Is how we teach school for little kids outdated?

[Anonymous]

School is many things now, but it is NOT old-fashioned. Kids do not sit at desks all day and write and then stand up and recite. American schools have been through more reform movements, many of them downright wacky, than probably any country in the world.

7-year-old boys are just really wiggly. Beware: 8-year-old boys can be really sarcastic and into gross humor. In the old days those kids would have been spanked or smacked with rulers. Now kids have wiggle seats and fidgets and movement breaks and special accommodations.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know. I have one of those kids, it’s better now in middle school but still school is boring for him. I tried a lottery school for him in elementary, with project based approach and a strong peer group. He made more friends but didn’t really start liking school much more.
I am trying to teach him that nothing in life is perfect. He has to make the best of what he has. Honestly it’s more fun than my school was back in the day in a different country, and I still liked it and he doesn’t.
I don’t know what the answer is. I know that most teachers are overwhelmed and unfortunately not very smart so they just teach according to instructions and guidelines. It’s always great to meet an exception though.
Also I noticed that school is less boring for kids who aren’t super smart but aren’t super dumb either. For more “sophisticated” kids all this really basic stuff is boring. It gets more challenging in middle school but often stays boring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School is many things now, but it is NOT old-fashioned. Kids do not sit at desks all day and write and then stand up and recite. American schools have been through more reform movements, many of them downright wacky, than probably any country in the world.

7-year-old boys are just really wiggly. Beware: 8-year-old boys can be really sarcastic and into gross humor. In the old days those kids would have been spanked or smacked with rulers. Now kids have wiggle seats and fidgets and movement breaks and special accommodations.

Even now with covid? When my kid was in K and 1, they had tape squares around their desks and the "movement breaks" were standing up and wiggling...at their desks. Now he says he sits at a table with other kids so it sounds less rigidly spaced, but their squares in PE are "bigger this year," which makes me unsure how back to previous normal it is.

[Anonymous]

School here is too long.
School is 4-5 hours max in EE in early grades with recess between each class. Kids get themselves to school and back, and learn just as much outside of school as they learn at school. Never heard of parents getting arrested for not being home when their school-aged kids are at home. School starts at 7 years of age and most 7-year olds can be trusted to themselves to school/home and be home alone. They also get themselves to after school activities. Most public schools are good; few kids travel longer than 20 minutes to school.

[Anonymous]

Just remember that the first couple week of school it's a big adjustment after summer. It's also a lot of review just to make sure that kids have first grade down before they're ready to start really learning second grade material

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There’s a lot of research showing that kids learn most effectively through self-driven activities and play. But its easier to keep them at desks all day memorizing stuff so they can take a test to measure their “learning.” I wish public school would start catching up to private/charters on this. It’s another way of enforcing class rigidity - the wealthy get individualized education in engaging environments, learning to think critically and creatively and explore their interests, the poor and middle class learn to sit quietly, follow instructions, and complete busy work.

Here's the thing. If I was given a choice of self-driven activities I probably never would have bothered to learn math. I see so many un schooling types who think learning how to bake is the only math you need

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a lot of research showing that kids learn most effectively through self-driven activities and play. But its easier to keep them at desks all day memorizing stuff so they can take a test to measure their “learning.” I wish public school would start catching up to private/charters on this. It’s another way of enforcing class rigidity - the wealthy get individualized education in engaging environments, learning to think critically and creatively and explore their interests, the poor and middle class learn to sit quietly, follow instructions, and complete busy work.

Here's the thing. If I was given a choice of self-driven activities I probably never would have bothered to learn math. I see so many un schooling types who think learning how to bake is the only math you need

HA we must know the same people!! I asked a homeschooling mom what math curriculum she was using and she said "none, but we do a lot of baking so we're getting our math in that way." Also a lot of free reading of library books, which works out fine for her daughter but her son is very resistant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Second grader here, and the past two years I kept thinking it would get better but it hasn’t. DS is still complaining that he doesn’t want to go to school. Still tells me his day is boring…. Still runs around like a wild animal when I pick him up. When I ask what he did that day, he barely remembers anything. I think it doesn’t help that his friends from last year aren’t in class this year.

He thrives over the summer. Always learns a ton, happy, and we meet his activity and downtime needs.

I just feel like school is just making him unhappy. Like, I see this amazing kid who blossoms over the summer and starts this steady downward spiral when the school year begins.

I wish school could be more individualized or at least less boring. I wish my kid would love school, or at least not dislike it so much!

I have a second grade daughter and could have written this post. She loved preschool and kindergarten, but it's been downhill since then. I feel badly that she dislikes school so much at 7, and while I don't validate her complaints that school is boring, when I see what she brings home I understand where she's coming from. I think she would find school more meaningful if there was more project based learning and more challenge. Heck, I think even spelling tests would be nice.

[Anonymous]

PP from just above with the daughter. I forgot to add that she is very well-behaved in school even though she dreads going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Second grader here, and the past two years I kept thinking it would get better but it hasn’t. DS is still complaining that he doesn’t want to go to school. Still tells me his day is boring…. Still runs around like a wild animal when I pick him up. When I ask what he did that day, he barely remembers anything. I think it doesn’t help that his friends from last year aren’t in class this year.

He thrives over the summer. Always learns a ton, happy, and we meet his activity and downtime needs.

I just feel like school is just making him unhappy. Like, I see this amazing kid who blossoms over the summer and starts this steady downward spiral when the school year begins.

I wish school could be more individualized or at least less boring. I wish my kid would love school, or at least not dislike it so much!

I have a second grade daughter and could have written this post. She loved preschool and kindergarten, but it's been downhill since then. I feel badly that she dislikes school so much at 7, and while I don't validate her complaints that school is boring, when I see what she brings home I understand where she's coming from. I think she would find school more meaningful if there was more project based learning and more challenge. Heck, I think even spelling tests would be nice.

I think it would do her a lot of good if you validated her feelings but offered some sort of consolation /meaning for going to school

[Anonymous]

My 7 year old attends a DC public charter school that is small, cozy and very flexible. She is so excited to see her friends, her teachers and every single person in the school knows each other. They mix up the day with dance, athletics, math, science and reading. While I don't think the school is as academically rigorous as some of our other choices, I am happy that sparked a love for learning in my kid.

Kids are growing up with different skill sets and we as educators and parents who did not grow up with technology must adapt to their realities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a lot of research showing that kids learn most effectively through self-driven activities and play. But its easier to keep them at desks all day memorizing stuff so they can take a test to measure their “learning.” I wish public school would start catching up to private/charters on this. It’s another way of enforcing class rigidity - the wealthy get individualized education in engaging environments, learning to think critically and creatively and explore their interests, the poor and middle class learn to sit quietly, follow instructions, and complete busy work.

Here's the thing. If I was given a choice of self-driven activities I probably never would have bothered to learn math. I see so many un schooling types who think learning how to bake is the only math you need

HA we must know the same people!! I asked a homeschooling mom what math curriculum she was using and she said "none, but we do a lot of baking so we're getting our math in that way." Also a lot of free reading of library books, which works out fine for her daughter but her son is very resistant.

I am a homeschooler and we use Beast Academy for math. The other homeschoolers I know use things like Teaching Textbooks or Math U See for elementary and then the Art of Problem Solving for middle school. We also use structured literacy and a formal composition curriculum. But we are more secular homeschoolers and not unschoolers. I mean that is fine for preschool/ K math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There’s a lot of research showing that kids learn most effectively through self-driven activities and play. But its easier to keep them at desks all day memorizing stuff so they can take a test to measure their “learning.” I wish public school would start catching up to private/charters on this. It’s another way of enforcing class rigidity - the wealthy get individualized education in engaging environments, learning to think critically and creatively and explore their interests, the poor and middle class learn to sit quietly, follow instructions, and complete busy work.

Here's the thing. If I was given a choice of self-driven activities I probably never would have bothered to learn math. I see so many un schooling types who think learning how to bake is the only math you need

HA we must know the same people!! I asked a homeschooling mom what math curriculum she was using and she said "none, but we do a lot of baking so we're getting our math in that way." Also a lot of free reading of library books, which works out fine for her daughter but her son is very resistant.

I used lurk on this message board for on the unschoolers and just about every few posts somebody complaining about how their kids were not learning enough and then inevitably someone would suggest baking with the kids so that they would learn math.

I think homeschooling should have the same kind of accountability practices that schools have so that parents have to prove their kid is actually getting a valid education. Homeschoolers love to fall over themselves to prove that their kids are getting a superior education and are smarter and more adjusted whatever f been public school kids but you just hear so many horrible stories of kids not learning

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School here is too long.
School is 4-5 hours max in EE in early grades with recess between each class. Kids get themselves to school and back, and learn just as much outside of school as they learn at school. Never heard of parents getting arrested for not being home when their school-aged kids are at home. School starts at 7 years of age and most 7-year olds can be trusted to themselves to school/home and be home alone. They also get themselves to after school activities. Most public schools are good; few kids travel longer than 20 minutes to school.

That’s because people in the U.S. demand a free (yes, it’s free to you, no, your tiny percentage of property taxes that goes directly to public school comes nowhere *near* covering it) place to park their kids while they work. Most of them even jam their kids into aftercare to make their days even longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So as a teacher you want me to let go of the whole gaining work and critical thinking skills to become a democratic citizen and contributing member of our society for……. Sailing.

Ok- I mean what with global warming out door survival skills (how to deal with extreme flooding and heat) will be more important anyway so I can see your point.

We need teachers like you to leave the profession. God you sound crazy 😨

Op I agree with you. It’s a long, boring day for many kids. My son was well behaved and loved by his teachers, but was miserable at school. He didn’t like school until 7th grade. He’s almost done with high school and still talks about how much he hated elementary school! But he’s happy in high school. I hope things get better for your son.

Keep running your yap. I hope your kids are the ones who get the series of rotating unqualified subs.