Wednesday, my 8 year old son brought a note home from his teacher. She admitted to making a mistake with him on Monday which started by her asking him why he was not keeping up with the day's writing assignment. When he told her he wasn't feeling well, she felt sorry for him and wrote down what was up on the board for him so he would have it for home study. Once she did that, he was feeling much better and was fine the rest of the day. Tuesday and Wednesday, he tried to do the same thing, but she didn't fall for it. Since receiving her note, My boy's homework has been lasting as long as it takes to get everything done that he doesn't get finished at school (10:30 last night). This weekend will be spent on speed writing exercises and math flash cards. I agree that teachers need to be more that just task masters, but parents have to make sure their children are keeping up with the rest of the class by enforcing good homework and study habits as well as keeping a positive line of communication with the teachers on their progress at school.
Tuesday and Wednesday, he tried to do the same thing, but she didn't fall for it. Since receiving her note, My boy's homework has been lasting as long as it takes to get everything done that he doesn't get finished at school (10:30 last night). This weekend will be spent on speed writing exercises and math flash cards.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Dixie, you are “afterschooling”. The school is merely sending home the curriculum.
Writing assignments until late in the evening? Flash cards over the weekend? Do you understand? **YOU** and your son are doing 99% of the work at **home**!
So....When responsible parents such as yourself actually **DO** the teaching and your son, **himself**, does the learning, who will take credit for the higher than average standardized scores of the school? The teachers and principal of course!
What you are doing is absolutely no different than what I did with my homeschoolers. I am willing to bet my entire 401K plan that if we compared notes there would be little differences in how we both educated our children in the home.
Personally, I am convinced that **all** academically successful children are homeschooled. If they go to school, as your child does, it is called “afterschooling”. The only thing the school is doing is sending home a curriculum for the parents and child to follow.