Could the parents of kinder kids please refrain from commenting how bad school is in general until at least gasp 3rd grade when they've observed a little more than the first year of elementary?

Agree OP especially since I held Fairfax Co. schools at higher expectations with all the hype about how awesome they are, how much more houses cost in the desired pyramids, etc.

For example, science is non existant in my DD's kinderg. class. I do a lot supplementing at home, but it would be nice if they did something in school. They go to the computer lab 1x a week, how about teaching some basic science concepts/observations. I don't expect Bill Nye, but something.
I come in 1x a week for reading so I'm actually considering coming in and being the "science mom", but it's rather late in the year. Maybe next year if I don't see any improvement.
Science is definitely lacking in this country as a whole. And now I know why.

Great post, PP. You got it right, no school or person is perfect. At the end of the day, we all need to remember how fortunate our kids are to live in the USA and get a free, public education by qualified teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Moreover, no school is a perfect 10; neither is any living person! If the OP feels as strongly as initially indicated, she should run for school board and make changes.

And after those changes are made, someone else will be dissatisfied! You will never be able to fulfill every parent's idea of the perfect education.

There is likely a lot of learning going on in those classrooms that might appear to the average observer as just "babysitting." Just the fact that we went to school ourselves does not make us experts on education, even if we'd like to think we are.
K-2 educators use lots of teaching techniques and strategies that are specific to young learners. They have studied this age group and learned how best to set up and run a classroom to fit the way young children learn. Today's first grade classroom may not look exactly like our first grade classrooms because we have learned a lot since then about how young children learn best. (And it is also possible that our memories of what first grade was like twenty five or thirty or more years ago may not be completely reliable! )

No school is ever going to be perfect. The only way my child's education will be exactly the way I want it to be would to homeschool. And even then, since I am human, I would make mistakes.

Were the schools better in the 60's and 70's than today? From my experience, the schools do need improvements, but they aren't worse than they were in the 70's and 80's.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of us parents attending elementary in the 80's and 90's

BWAHAHAHA! Try 60's and 70's. I graduated high school in 1979.

HS class of 1982 here. K in 1969.

Thanks for posting.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, I teach, upper levels, and prefer the whole language approach to learning words. I don't really like phonics, as it doesn't teach the word, just sounds. For instance, cat would be spelled as KAT. laugh would be LAF. My oldest knew how to correctly spell words in K, and the teacher would tell her to write it out phonetically. I finally got involved and ask the teacher to not make DC write phonetically, as I had taught DC via the whole language concept.

As for supplementing, of course you will. Most parents do such to reinforce what was taught in the class and to introduce new ideas.

School is what your child and you make of it. If you want it to be better, run for school board and make real change. Good luck!

So school is what OP and her child make of it and she should run for the school board if she wants real change? What do our "educators" get paid to do?

Our educators are paid to teach our children. Policies, such as curriculum and state standards, are made by the politicians. Change, unfortunately, starts with the politicians, and the school board is politics.

I am the PP who was quoted about running for school board. To clarify, I was concerned when my DC began K, as I am a teacher; I teach at a college. However, I communicated my concerns to the teacher and she explained the curriculum and her teaching style. Communication is key. Moreover, no school is a perfect 10; neither is any living person! If the OP feels as strongly as initially indicated, she should run for school board and make changes. Teachers work hard but their hands are tied when it comes to change. Case in point, 2nd graders can only receive a DRA of 38 as the highest score, and not because some aren't reading at higher level. Rather, this is because of a policy whereas students can only be tested up to one year ahead for the DRA. OP, communicate with your school, and then follow up with your school board member and ask about the policy in question that concerns you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of us parents attending elementary in the 80's and 90's

BWAHAHAHA! Try 60's and 70's. I graduated high school in 1979.

HS class of 1982 here. K in 1969.

Anonymous wrote:Most of us parents attending elementary in the 80's and 90's

BWAHAHAHA! Try 60's and 70's. I graduated high school in 1979.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, I teach, upper levels, and prefer the whole language approach to learning words. I don't really like phonics, as it doesn't teach the word, just sounds. For instance, cat would be spelled as KAT. laugh would be LAF. My oldest knew how to correctly spell words in K, and the teacher would tell her to write it out phonetically. I finally got involved and ask the teacher to not make DC write phonetically, as I had taught DC via the whole language concept.

As for supplementing, of course you will. Most parents do such to reinforce what was taught in the class and to introduce new ideas.

School is what your child and you make of it. If you want it to be better, run for school board and make real change. Good luck!

So school is what OP and her child make of it and she should run for the school board if she wants real change? What do our "educators" get paid to do?

Our educators are paid to teach our children. Policies, such as curriculum and state standards, are made by the politicians. Change, unfortunately, starts with the politicians, and the school board is politics.

Anonymous wrote:PP, I teach, upper levels, and prefer the whole language approach to learning words. I don't really like phonics, as it doesn't teach the word, just sounds. For instance, cat would be spelled as KAT. laugh would be LAF. My oldest knew how to correctly spell words in K, and the teacher would tell her to write it out phonetically. I finally got involved and ask the teacher to not make DC write phonetically, as I had taught DC via the whole language concept.

As for supplementing, of course you will. Most parents do such to reinforce what was taught in the class and to introduce new ideas.

School is what your child and you make of it. If you want it to be better, run for school board and make real change. Good luck!

So school is what OP and her child make of it and she should run for the school board if she wants real change? What do our "educators" get paid to do?

OP, you never addressed the posters who asked why you were so qualified to make the statements you did. I'd like to know why you feel so strongly children aren't learning much. Your second posting was nicer, but the first one came off pretty harsh as if you've been a teacher recently and noticed a real lack of learning at school. Also, you claim this babysitting is happening at all schools. How are you able to make such a generalized statement? Have you been on a committee to review different schools?

With phonics, there are many levels of phonics learning, some of which aren't covered by any school anymore since the rules are so rare. Maybe they should spend more time on this and math facts, but in a class of almost 90 2nd graders, I didn't meet one that didn't know the difference between hard and soft c so somewhere they're getting the basics of phonics at least. No one struggled in math either and they had ample assistants to pull any struggling child out if needed for extra help. Patricia Polacco didn't learn to read for many years and then became a famous writer. There is still hope for children who don't know all the phonics rules and multiplication by 2nd grade.

Growing up about 1/3 of my class didn't soft or hard C in 2nd grade either, so I don't see why the schools have declined this way. How have they declined compared to your schooling or what you've seen over the last 10 years or so as an educator? Most of us parents attending elementary in the 80's and 90's think public school kind of sucked then content wise. We just miss the 30-60 minute recess and smaller class sizes and schools. Have people forgotten that back then most children in publics learned to really read a Dr. Seuss book in 1st grade, not in pre-K or kindergarten. They didn't teach multiplication till 3rd or 4th grade. My DS takes a test every three weeks or so in math and reading. I don't know how they could assess him any more. I'm hopeful that teachers would point out areas to work on at home if they existed after the assessments. Communication is an area where I think teaches could improve, but I can't blame them with classes well over 25 students. Cutting back on students per teacher though means cuts in other areas.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you cover that you feel is being neglected in school?

Yes, what is the school not teaching that you are filling in at home?

Like the PP, we cover phonics which was not taught and has led to a large number of students being behind grade level in 2nd grade in reading and they are not really catching up. For example, the didn't cover the difference between hard c and soft c. Also we work on spelling and do a more systematic program than school provides.

I also work on basic Math facts - we are doing multiplication now. And yes, memorizing Math facts is necessary.

We work on writting - how to write a good sentence, simple parts of speech, increasing vocabulary.

PP, I teach, upper levels, and prefer the whole language approach to learning words. I don't really like phonics, as it doesn't teach the word, just sounds. For instance, cat would be spelled as KAT. laugh would be LAF. My oldest knew how to correctly spell words in K, and the teacher would tell her to write it out phonetically. I finally got involved and ask the teacher to not make DC write phonetically, as I had taught DC via the whole language concept.

As for supplementing, of course you will. Most parents do such to reinforce what was taught in the class and to introduce new ideas.

School is what your child and you make of it. If you want it to be better, run for school board and make real change. Good luck!

OP here. I am very much involved when it comes to educating my children. We all have to be. It is not fair to expect the teachers to be the one and only source of learning. I started this thread because when it comes right down to it, the standards and quality of education has gotten worse since I went to elementary school some 30 years ago. It baffles and frustrates me because one would think that as we move forward with the times, so would our educational system. Not to sound like a cliche, but children are the future. For those of you that are so happy with your lower elem schools, consider yourself lucky. I am looking at this from the larger picture as opposed to, "This doesn't affect me. I'm all good."