Weighing on my mind lately.......

I've actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about this lately......I really like this post from parentdish about children and the loss of unstructured free time. I love the first few paragraphs, nice writting. Little boys are so much like puppies! (In my experience)

I see much of this with Leanna's school. Recesses are often taken away or shortened(I think as diciplinary measures for the class). There is only one recess, right after lunch. I am trying to remember, I think we had two or maybe three? A quick snack one in the AM, then after lunch, and possibly in the afternoon. I was talking to her teacher yesterday morning and the teacher told me Leanna is a good reader but has trouble with spelling. She asked if I would go over some words from a list at home. She told me they no longer teach spelling in school, no time for it. At open house the teaching assistant told me that their only history, or social studies, is a little bit of civic responsibility stuff(being nice to others and that sort of thing) and they have very little science. Because there's no time for it, they have to teach the stuff on the big tests. Leanna never had show and tell. They get about two field trips a year. I'm guessing there won't be any spelling bees either then.
The teachers seem like genuinely caring people who are doing the best they can with the way things are. It's just very sad all around. I've run accross several articles on why our educational sytem was designed and the way it's run today. All of it makes me seriously consider homeschooling.

School stuff

A form I filled out for Leanna's teacher, minus the phone #s, and the morning news that Leanna read to her class the other day.

BINGO

Leanna went to back to school Bingo night with her Daddy the other night. I was supposed to take her but my swollen face and pain made that impossible. It turned out to be good because it gave them a rare chance to do something together and Leanna's teacher wasn't there so I didn't miss the chance to meet and talk to her. Leanna won 3 times(Ok, actually once, Tom won the other two but they counted it as her winning). Tom said it was boring and that Leanna said it was boring too-but they both came home smiling. Leanna said her favorite parts were 1.winning 2.seeing one kid she knew from kindergarten. She won a backpack with her school's name on it, two rulers-one with presidents, the other a flexible one, pencils, a pen, 3 dictionaries, 3 notebooks, a pencil sharpener, glitter, 2 free A-town fair tickets, a card for her school that gives discounts at local stores and restaurants. She was thrilled with her winnings. Not bad for a couple hours of boredom!

Almost time

We got Leanna's homeroom and teacher name in the mail today-school is fast approaching. Wow.

Leanna and plants

Leanna's class planted seeds today. I'm not sure what kind, she said they didn't tell the kids. I'm glad to hear they are doing something like that-so much of what she does at school seems rushed and advanced. I worry that her education will be focused on meeting certain standards on tests, and not on what is beneficial to actually learning.
I remember being thrilled to see plants finally growing at school-kids got all excited when their plant would finally sprout!

School

Leanna learned about telling time in school already. Just the basics, but still....I didn't learn about telling time until second grade. And that was in a private school. They seem to go over an awful lot of stuff, and they do it so quickly. I wonder how much of it the kids retain? I'm guessing that it has something to do with all the testing they do. They are always testing them on the stuff they've learned. I don't remember that being a part of kindergarten at all. (My memories of kindergarten involve songs, and games, naptime, memorizing Bible verses-again, private school-and doing a little reading, the Dick and Jane and Spot variety).