FCPS doesn't offer opportunities on campus? I live in MoCo and have taught in DC, in both places our middle schools have plenty of opportunities on their campuses, with transportation available. I know 7th and 8th grader who got hours for riding the school bus to 6th grade orientation as ambassadors. I know kids who use their lunch time to shelve books in the middle school library. I know teachers who run clubs that do activities like packing backpacks for elementary school lunch, or making cards for elderly people, that meet after school before the late bus leaves. Teachers also work things into the classroom. The 6th graders in MCPS do stream clean up as part of outdoor ed, and MCPS transports them there. I am surprised FCPS doesn't do the same. |
Volunteering for an elementary or middle schooler consists of things like helping an elderly neighbor, sending cards to grandma or the local old folks home, etc. What we used to call simply being neighborly. Not some big facebook or instagram worthy production. |
I understand that this option will not work for ALL kids, but it is still an option. Students can pick up trash in their neighborhood and that would count too. I just mentioned this because many kids do live close to their ES. |
New poster: your kid is not able to Google virtual service hours. I can find many in less than a minute. |
They do offer opportunities to volunteer on campus. My son helped prepare laptops for distribution and got 40 hours worth of credit. |
+ there are tons of opportunities to volunteer in the schools--often during the study break period or afterschool (on bus days). But some posters just want to gripe that service learning is "virtue signaling" or is somehow inequitable. |
Every kid can pick up trash in their neighborhood for an hour x 5.
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It was required for NJHS, as well as a requirement for Honors Civics. Regardless of what you think of it, they are required to do it. So instead of whining about it, embrace that it may get one or more seriously involved in community service. That is a good thing. |
That's . . . not how it works. You need a sponsor and someone to sign off on the request. |
I’ve often wondered about adults who never volunteer to give back. Who don’t help with sports, scouts, religious orgs, etc. Now I know, they believe that helping out is virtue signaling and their virtue is all caught up in themselves.
I’m sorry if you object to your children having to volunteer and can’t help direct them to resources or direct some of your free time to volunteering with them, your kid needs service learning the most. Because they’re not learning what it means to be a caring, engaged, and active member of the community from you. And on behalf of every working, service oriented parent who gets tapped all the time to lead/help/volunteer, I guarantee you’ve enjoyed every fall festival, bingo night, sports team, and scouting event the rest of us have somehow found time to contribute to. Please stop teaching your children to freeload. It takes everyone doing their part for us all to have nice things. I’m glad school is teaching them if you are not. |
You are so privileged it’s disgusting. |
+1 |
I have no idea. My child said he would volunteer, under the supervision of his chess tutor, to provide free chess lessons to younger kids in the community. National Junior Honor Society rejected this as community service. |
So ridiculous. |
That’s bc part of the service hours requirement is identifying a real (authentic) need. See here: https://www.fcps.edu/activities/service-learning Has your kid determined that there was a big gap in this and the need was genuine, that’s step one. |