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Creative Play Bilingual Homeschool
Mar. 20, 2009
A stint in public school
Yes, I have been away for awhile (except for yesterday's post). I've been really, really busy. My dear hubby was laid off in December right before Christmas so I started working more hours (from home and tutoring). I was also finishing some graduate classwork, as well as the lovely Christmas gifts I made that you can see the pictures of in January's post.
I started working the phones almost all morning in January, as well as tutoring many afternoons, and although I was able to do lessons with dd before my shift, not much else was getting done the rest of the day. I had a list of independent work, and told her she had free time afterward. The work wasn't getting done, but free time was! Dh was frustrated that school wasn't getting done, as well of course of going out daily trying to find work and being unsuccessful (he works construction). I mentioned that at least at the school across the street, she'd be working on school work and getting work done during the day. It hit the fan January 23rd, and we walked across the street and enrolled her. She started January 26th. I put her in a bilingual classroom since Spanish is her stronger language (reading and writing). It also helped that we both knew the teacher from other contact. By the 3rd day, the teacher mentioned how much my daughter likes to talk. I reaffirmed that yes, she does, and she'll have to be consistent with her discipline plan, LOL!
She sent home a homework packet each week, which took my daughter forever to fill out; she reads so slow. I could sometimes read things to her, but I simply didn't have the time. The child wasn't getting to sleep until after 9pm, and had to get up earlier in the morning. The time it took her to finish homework, I could have homeschooled English, Spanish, and math with more substance. Maybe some book basket and a bit of geography. They were not doing as much work in school, and we quickly figured out she was actually finishing more work at home than at school. Picking her up after school reminded me of a cattle auction. Round up and corral all the children in one place, and have the bidders call out their price, err... names, of their child, get 'em, take 'em home. I hated being their after school to get her.
It was funny, that first week, she woke up with an excuse not to go to school, and dh backed her up every time! I would make her go anyway. One girl told her I was stupid for homeschooling her, and other students called her stupid and harassed her because I didn't vote for Obama (I get that too. One woman couldn't believe me when I told her all black people in the US didn't vote for him.) I've taught my daughter to be direct (kindly) in confrontation, to hash things out, and try to solve problems. She was immersed in (again) the cattiness of females, IN 3RD GRADE. She's not unsocialized, I've just taught her since preschool to try to work out problems, not walk around them and convince all your friends not to like someone else just because you don't want to face up.
ANYWAY...
Her last day was February 20th, even though we both love her teacher. Her teacher has pretty much the same style I do in teaching. So, my daughter has experienced one full month of public school. She liked it, to a point. But, was ready to come home. She tells people both systems have its pros and cons, but all-in-all, homeschooling is better.
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Comments
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Mar. 23, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Blessings to you and your family.