We only made one day of it in DC and it was only a half day at that. We went to Northern Virginia for my sister's wedding. I hadn't realized I would be going to actually work the wedding. I didn't mind helping and actually had some fun moments with my sisters, but it kind of threw our "field trip" moments out the window. So our half day in DC, we left the babies with my sister and in exchange took my 8th grader neice with us. Now this girl is smart. She gets mostly A's in her school work. My sis showed me the girl's test scores and she scored in the 90 percentile for reading and 80 percentile in math. With that in mind, here is the conversation we had. Me-We are going to walk up to the Washington Monument and from there we can see The White House, where the president lives, and the Lincoln Memorial. Neice-The president doesn't live here. He lives in Washington. M-This is Washington. N-No it isn't. This is DC. M-No. This is Washington DC. The nation's capital...where the president lives. N-Are you serious? I thought he lived in Washington, you know the state. She really is too smart to have had that conversation with me. I seriously blame this lack of knowledge on the schools and how they ONLY teach to those damn tests. Our children are not truely being educated. What makes this really sad is that she lives in Northern Virginia, is in the 8th grade, and has never taken a field trip into the city or any of the multitude of historic parks around the area. I won't go into how her parents could have done more.... It is parents like my sister as to why we do need public education even though it is lacking.
That is really sad, but all too true. I'm glad you gave your neice a bit of an education, what a wonderful aunt you are!
As someone who lives here (45 minutes west) I am actually shocked. Granted no the schools don't take as many field trips to DC as before (as a kid growing up we went EVERY year) BUT - I am shocked she didn't know about the president living here. I mean - my 1st grader knew that when she went to PS.
Wow. Yeah, my 6 y.o. has known for a few years now that Washington DC is where the president lives and that there's also a state called Washington. It's not to say that all HS kids are geniuses...mine are really quite average, I'm afraid. But I've heard repeatedly that social studies, history, and science are really being cut back now in the PS because they don't have time for it while "teaching to the test". It's so sad...those are some of our most enjoyable subjects!
That is sad. My kids learned that in 1st grade public school...in fact almost to the point of overkill. It reminds me of a conversation I had with my COLLEGE roommate -her junior year- when she had a friend studying abroad in Spain. Roommate, "I can't believe (girl's name) is all the way in South America." Me, "I thought she was in Spain." Roommate, "She is. Spain is in South America." Me, Me, "Spain is in Europe." Roommate, "It is? Are you sure?" Me, "Yep." Roommate, "That's embarrassing." Me (not out loud of course), It sure is! This is still good for a laugh and it's been nearly 20 years! Believe me, my kids know where Spain is! :wink:
Thank you alL! My dd was telling me that she and someone were discussing some thing about Peruvians. her friend asked where they were from. dd said " uh- Peru? Like duh!" ( slight valley girl accent there) Peru? where's that? "South America!" I want to thank you all for showing me how much my efforts as a home school mom are paying off in the long run. a couple weeks ago I had one of my "WHy bother its all waste of time, Look at all the years I have done nothing but sit around teaching my kids .. yada yada lol" I know thats so silly and imature but hey, I am human and even after so many years I still get my "What on earth am I doing" moments hehe. I needed to read this thread it has made my day! My kids know more about Geography than many of our friends, even our home school friends moms tell us we should join the geography bee team!
