it must be both an exciting and frightening time for them and something like homeschooling is a foreign concept (no pun intended ). Anyway, tonight my niece was over so I was enthusiastically asking her about her first three days of school in America. My dd then turned to my husband and said, "Katie (her 9yr-old best friend) told me that school is boring after you've been there awhile." The way she said it, I knew Katie had convinced her. I could literally feel the load lighten!
YAY, That is good news. Sami also announced one day she wanted to go to a school, Turned out, she feels that other kids get a new backpack every year and she has had hers for over two years now. Also she was interested in the bus. I let her ride the city bus with me now and then and she is thrilled with it. A friend of mine is a public school teacher for 4th grade. I took her there when she needed help setting up her classroom. On the second day, Sami wanted to know why there were so many desks in the classroom. I explained that there were 25 students and only 1 teacher to help them and they all had to sit at their desks most of the day. that seemed to have cured her. Maybe if they mention that cool classroom they saw again, you could tell them that only the Kinder classes have so many toys, after that it's almost all books and desks in the classes.
Mom's in Touch is actually international. Do you remember all the children that were killed in Russia when the terrorists took over the school? There was a MOT group in that school. My friend forwarded a report from them after the incident. And, even though it was a real heart-wrenching tragedy, the report was still positive, a report of forgiveness and healing.
kyzg Reading your reasons to homeschool, sounded just like mine! You just said it better than I ever could! I placed my boys in public kindergarten.... pulled them out before the year was over..... NOT gonna do THAT again! haha! jen
We faced the same problem last year. Luke, who is almost ten now, whined and cried and whined and complained...(and did i mention whined??? ) well you get the idea... about wanting to go to "real school" he wanted to go to school with other kids, he wanted to ride the bus, and eat in the lunch room and have school work and home work ("its not the same if YOU give me homework mom...im allready home!") we listened to this for almost a whole year, and after talking extensivly with him we finally agreed that he could go to school...he was making him self misrible just to argue the point, we figured either one of two things would happen. 1) he would love school, adjust well and excell in his classes, or... more likely he would hate it and beg to stay home. he lasted 7 weeks of 4th grade. he got in trouble for talking, got a note sent home because he "diddnt transition well between activities" (thats becasue hes not used to changing tasks every 20 minutes ready or not!) He tried really hard to put on a good face about it, and i think he did enjoy it for the first few days, but after 6 weeks he was ready to come home...the first day we let him stay home we sat him down and told him he had to choose where he wanted to go to school, that it could be his choice but he had to stick with what he picked for the whole school year. after a few moment of quiet thought he said "deffinatly at home, thats for sure!" and as he was walking off i heard him say to himself "sweet now i can go to the bathroom whenever i want!!!" i guess you cant ever force anything on them, but teach them well and they will make good decisions in the end
I've a friend in the same situation. She's HS'ed from day one, and last year, her DD gave her all kinds of grief. After LOTS of prayer and soul-searching, they enrolled her in a Christian school. Then they found out that the WONDERFUL teacher they were expecting decided not to return next year, and all the questioning of the decision re-surfaced. I reminded her that she had told me that God had given her a peace about sending her daughter, and He was not taken by surprise when this lady quit. She figures like you...her daughter will either love it, or be ready to come home for GOOD!
My kids are doing fine, but if that situation came up it'd take a LOT to allow them to go to school. Not cuz I wouldn't trust their judgement, but because we would NOT send them to Public School. At the Christian school where they would go we would have to pay a registration fee, a down payment, the first month of tuition and buy uniforms. That's WAY to expensive to do all that, then let them come home after a few weeks! I think one reason they haven't been very adamant about going to school is that they've grown up with these kids. They go to church and game nights and stuff with them, We also go to fundraisers for the school and pancake breakfasts, and their Christmas and end of the year programs. They know what it's like there, and sometimes say it'd be neat to go to school for awhile. But we've duscussed what it'd be like, and they appreciate the benefits of being home. I hope it continues this way, cuz I'm not sure what we'd do....
Bwaaa haaa haa! I feel for him! When I mistakenly put my twins in PS Kindergarten, they suddenly were getting in to trouble and one even dissapeared from class! (I was not informed untilAFTER they found him, and non-chalauntly, mind you. ggrrr) All this because the twins, who were in next door classes to each other, would get up to go potty when they wanted to, and one would pop up and run out of the room to "Go show Brother something". One of the teachers said they were "Undiscliplined" (They were NOT hitting, bitting or Talking Back, they were going potty . . . ) and another said, "Well, since they have not been in daycare yet, and never been in school, they are simply not INSTATUTIONALIZED, yet. I agreed and pulled my boys out. (For that and other reasons.) Hahaha!
I would have answered that teacher that said they were not institutionalized yet, "Praise the Lord! Thankyou for letting me know that GOOD news!" :lol:
Oh, I hear ya, right? I mean, HELLO! I said soemthing , in that regard to her, something like, "Well, YEA! Thank God!" Like I said, we didn't last long. Iwas very involved in the school. PTO, Volenteering all the time, up there all the time and It drove me nuts, see ing things I saw.
I've been in kindergarten. Once upon a time, there was a bathroom IN kindergarten classes for that very reason. Sure, you don't want kids running to another room to share with a sibling, but I would think the teacher could gently teach that to them, while understanding the closeness of twins and letting them know that yes, it IS special, and it's OK to actually LIKE your sibling! Especially at the very first!
Yea, it was a caboodled thing from the start. Now, I DID like the fact that each grade (At the school) were "Housed" in a "pod". And the individual classrooms radiated out from that pod central. In he pod, were bathrooms and water fountains for that grade level. It was a nice school. What anoyed me, but I went along with it anyway (Because I thought I was preparing my kids for the "Real World") Was splitting up the twins. This was the worst mistake. Even when you leave out the emotional issues... Having two children come home with two different versions of what they learned that day and two different forms of homework and two different ways to get the same answer (Because "MY" teacher said to do it THIS way!" AARGGHHHH!!!! Compounded by the fact that they were five years old and everything to them, is lack and white. Hard to explain that there is more than one way to answer a problem, at that moment. We swore that if we ever put them in another school, they would be together! But, that's done and over.
I had a bit of trouble with this in kindergarten. I solved it by taking my daughter to the public school an afternoon each week to participate in an afterschool dance/exercise class. It was a great deal, it was about 40-45 dollars for 8 weeks. She loved walking through the halls and comparing the artwork and projects posted on the wall and bulletin boards to what she had done at home and church. To satisfy the bus ride issue, we took a ride on the city bus as a family to the library in town. Another day we went to the children's museum of science and history.
