OT Homeschooling...

Absolutely! My Mom and Grandma were elementary school teachers with more than

60 yrs experience between them, Mom is still there as a school psychologist. I have been listening to teachers talk "from the trenches" for 40 years now. There are some fabulous teachers and a few poor ones, and a whole lot of over-burdened ones.

THE #1 complaint I ever heard was that parents are becoming less and less involved. Parents that expect the school to teach the kid EVERYTHING--manners, self discipline, morality and ethics, personal hygiene...and throw in breakfast and lunch too. (and NOT necessarily because of income--because there's nobody at home to pour the cheerios). THEN you get to start in on 1-10, colors, and this-is-a-book because there are actually many kids who have never ever been read to. Sarajane

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Yup, I'm one of that 75%, so far, though i've gone back to school recently. I wasn't ready to go to college when I started. And I don't mean emotionally. High School did not prepare me for the social and academic situations I was getting into. I'm much better prepared now, and am pulling much better grades, trying to repair my horrible GPA as much as I can.

This is a great place to come for information. The people here have shown themselves to be intelligent, warm and caring . It is a public forum tho, and sometimes you're going to hear things you dont want to hear, or that you completely disagree with. There may be better places to ask, ones where you will get info without opinions, or with people you know will listen compassionatly. Here, you do risk those lurkers who will hide behind their anonymity to be hurtful rather than helpful. Perhaps you are right in thinking is it better to go elsewhere if you are running short on asbestos undies. This isnt meant as critsism, but rather a suggestion. I just found two homeschool newsgroups. I understand you arent interested in exclusively homeschooling but they may have the answers you were looking for without the flames. I applaud you for being such a big part of your sons education. Learning starts well before school does and we parents can be such an important teacher! Diana

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"Karlee in Kansas" wrote (snipped to get to the point)...> I wasn't upset that the topic went off track...I was upset at some of theresponses that I got...the majority of which> were off group. I didn't respond to most of them.>

Thanks, Sarajane and BJ,

Parental involvement in school is the key.

Tina (my son is a teacher too, as was my DIL when in Ukraine)

psychologist. I

EVERYTHING--manners,

I think parental involvement is extremely important, too, but if you have a child who cannot get the quality education they need from the school that is in your district and you cannot move, parental involvement won't solve the problem. My dd is way ahead of the kids her age here who are in the public school near us. They don't learn to read until age 8, when school becomes compulsary in this state. That's unacceptable to me, because I know what dd's abilities are. My involvement with the school wouldn't change anything in this case, and I know many other parents in the same situation. I've also talked to several of the parents in our neighborhood who send their kids to the elementary school down the street, and most of them have two parents who work, and a lot of them are as involved as they can be, but the administration is very slow to change, if they change at all. It's really frustrating for them, but they feel they have no options. That's why I'm thankful to have homeschooling as an option, and I embrace it. Since DH is in the military, we move a lot, and this is a much more flexible solution, and will provide DD with a continuity in the quality of education she would not get otherwise.

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Jalynne" :

]if you have a child who ]cannot get the quality education they need from the school that is in your district ]and you cannot move, parental involvement won't solve the problem.

amen. and, if you're a single parent, working all day to house, feed, and clothe those children, it's rather hard to get involved in the school. one principal refused to let teachers make appointments to meet with parents after 4:00 pm. sheesh!

]That's why I'm thankful to ]have homeschooling as an option, and I embrace it. Since DH is in the military, we ]move a lot, and this is a much more flexible solution, and will provide DD with a ]continuity in the quality of education she would not get otherwise.

go for it!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Kathy N-V :

]I've long since given up on trying to get them to call me by name. To be ]honest, it just doesn't matter to me. Being good to my kids, THAT matters to ]me.

seconded.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.

Generally speaking, you're right, however, the public schools I've been in contact with resent people trying to change policy if you don't have a child there. And to make it worse, since we're not home owners here (we rent) and don't pay property taxes which go to the schools, they don't want to hear from us. It's a catch 22 in that case. Renters don't have a very good leg to stand on, but that's another issue altogether.

To me this just says that unless something you learn at school feels connected to your life in some way, you don't hang onto it. Which means that the best teachers manage to make it meaningfully -personal- somehow, because that's the stuff we're likely to retain.s

For me, the American Revolution revolves around facts I hung onto more because of fiction I read as a kid (_April Morning_, _Johnny Tremaine_) and the musical _1776_ than because of what I learned from my textbooks in school. The characters felt real to me, and the events of the 18th of April in '75 changed their lives. That gave those events a context that humanized their impact and made them memorable for me.

Deirdre

I'm sure mom was trying to spare daughter from ordering something that wouldnt get eatten, but wow... talk about coloring her daughters judgements! lol Diana

Yeah- the coloring of judgment is what amused me.

Kathy K

Heh. My partner's daughter has his last name. Her mother retained her birth name after marriage, and of course mine isn't the same as either one. Unless it's a critical situation (such as paperwork), I just accept whichever name gets tagged onto me. (Usually that's "Mrs. Hisname" -- sometimes I mention that we're not married, but again, if it's not critical, I tend to let it slide.)

I used to get much more incensed about people messing up my name -- or my gender, since my legal name is gender-ambiguous. But the older I get, the more trivial stuff like that seems to become!

Celine

Jalynne, the parental involvement is still (more!!) needed with the CHILD but not with public school. I agree wholeheartedly that public schools have an educational crisis going on, and can't fill the needs of many--maybe even most?--kids. All they can do is keep trying the ways they know, and get the information through to some of the kids. I think almost all children can use extra beyond what they get at school, educationally.

When I was in school, I hated its straight-from -the-20-yr.-old-textbook, one-size-fits-all outlook. I learned WAY more information at the library, which was on the way home from school. But by going to 8 schools in 11 years, I learned a lot of people-skills. I learned how to get along with all sorts, including people who were not at all like me. I learned how to find bathrooms in strange buildings when no one was there to help. I learned how to teach--because I spent a lot of time helping others get what I already had finished. (and I learned I wouldn't want to work in the School System for ten times the money offered!!) I learned mental humilty, when I finally hit classes I *didn't* understand fast. And I still had to take the uncomfortable un-fun classes, even though I didn't like them and didn't do well. THAT lesson alone was worth the price of admission, painful as it was. There are certain things someone other than a parent is best suited to teach a child. When I learned to drive my mom gave me ONE lesson in the parking lot. I took my OWN money and went to Sears driving school after that. My mom and I didn't need that strain!! Sarajane

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When I was little, a little friend of mine called my father "Mr. Janie's Daddy" and it stuck as a nickname for years. Sarajane

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I went to college right after high school. My parents had always said I could go to Vanderbilt if I wanted to, and any time I mentioned any other college, it was discouraged. So, eighteen and clueless, I went. Spent four years there looking for nothing but the next joint and the next piece of ..., well anyway. My grades were terrible. Rarely went to class and so forth. Later I decided I wanted to learn electronics, went to a local tech school, GPA 4.0. Went to some glass workshops, now I teach those workshops. Someone said above, education is never wasted, but going to school when I didn't know why or even if I wanted to be there, I didn't even get any education so it was a huge waste of money and time. Personally I think if a child is smart and can use a degree, they will get one.

And they ruined it for those of us who actually were interested in an intellectual experience with our piece of paper.

marisa2

KDK wrote:

[ Come on and let me post please . . . . . . . . ]

And when you get your degree in the service of some personal dream you are realizing, it is way different from simply doing 'the next thing that's expected of you' after high school.

Deirdre (who had the same aff>Personally I think if a child is smart and can use a degree, they will get >one.

I agree with this. BTW, when were you at Vandy? I'm class of '77; if you were around the same time, we might have been in a course together!

And it's much better to wait until you have some idea where you're going before you start. Now, I *knew* I wanted to get into computer programming, so going to college straight from high school wasn't a mistake in my case. But I think an awful lot of people could use a year or two in between, to figure out what they really want to do with their lives.

Celine

May I point out here that children *do* learn what they see modeled? If they don't see their parents reading for enjoyment, they may actively *resist* learning to read. There was a public-service ad some years back which showed a bookcase full of expensive bric-a-brac, with the caption "Family Tragedy" and some encouragement of parents to read to and with their children. I think it was right on the mark.

Celine