trying to be a relaxed mom of a Kindergardener.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right on mama. I agree but doing your best is relative. I hv the means to be the best mom possible because I hv help and my children's father also helps a great deal. What does this mean? It means that I hv the time and energy to focus on my girls from an educational and life skills standpoint. I hv time to be forward thinking and be prepared. With that being said, I don't think I would hv the time let alone energy to do all of that effectively if I was doing all the cooking cleaning and so forth. It helps to hv a support system because we r not robots. We r human. I hv many friends who are seriously supermoms and they ask me how I find the energy to be so proactive with the kids in teaching them. I tell them that the key reason I can is because I hv the time, which is a foreign concept to them because when they do hv time to spare from being in mom mode, they r usually making target or grocery runs. And outside of that they just want to pass out from the day. Every situation is different. In the end, we are all doing our best.

What does hv stand for?

u dun no? h8 that.

Wow. Really? It stands for HAVE.

[Anonymous]

I had the opposite experience at Arlington Kindergarten.

I could not believe the sh*t they were doing. My kid came out reading at a second grade level---went in only recognizing some words. He was doing fairly advanced math, learned all coins/money and addition, subtraction, etc. I definitely was not doing that in Kindergarten. They came home with 'reader books' the second week and math sheets a month of so in. I think everyone knew the colors--I don't recall them doing any of that.

My firstborn is a Fall bday-older. I am worried about my late spring bday kid that goes to a play-based preschool. Older one went to a Montessori so had no problem with it.

[Anonymous]

I'm not understanding why we have be either "pro-social skills" OR "pro-challenging work".

It is not unreasonable to expect both. The kids are in school for HOURS. They can't do higher level math work during the 40 min math block and still practice standing in line when going for specials and eating quickly at lunch??

It's not either or. It ought to be, should be, and NEEDS to be both.

Anything less is unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

Well right now this is where we r at with our educational yesterday. This is a big fish to fry. Obviously this is something that a lot of parents feel passionate about. How do we collectively make this right??? That is the question.

[Anonymous]

Crickets...chirp..chirp

[Anonymous]

Yes, because it's easier to bitch and moan .

[Anonymous]

I agree that its a tough nut to crack. I get the sense that the teachers (and some parents) roll their eyes with disdain at the parents that insist that their child is "advanced" and needs to be more challenged. I am always trying to walk the fine line of being an advocate for my child and having realistic expectations of what the teacher can do for my child in a class of 28 students that fall into a range of skills. I walk this line carefully - out of respect for the "process" and out of fear of being pegged a PITA. I supplement outside of school with a little extra academic work, music lessons and educational/cultural outings. The slower curriculum at school has not caused any problems for my kids - like trouble paying attention, boredom or behavior problems like some parents cite about their advanced kids. They simply are not performing at their "max" - since there are no other real issues/problems, how can I justify making a stink at school? Just letting them enjoy school for now - it will get tougher soon enough.

[Anonymous]

We are in DCPS. My son, the first day of kindergarten, was asked to write about what he did that summer (unfortunately he could only write his name) - there was nightly homework which involved writing (annoying since my son had to copy what I wrote since he couldn't write along yet). I never heard parents complaining about their kids not being challenged. They put the 5 or 6 kids who could read (not mine) in one class and had an advanced reading group. In 1st and 2nd grade, they started really stressing comprehension rather than just being able to sit and say the words. The teacher was experienced and I respected her and let her do her thing. Overall it was a good experience, but I think moving more slowly with writing might have benefitted my child.

[Anonymous]

FCPS is similar in terms of writing. They have children write all sorts of things (through inventive spelling and copying words around the room) but most schools don't actually have much phonics and spelling till 2nd grade. The sequence doesn't make much sense to me although I do like that my DC gets to practice handwriting often.

[Anonymous]

Actually our local FCPS kindergarten had no homework. The handwriting practice would have been a nice one to do at home one on one. We did it ourselves, but I wonder how many children of lower incomes had enough practice writing their letters.

[Anonymous]

My LCPS has no homework in K. In 1st homework does not begin until October, but it will take no longer than 15 min. I am not coming up with that. That is verbiage coming from the school. 2nd grade is the same way. No homework until October. I can't say about 3rd...not there yet but I have heard that 3rd grade gets a little bit more challenging. I do a lot of work with my kids at home but this whole system is sad. I do have a question for you all. Have any of you that are not so happy with the public school system written an email or letter to your county's superintendent or deputy? That is why they are there. They need to hear about schools in their district. Who better to know than the parents of the children that are attending. If you are a volunteer, even better since you are seeing things firsthand. Anyways, on this thread and on a number of other threads in this forum, I have seen a number of valid threads that I hope are being brought to the attention of the superintendents. Maybe they have some ideas for how to resolve some of these issues. Maybe we can help. This is not an easy task but if we can all help to do what we can, something positive might happen. Maybe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right on mama. I agree but doing your best is relative. I hv the means to be the best mom possible because I hv help and my children's father also helps a great deal. What does this mean? It means that I hv the time and energy to focus on my girls from an educational and life skills standpoint. I hv time to be forward thinking and be prepared. With that being said, I don't think I would hv the time let alone energy to do all of that effectively if I was doing all the cooking cleaning and so forth. It helps to hv a support system because we r not robots. We r human. I hv many friends who are seriously supermoms and they ask me how I find the energy to be so proactive with the kids in teaching them. I tell them that the key reason I can is because I hv the time, which is a foreign concept to them because when they do hv time to spare from being in mom mode, they r usually making target or grocery runs. And outside of that they just want to pass out from the day. Every situation is different. In the end, we are all doing our best.

+1
For most annoying freaking poster on DCUM. Can you not write out 'are' and 'have'? What are you 8? Give the iPhone back to mommy and go watch cartoons...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I just hope my kids don't fall in the gap of being not gifted enough for AAP, yet too bright for the regular curriculum.

I share this fear as well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right on mama. I agree but doing your best is relative. I hv the means to be the best mom possible because I hv help and my children's father also helps a great deal. What does this mean? It means that I hv the time and energy to focus on my girls from an educational and life skills standpoint. I hv time to be forward thinking and be prepared. With that being said, I don't think I would hv the time let alone energy to do all of that effectively if I was doing all the cooking cleaning and so forth. It helps to hv a support system because we r not robots. We r human. I hv many friends who are seriously supermoms and they ask me how I find the energy to be so proactive with the kids in teaching them. I tell them that the key reason I can is because I hv the time, which is a foreign concept to them because when they do hv time to spare from being in mom mode, they r usually making target or grocery runs. And outside of that they just want to pass out from the day. Every situation is different. In the end, we are all doing our best.

+1
For most annoying freaking poster on DCUM. Can you not write out 'are' and 'have'? What are you 8? Give the iPhone back to mommy and go watch cartoons...

k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right on mama. I agree but doing your best is relative. I hv the means to be the best mom possible because I hv help and my children's father also helps a great deal. What does this mean? It means that I hv the time and energy to focus on my girls from an educational and life skills standpoint. I hv time to be forward thinking and be prepared. With that being said, I don't think I would hv the time let alone energy to do all of that effectively if I was doing all the cooking cleaning and so forth. It helps to hv a support system because we r not robots. We r human. I hv many friends who are seriously supermoms and they ask me how I find the energy to be so proactive with the kids in teaching them. I tell them that the key reason I can is because I hv the time, which is a foreign concept to them because when they do hv time to spare from being in mom mode, they r usually making target or grocery runs. And outside of that they just want to pass out from the day. Every situation is different. In the end, we are all doing our best.

+1
For most annoying freaking poster on DCUM. Can you not write out 'are' and 'have'? What are you 8? Give the iPhone back to mommy and go watch cartoons...

Shut the f up!!! Do you understand that shortcut PP???