The first week of kindergarten, there was no homework. There wasn't even a note home about what they were working on in class. I assumed we were starting slow, and quite frankly I was glad. Soon enough, we started getting a daily conduct grade and worksheets that Connor completed at his after-school care. Last week he had a little book to read, and sight words to work on. Since he missed school Tuesday, we didn't get this stuff until Wednesday, and then we managed not to even go over it with him until breakfast on Thursday. It was basic stuff, though, and he had no trouble reading the book himself. I wasn't worried that we were slacking.
Sunday I saw the mother of one of Connor's best friends. This kid goes to Grahamwood, where they expect a little more out of their kids, and their parents, than they do at Snowden. This mother told me how each night they have read the book, gone over the sight words with flash cards, had him write the words, form sentences with the words, write five words that start with whatever letter they're working on (I don't even know if we're working on letters in Connor's class!), and on and on about how much they have done to make sure he gets into an optional class next year. "Yeah, but I sign Connor's conduct sheet each night!" I countered, mentally scanning my desk drawers for index cards with which to create flash cards.
Have I been too passive, and as a result laid a weak foundation for the entirety of Connor's educational career? Not a month into this, and I've already ruined his chances for future success. I guess I'll just start putting more money into his college fund, since he'll obviously never be a scholarship student. Hopefully I'll save enough to put him through some kind of trade school.
School Stories: Missing Class
5 years ago
7 comments:
Those Grahamwood kids have ulcers at 7. I'm happy that Snowden seems to have a reasonable "let's just reinforce the day a little" homework philosophy for the kids who are still shorter than their own backpacks.
Let him slack, Calvin is going to need a plumber one day.
Yes, my friend's son actually spent a week in the hospital, unable to stop vomiting for hours on end, from stress-induced inflammation of his entire digestive system after kindergarten at Grahamwood. I have always been happy with how much my kids learn at Downtown without feeling stressed and pressured. That's just too early to crush the inherent love of learning in a child.
good lord, it's kindergarden! That's too much homework (at Grahamwood)! Imagine the poor saps who didn't even go to pre-school and now they have a full day of school plus 40 minutes of homework. Why not take away recess while we're at it!
Homework...in kindergarten???
(Unless it involves practicing hygiene)
The homework isn't that intense! It's weekly homework; not daily. We just had to agree to spend 10 minutes per day working on the skills for that week. The reason that I do it (with enthusiasm) is because I spend all day at work and I actually look forward to our quiet time working together.
didn't get to finish the comment...I'm new to blogs...
the rest is "because you know Max is never quiet." Those are my 10 sacred quiet minutes per day where he's actually listening to what I say.
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