Guest post from Tu Tu's Bliss
Thank you for all your
amazing two cents. Hopefully, with all your advice Princess will look more relaxed in next year's school picture! Many of you have asked about her teacher. She and her teacher have not clicked. I do not think that the teacher is rude or improper, however, she is stressed.
Here in Hawaii they just cut over two weeks of class time from the school schedule to balance the budget. Teachers are scrambling to make up for the lost class time and still reach their goals. Here in Hawaii kindergarten is the new first grade. By the end of this semester Princess is expected to be able to begin reading, identify her letters, several words and numbers. The tricky part is that they will determine her knowledge with a test. It is not enough that she knows it or demonstrates proficiency in class; she must be able to regurgitate the answers within a set time limit on command. It is additional stress for the students and the teachers.
Time that used to be devoted to bonding, playing and nurturing a love of knowledge is now filled with letter drills and worksheets. My main fear is that she will lose her love of learning. She used to sit for book after book; she devoured literature and science. Like most children her life was an endless question. All the worksheets in the world are no substitute for play. A passion for learning is spun from laughter and adventure. I am struggling to help my imaginative fairy princess thrive in an environment that has little room left for magic.
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What other school issues have you faced as a parent?
Comments (5)
"It is not enough that she knows it or demonstrates proficiency in class; she must be able to regurgitate the answers within a set time limit on command." Yep, homeschooling. Though the situation in Hawaii seems to be worse than here (Florida)...and I didn't know that was possible!
I still believe that a lot of what started the situation with the 7 year old, whom has since joined our household, was his teacher last year whom completely over-reacted as she is young and does not have children of her own. He did somethings for attention; people with children will nod their heads in agreement all day long (I don't have time to go into details for tonight; sorry) that that's why he does the things he does. She *completely* failed to see that and it snowballed into something that it wasn't. Now his whole life has been turned upside down. In the long run? It's a change for the better...but it's a long, rocky, uphill road to get there. That has been our only school issue thus far.
wow, that nice... Anti Login
these types of posts just push me further towards homeschooling.
A child in kindergarten should not be stressed about school!
Something is seriously wrong with the school systems today.
Here is Maryland kindergarten is also like first grade used to be. After having 4 children go to public school and graduate with a decent education, my 5th child, who arrived to our family much later, spent 2 years in public school and we are now homeschooling. The public schools are no where near the quality they used to be. Kindergartens should not be stressed!
I remember taking "tests" in kindergarten all the time. We had worksheet looking tests as well as tests where we had to go in a separate room and recite the ABC's, numbers to 100, tie shoes, know our address/phone number, etc. I remember it being fun though and getting big stars on the wall for completing it proficiently. If you didn't complete it you got to try again later. As long as it's done well and in a positive light, I don't see a problem with tests. At that age, students just see it as something to do and have a sense of accomplishment when they meet the goals. I don't think that any of those goals for the semester are unreasonable. I remember writing in journals in Kindergarten which was part of a proficiency grade and we had to be able to write short stories about a certain topic. Children generally have the ability to learn very quickly at a young age, I'm sure she'll be just fine. I'm sure there is still plenty of time for play/story time, and other learning. Students have always had to meet these goals, and still, we had plenty of time to play with blocks and toys, etc.