Reply to How do you know if your elementary school is teaching your child what they need to know?

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[quote=Anonymous]Cutting is age appropriate and important  in developing fine motor skills. Computers and iPads and smart boards are not age appropriate and do not develop necessary skills for this age. They are severely overused in lower grades in our district (Fairfax). They do plenty of fun, engaging, age appropriate stuff too which is why we stay (arts and crafts, handwriting, math with manipulatives, recess and indoor play, music class, art class, gym, story / read aloud and circle time, rhyming/ phonics/ chants and songs, field trips, class plays, raising chicks, nature walks/ growing plants, but the screen time in school at this age is awful.

To answer your question about knowing if they’re learning the right stuff, yes there are lots of assessments that will show you if your kid is in or above grade level at different points on the year in math and reading. And if you look at all the work that your kid brings home and talk to them about their day,  you’ll see gaps as they arise and you can address at home or with a tutor (or let it go and be okay with the fact that all kids have weak areas and/ or your kid will eventually pick up additional skills and they get older.) for my kids in Fairfax, it was clear one kid had gaps in spelling / vocabulary so we work on that at home with just a little extra homework (10 minutes or so) a couple times per week. Another child  didn’t ever solidify math facts in school again a we addressed that by doing math fact activities and drills at home as a supplement to his homework. One thing that’s been intractable is horrible handwriting. The teachers don’t expect/ ask them to write neatly, so mine don’t. I hate the sloppy handwriting as it is so lazy to me. But I can’t make them care of the school doesn’t care and we just have to let that go. I’m not going to pay private school tuition over it. Overall the gaps have been manageable to address at home, and public schools offer some good stuff. Fairfax has stellar music (band and strings and chorus) opportunities for example, and my kids peers all come from diverse families who are generally kind, educated, engaged in the community, etc.[/quote]

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