To encourage moms teaching K and 1st

[Pam L in Mid Tenn]

I spent three days this week subbing for K and 1st grade. It was a ton of fun! Those sweet little faces are just too cute!

 

But, I thought about how I felt when my kids were in K and 1st. At that time I "thought" they might be missing out on...... something. I wasn't sure what, but something.

 

After all, at home we were behind in math, penmanship was barely a scribble, phonics had not been "taught" in weeks, I was reading aloud some my kids had not read to me in a week. Ok , maybe we did play with pattern blocks, put together some puzzles, watch "Magic School Bus", but that really isn't school.

 

I used to think like that.

 

In the past week I've noticed that:

* the Kindergarteners and First Graders were behind in the Saxon lessons,

*the calendar had not been done for a week,

*some can barely write their names,

*worksheets were handed out and barely explained for math and phonics,

*the teacher had read the same "reading" story aloud so many times that the story had been memorized before the children read it.

*All math manipulatives were in the room, but put up behind closed doors. After all , there is not time to play with pattern blocks or use teddy bears to do the fact sheets.

*Phonics worksheets were "coded" with pencils without connecting the words to REAL reading.

*Letters were colored.... nice for art and motor control skills, but no one really learned the name of the letter, sound it makes, or how to write the letter.

* They watch "Magic School Bus".. alot.

 

So, if you are home with your little ones and you read aloud, count spoons, fold towels, color a picture, look at a map, eat a healthy snack, play outside, use your imagination, watch some PBS kids, learn a few new sounds, have your kids read a few pages, do a half page of Alpha Phonics, and have a rest time......

 

THEN....I would say that....

 

You are doing GREAT!!!!

 

Your kids are getting MORE than they would in the classroom. It is the classroom kids that are missing out on real education, real learning, and the love and attention from MOM!

 

Just keep on doing the next lesson, doing the next page, reading the next book!

 

You are doing Great!

:001_smile:

[FO4UR]

Thanks for this post!:001_smile:

[Mom28kds]

Thanks from a Mom who is going to be doing a K and 1st next year. Gives me hope and encourgement.

[Marie in Oh]

and so true. Our piano teacher's dh is a K teacher. His stories confirm to me over and over and over again that we are making the right choice.

[blakereese]

:iagree:

 

Great post! How wonderful of you to post this, very encouraging!

 

My son went to ps for K and 1st, and I spent a lot of time in his class and at the school. I agree, no one should feel like their kids are missing out. Not at all :001_smile:

[kristinannie]

Thanks so much for the post. We are starting homeschooling for kindergarten in a few months. The only reservation I have about it is the fact that he is missing out on the school experience. I know that I will give him better academics at home...that isn't really the issue. It's good to hear this though because it definitely solidifies my decision!

[iona]

thanks!:001_smile:

[Year Round Mom]

Thank you so much for this post! I'm right in the midst of K-and-1st-grade-dom!

 

:)

[mom2boys030507]

Thank you. This helps me feel better about slowing down so my boys can be boys.

[3peasinapod]

That is so encouraging to hear! :001_smile: I always wondered about memorizing a reader.

 

We were at the library a couple of Saturdays ago, and they had some gentle dogs for children to read to. My DD6 picked up one of the books and started reading. She was slow, but fluent and steady, not choppy at all. I heard a little girl who was about her age reading The Cat in the Hat quickly and extremely fluent. I couldn't help compare, you know? :glare: I thought about it, and I know some children can read that early that fluently, but I wonder if the little darling (because she was) had memorized it, and that's why she flew through it at lightening speed. Anyhow, not knocking anything, just an observation.

[ScoutTN]

Thanks for posting! I needed to hear this today! :):):)

 

Our day has been an exercise in frustration and zero "school" done!

Necessary but tedious errands, spills and potty accidents resulting in more laundry, and me with a headache and sore throat all in very cold, gray weather and some freezing rain.

 

Oh well, chx pot pie for dinner and Secretariat came from Netflix today, so maybe I'll not be so much of a whiner tonight!

[Guest]

 

You are doing GREAT!!!!

 

Your kids are getting MORE than they would in the classroom. It is the classroom kids that are missing out on real education, real learning, and the love and attention from MOM!

 

Just keep on doing the next lesson, doing the next page, reading the next book!

 

You are doing Great!

:001_smile:

 

*I* have been in tears most of the day and really needed to hear this. (I wish some of the non-homeschooling relatives and friends were this supportive.)

[Food4Thought]

Thank you, Pam! That is very encouraging! I've taken the last 3 days "off" to let DS recover from a cold - but we've still read and written and counted and played. So I won't be so hard on myself, at least for today. :)

[HollyB]

Thank you! The last two weeks have been rough. It's nice to hear some encouragement once in a while. :)

[Tracy]

Thanks so much! I am going to send this to all my homeschooling friends.

[Heatherwith4]

Thank you so much Pam! :)

[kalphs]

I spent three days this week subbing for K and 1st grade. It was a ton of fun! Those sweet little faces are just too cute!

 

But, I thought about how I felt when my kids were in K and 1st. At that time I "thought" they might be missing out on...... something. I wasn't sure what, but something.

 

After all, at home we were behind in math, penmanship was barely a scribble, phonics had not been "taught" in weeks, I was reading aloud some my kids had not read to me in a week. Ok , maybe we did play with pattern blocks, put together some puzzles, watch "Magic School Bus", but that really isn't school.

 

I used to think like that.

 

In the past week I've noticed that:

* the Kindergarteners and First Graders were behind in the Saxon lessons,

*the calendar had not been done for a week,

*some can barely write their names,

*worksheets were handed out and barely explained for math and phonics,

*the teacher had read the same "reading" story aloud so many times that the story had been memorized before the children read it.

*All math manipulatives were in the room, but put up behind closed doors. After all , there is not time to play with pattern blocks or use teddy bears to do the fact sheets.

*Phonics worksheets were "coded" with pencils without connecting the words to REAL reading.

*Letters were colored.... nice for art and motor control skills, but no one really learned the name of the letter, sound it makes, or how to write the letter.

* They watch "Magic School Bus".. alot.

 

So, if you are home with your little ones and you read aloud, count spoons, fold towels, color a picture, look at a map, eat a healthy snack, play outside, use your imagination, watch some PBS kids, learn a few new sounds, have your kids read a few pages, do a half page of Alpha Phonics, and have a rest time......

 

THEN....I would say that....

 

You are doing GREAT!!!!

 

Your kids are getting MORE than they would in the classroom. It is the classroom kids that are missing out on real education, real learning, and the love and attention from MOM!

 

Just keep on doing the next lesson, doing the next page, reading the next book!

 

You are doing Great!

:001_smile:

Great post Pam! :)

[SEGway]

Whew. Thanks!

[Sharpie]

Thank you for posting this! It is exactly what I needed to read!

[blessedmom3]

Wow ! Your post makes me anxious :)

 

My K and 2nd grader are going to public school in two weeks . They are 2-3 grades ahead (even more in reading/spelling ) so I am wondering if the teacher will give them work at their level .

 

With four kids under 7 and a dirty house , I can't take homeschooling anymore but I don't know how PS will be :confused:

[Jen500]

Wow ! Your post makes me anxious :)

 

My K and 2nd grader are going to public school in two weeks . They are 2-3 grades ahead (even more in reading/spelling ) so I am wondering if the teacher will give them work at their level .

 

With four kids under 7 and a dirty house , I can't take homeschooling anymore but I don't know how PS will be :confused:

 

:grouphug:

I think every school and teacher is different. My kids had a much different experience in k/1st ps than the OP's experience. They learned how to read and write, listened to a lot of stories, did hands-on science activities, etc, and had fun.

[littleWMN]

I have a preK'er in public school and I sat in on a Kindergarten class for a few hours last week.

 

They had "centers" for 30 minutes. For the centers they had 15 minutes to work, then they had to switch. They would be playing a board game with another student or working a puzzle and have to pick up the puzzle or game when the timer went off. They weren't even finished. Then she drew names and had each kid pick out a different center to work on. I was so thankful my kids are home and can work an entire puzzle in their free time, etc. I thought it would be far better for them to have 30 minutes for center time and be able to complete something in that time period, but I guess it's about classroom management.

[mbosh237]

Thank you so much for the encouragement!!! :grouphug:

[UmMusa]

That's awesome Pam! Thanks for posting this :) Very comforting and reassuring.

[cdrumm4448]

I am so glad to read this today! DS woke up in the middle of the night with croup and he needed to be seen by the dr. today. So, no school. But, DD did spend quite a bit of time playing a Hello Kitty reading cd and following along word-for-word in the accompanying books, all by herself. That was about the extent of school today. (DS got a steroid for the croup.)

[Celia]

So needed to hear this. Life with little kids is just so unpredictable when it comes to taking time off of school, and we got very little done today. I wish I knew what was normal in the schools around here!

[MeganW]

You can't even begin to imagine what a blessing this post was to me tonight. I NEEDED to hear this!!

 

I am being beaten up right and left from people who want me to put my kids in public school, and think that I am "overprotective", "condemning my kids to life of being social outcasts", etc. The latest - my husband's boss.

[Guest]

Your dh's BOSS?! Who does he think he is? I admire your restriant to nicely tell him to BUTT out! The NERVE!

 

OK, backing down now....Thank you, Pam for this. Mine are 6 and 5. Those of us with littles do tend to stress and worry. We want the kids to have the best start and it is tough not to feel nervous about what we do or do not get done.

[boscopup]

I got to witness K and 1st grade at my son's private school. Some of it was similar, though the children were all writing their names by second semester of K. I think in 1st, there were 2 children not writing well, and one was new to the school and the other is likely dyslexic (they were trying to work with him on that, though the school doesn't have special ed services).

 

They did keep up with their Saxon math, though if there was a day off, they just skipped that day's worksheets. She'd teach the material for the day, but not do the worksheets. Also, the homework sheets were only assigned Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. There was no homework on Wednesday or Friday, so they just skipped those pages (but did the in-class sheets in class).

 

To the PP worried about sending her 2-3 grade levels ahead kids to public school... I guess it will depend on the teacher, but usually, kids that are that far ahead aren't able to be given too much work at their level. For example, my son really should have been doing Saxon 2 for math, but they didn't have materials for him to do that. He had to stick with 1. For reading, she did give him a little extra, along with a few other kids that were reading above grade level. But all she had to pull from was the second semester first grade books and sometimes maybe a second grade book if there were extras available. In K, my son was sent home with the second grade reading textbook because they didn't have any first grade available. That was fine, as he was reading second grade level anyway. But really, there was only so much that could be done, because there were so many other kids in the class that also needed work below or above grade level, and those had to be worked with too, and of course the priority (as it should be) is bringing the below grade level kids up. This is one of the biggest reasons I pulled my son out of school. We were having to afterschool math, and I decided it'd be easier to just do that at home to begin with, at a better time (ie, nap time) instead of during that pre-dinner witching hour when all the kids are melting down and I was trying to make dinner. Really, homework time was awful. I'm thankful that his school didn't give a LOT of homework. It was usually just one Saxon homework page and maybe read a story and/or work on spelling words, and often we didn't get to the spelling words, and he still got 100s on the tests.

 

Hopefully your ps experience will be better. At least there they do have gifted programs and such. Our private school did not (though in public school here, the gifted program doesn't start until 3rd grade). There is a chance that your kid could be sent to a corner to read a book while the rest of the class is caught up to grade level. A friend's daughter had that happen (she's homeschooling now). So basically, just be aware of how the teacher is handling the kids' academics. Talk to her about what her plan is, and make sure that plan is being followed through. And hey, if it doesn't work, you can always pull them back out. If they're working 2-3 grade levels ahead, they won't have missed anything. ;)

[cholderby]

Meghan - I'm right there with you! A close friend of mine was trying to convince me that she learned valuable lessons from having really bad teachers (like how to get along with difficult people). Um, yeah...I'm not sending my kids to PS for that!

 

I think I need to have DS write his name more often. In reading this it occurred to me that kids in school have to write their names on papers and such and I don't make him do that enough at home.

 

Thanks for posting this!

[boscopup]

I think I need to have DS write his name more often. In reading this it occurred to me that kids in school have to write their names on papers and such and I don't make him do that enough at home.

 

This is true. I think the only thing we've been putting names on is WWE, because it has a blank for name and date. So we do that every day. :) I imagine when I am schooling more than one child, I'll have to require names on all papers, just for my own sanity!

 

Note that in K and 1st, at least at my son's school, they only did first name or first name and last initial in the cases of kids that had the same name (there were 3 Elijah's in the class, though 2 went by Eli, so those two had to put a first letter of their last name). I don't know when they transition to first and last name.

[RoundAbout]

Thank you, this is so encouraging! I only have a pre-Ker but during our very full ski vacation last week I realized how much learning we do without even trying: read-alouds for the long car ride, a discussion of habitat and terrain and animals and seasons while looking out the window, playing with blocks and practice counting at night, a bit of Seasame Street in the morning while getting ready etc.

[mmpmelmack]

Thanks for the encouragement, we get bogged down here too....its good to know we are ahead!

[Snowfall]

Hopefully your ps experience will be better. At least there they do have gifted programs and such. Our private school did not (though in public school here, the gifted program doesn't start until 3rd grade).

 

I just wanted to address this bolded part, because while I believe that the inability of the schools to effectively meet children where they are, rather than where their age dictates they "should" be, there's actually a good reason for not having gifted programs before 3rd grade. Before that age, kids are all over the map skills-wise, and it's very difficult to effectively predict which ones are truly gifted and which ones are just advanced.

 

Predicting in K and 1st grade ends up in lots and lots and LOTS of kids finding out they weren't gifted after all and parents getting extremely angry when their kids are removed from the program, which means that they don't get removed, which means that the programs are glutted with kids who read early or were verbally advanced or whatever, but aren't actually gifted at all. So this particular policy is actually much more reasonable than having a gifted program for K and 1st grade kids. :)

I'm not against gifted programs, but starting them early hasn't been shown to do anything worthwhile for anyone.

 

I just wanted to mention that, because I know some people think the lack of gifted programs for the youngest kids is more evidence of how crappy the schools are. In reality, it's a school system doing something actually based on the evidence, for once. lol

[boscopup]

I understand that, Snowfall. My point was that there are no opportunities for advanced students at that age. Often, the gifted program is the only thing available, and that's not helpful to a K-2 student.

 

I didn't at all mean that the gifted program should start earlier. I can see where what I said could be taken that way though. :)

[Snowfall]

Oh, I wasn't meaning to make any assumptions about what you thought about that. I was just pointing it out. I do think they ought to be placing kids appropriately for their skills, but that definitely isn't happening nowadays. The one room schoolhouse idea sounds better and better sometimes. lol

[boscopup]

Oh, I wasn't meaning to make any assumptions about what you thought about that. I was just pointing it out. I do think they ought to be placing kids appropriately for their skills, but that definitely isn't happening nowadays. The one room schoolhouse idea sounds better and better sometimes. lol

 

Agreed! :)

[RootAnn]

I do think they ought to be placing kids appropriately for their skills, but that definitely isn't happening nowadays. The one room schoolhouse idea sounds better and better sometimes. lol

 

:iagree: At least in the one room schoolhouse (ideally), the teacher would place the student after asking some questions in each subject. I have found that many of the (now homeschooling) kids would not be checked on what level they could operate on. This resulted in teachers not believing a student read a book they said they did (for their reading points program thing) or not meeting the student where s/he was in ability. Some teachers are on top of this, but can't really do anything about giving a student work above their level because the material or time/opportunity isn't there with all the rest of the students.

 

Our local school has had a lot of snow days lately. I feel badly for the math teachers on weeks like that. It isn't like you can just skip the day you teach kids how to do regrouping (carrying).

[----]

thanks! Sometimes I need to be reminded that the grass isn't always greener.

[rochellek]

I needed that!!! Thanks!

[mom2denj]

Thank you, I needed this!

[Holly]

Wonderful post!