Posted on 11/13/2004 4:04:54 PM PST by Marinefamilyx3
To The Editor: I have a daughter in first grade in Henderson County schools. She gets off the bus at 4 p.m., dinner around 5:30, and bath/bed by 8 p.m.
That in itself is a busy enough night. But she has spelling words (writing 10 words five times each), reading a book (first grade, 100 words), nursery rhyme, memorization goals.
Where does family time, playtime, or just sit and stare time go? And then there are families with multiple children in school. And you can forget it if they participate in Scouts, dance, sports. There's just no time!
We spend at least 1.5 to two hours a night on homework. My child is 6 years old! With barely enough patience to sit through an episode of Pokemon.
I can't blame the teachers. Sorry, but I can't. The schools are overloaded, the classrooms at capacity. And then you throw in the language barriers, and various learning disabilities, and the teachers aren't able to do their jobs.
So we're having to do it at home. There has got to be something that can be done within our schools to get this problem under control.
Sounds like an exciting home life there, Mandy.
After dinner, we're going to play 'sit and stare'! Woohoo!
>>>Homeschooling applies to a very small and very AFFLUENT segment of the population.>>>
ROTFLOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for making my day. Just too funny. LOL!
"But maybe that's why I'm dumb enough to vote for Bush ;-}
LOL, maybe! I too remember 4th grade as being the year homework started. My kid had a lot of homework in Catholic School kindergarten, more than she had at Salvation Army kindergarten (she repeated kindergarten, it annoyed her, but it was an age thing, born in January so she missed the cut for 1st grade after leaving the Salvation army), and also more than she had during 1st grade at the same Catholic school! The next 7 years were basically a blur, and HS was hell!
She started college this year, no "homework" there, results remain to be seen!
But hey, she voted for Bush too, she was so proud to cast her first ever vote for our Prez!
Yes you are right about the study, actually a lot of two job families are losing money when both people work, a lot of them just barely make more than they would with only one person working. I read the survey too and wish I knew where to find a copy of it.
ping
Sorry, the above was not meant to be included here!!! My bad.
My neighbor's 4 yr. old daughter in preschool has homework!!! In preschool! I don't understand some of the folks who would call these people crybabys. For cripes sake, 1 or 2 hours a night at age 6? That is indeed insane. All it proves to me is that teachers aren't spending enough time actually teaching.
I wonder why they're cramming the kids like that.
I guess because they can. Funny, but for all this early cramming that's supposed to be so good for them, we're still graduating high schoolers who can't read or make change. My kids are just toddlers, but I'm already dreading the whole dilemma.
"Painting all public schools with such a broad brush is the same thing as saying any parent who doesn't homeschool shouldn't be a parent."
Very true, but no one stated what high school we were talking about. In general, we spend far more than ever with far less results.
I agree and I never discourage it. I just wish mine would prefer going out to play when the sun was shining as opposed to when it is rianing and everything is a swamp around here.
Oh well - that's what bathtubs and washing machines are for.
As to the homework - I went to Catholic school and I remember homework as far back as 1st grade, which was 1965.
But what you do is difficult. I am extrapolating from your locations that you live in areas where the cost of living is not as high as it would be in other parts of the country - though I am sure people home school in expensive urban centers as well.
In any case I did not say it was impossible - only difficult and those that home school are a small minority where one parent has to be able to not work and stay home.
That is very rare.
And children of divorce or widows/widowers if grandparents can't do the job?
Also homeschool is only applicable to people who already come from a strong English language tradition. What of immigrants?
So once again - if you can homeschool fine - but there are few of you and there will never be many of you.
the rest of us have to work within the public and private school system.
Destro, you are very ignorant of the facts. I live in one of the more expensive places to live in the US, a Denver suburb.
Secondly, homeschooling is growing in leaps and bounds.
And, for the people who live in such high cost of living places that they claim that is the reason they cannot homeschool... MOVE.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, is more important to me than the success of my children. And if that means I go without to make sure they are better provided for, I do it. If that means I would need to move so that I can make those provisions, I will do so. It is never a question to be debated. It is never a question to be pondered. They come first.
If the NEA didn't have such a stranglehold on the public education in this country, your question about poor english speaking parents would be moot also. But, irregardless, if that parent chooses to homeschool, the support systems in place are unbelievable.
"but there are few of you and there will never be many of you."
I think you will find there may be more than you think. Check some homeschool sites. They may give some numbers.
LOL!!!!
clogs mules and slides have never been a part of her foot attire - but zippers, velcro and flipflops have been!!! I admit, I'm guilty.
She came home from school shortly after school had started and said the teacher told her to have daddy work on teaching her how to tie her shoes. It just so happened the teacher called me that eveing about the moving her up to 2nd grade reading and I mentioned the shoelace thing. The teacher was funny, she told me Jax had told me the truth she was supposed to have daddy work on the shoelace issue - unfortunatley it just so happened that was the rare week hubby was out of town for work.
Again, not taking anything away from the homeschoolers, but I love this school and the district in general. They EXPECT parental involvement, they want it. The teachers call parents, they send notes home, the principal knows all the students names and those of the parents....it's wonderful.
But above all, they TEACH. We have a friend with a daughter that entered HS this year. Her parents gave her a choice of attending the private academy, or the local public HS, as did the parents of several of her friends. All of these straight A girls opted for the public HS because they didn't want to deal with elitist snobs and drugs they knew were rampant at the academy.
It worked for my son who graduated valedictorian in the most demanding private school in the country and who entered Harvard on early admission at 17 with a full years' advanced credit.
I promise you, if you assume responsibility for your child's homework, it will be your responsibility. If you don't your child will assume it.
I don't have childrem, but I know people here who do homeschool. I, too, live in an expensive suburb of Denver. Many people think they need two incomes to get by. Once they really discover what is important, they find they have plenty money without the two incomes.
There are 2 Million this year.
Homeschooling...its catching on!
I am not criticizing ANYONE. My oldest went to public schools through 4th grade, then the best private school in our area through 7th. However, having experienced all three methods, there is no comparison.
The letter to the editor is about 1st grade, not high school.
I agree that 1.5 hours of homework is way too much for a 6 year old - however in many ways it is just a thing.
When my 6 year old sits down and does her homework she can knock it out in 10 minutes. But when she get's it in her head that she doesn't want to do homework, it can take up to 3 hours to accomplish what she is capable of doing in 10 minutes. I go through that scenario at least once a week.
"OK NOW WHAT?"
How about starting with your anything but homeschooling statements...............
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