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Locked on 07/13/2004 9:52:11 AM PDT by Admin Moderator, reason:
Hobbit Hole XIII: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1170490/posts |
Posted on 06/26/2004 8:07:15 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Special Wedding Edition: The Hobbit Hole XI - No One Admitted Except on Wedding Business!
New verse:
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Upon the hearth the fire is red, |
Still round the corner there may wait |
Home is behind, the world ahead, |
Mmmmm.... cold cuts!
You'll do well with Luke because you have a true incentive. He's your kid and you care more than anyone else what happens to him. Some teachers can care about every kid they teach. That capacity is amazing. But parents should care more. Sometimes they don't...
Looking at it, I think the ability to learn algebra from Saxon probably depends on the kid. By the time I got there I was learning math on my own. Saxon explained really well. So it had less to do with Mom, who didn't know algebra. And when I did have problems, we knew engineer-types who were willing to spend twenty minutes explaining things.
You are very right about this. Most of my family are educators too. I always thought to avoid the profession - don't know what happened.
I have found at this college how the bad raps come too though. We have 5 math instructors on staff. 4 are top notch. One is of the nature described as "only the education major." Because of that one, the entire math department is the butt of many snide remarks. Sad really. I can tell by looking at a transcript which students had that *one* teacher and will do horribly in my classes. The other instructors will have prepared the students well for what they need for my classes.
My community college classes were so good, because of people like you. People who knew what they were teaching and loved it. A lot of them were professionals with masters' in computer science, who taught a class at night, after work. They showed me how what I was learning was used in the field. Some of them had been in academia forever, but we're talking community college, that's not very impressive.
I had one long-time faculty type. He'd been the COBOL teacher until they finally made him switch to VB, and he was so bad. Didn't know what was going on in the technical world (and incidentally gave me a B because I was female, though I only really found that out six months later).
But can they play nice with others?
Yes. They also work well with scissors.
The only difference I see between me and the other students in, say, my history class, is that I actually learned history. I'm not putting all the blame on the teachers. But a large portion has to go there.
As a parent, who has raised fairly bright kids going mostly through public school, I'd have to disagree with the assessment that it's mostly the teachers.
I think a lions share of the responsibility goes on the parents. I know these parents and have been through 2 age groups of school kids with 'em. Too many of 'em don't give a rip about talking to the kids about subject matter at home. Given demographics and statistics there is no reason I should have had one child who managed to make it through school head and shoulders among her peers, nor should the other one be of such an intellect to understand history, politics and social issues as maturely as she does. They know these things because we discussed them in our home.
There is too pervasive of an attitude among parents - especially young parents - that the children won't need the knowledge they're learning in school "in the real world." They literally don't *care* if their children learn history, science or algebra! And they tell their children these things.
A teacher can't get the subject matter taught - even when they know the topic - when parents have this mindset. And you may be surprised at the plethora of parents who think that way.
Rounded scissors, or the pointy kind?
Y'all might try some simple math workbooks with Luke. Make it seem almost like play. There are lots of computer programs that teach and reinforce math skills. Our kids like the computer games a lot.
Rounded. Just like it says in the Bible.
King James, or NIV?
Yeah, we'll look into that. I found the Saxon math stuff online. Looks interesting.
Wife was gonna attend the homeschool convention here, but it was right as she was getting ready to leave for Slovakia.
Heretic, yea verily I am surprisedth thou must asketh...
Hate to burst your bubble, but for some of us "cut and paste" is computer only. I also never learned to color in the lines.
Joseph started off the homeschooling with Saxon 65, then Saxon Algebra 1/2. We used Jacob's Elementary Algebra and Geometry for Clare, then moved on to Foerster's Algebra and Trig.
Joseph started the Jacob's Alg. 1, but he's going to high school next year and they put him in Honors Algebra 1, so he'll have a little bit of overlap. That's ok, though, cause Math is not his strongest subject.
I think you are right that when you are in grad school the students may be more of a level with you. I think that will be because the ones who make it that far are the ones with families who motivate them. Home life typically makes a young person interested in learning. We can all see that your home life was that way.
I wonder if we looked around at those students who were your classmates that did poorly if we'd find parents who didn't particularly care about the subject matter of their education?
After this many years of being *involved* in my kid's public school education it almost makes me ill to hear parents discuss *wanting* their kids to go to college and yet in the same conversation state that they don't think it matters that their child learn high school history. And even worse, that they don't really need to learn geometry because he/she will never use it in the real world! Deplorable IMHO.
You would've learned in public school.
Yes, parents who care will always have educated kids. They'll teach them at home, in the evenings. I know a lot of families who spend the summer teaching the things they missed at school, like religious or patriotic history.
And I blame the curriculum more than the teachers. Lots of them are in a system they can't control, and it is the bureaucrats who make it that way. But someone, somewhere needs to stand up and stop shoving the blame around. Like what Bill Cosby said about parents making sure their kids are educated. But the curriculum people need to be changed, and the teaching establishment - especially the NEA - needs to see what changes they can make.
Not that any of this will ever happen.
Gotta run folks. Jr. has to be at the airport by 2:00 p.m.
I hope he's packed...
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