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Video from Teacher Explains Why Many Homeschool


CyndiLJ
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Have you all seen this? Makes my heart break a little for all the wonderful teachers our kids had before electing to homeschool...and they WERE wonderful. The system hinders our teachers in such frustrating ways, I am surprised we don't have more quitting.

 

http://twentytwowords.com/2012/12/18/2nd-grade-teacher-respectfully-airs-his-grievances-quits-his-job-on-youtube/

 

Cindy

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Have you all seen this? Makes my heart break a little for all the wonderful teachers our kids had before electing to homeschool...and they WERE wonderful. The system hinders our teachers in such frustrating ways, I am surprised we don't have more quitting.

 

http://twentytwoword...job-on-youtube/

 

Cindy

Not all of us quit public schooling to homeschool. Some of us have chosen it all on it's own.

 

I'm assuming she was referring to the wonderful teachers HER PERSONAL children had before she pulled them out to begin homeschooling?

I don't think it was a collective "our." I could be wrong, but I don't think she meant it as any kind of blanket statement.

 

astrid

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My father has been substitute teaching in the PA public schools for the past year. He says it is awful. The kids have no joy, no spark of life, no interest, because they have learned not to show interest. If they show interest, the teachers nip it in the bud because they are so constrained by "the test" and have no freedom or time to pursue true learning.

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When he got to the part about the kids who need recess the most getting it the least. When my dd13 was in grade 1 ps she had detention everyday, lost all recess, all music classes, all PE classes, she had 1 in school suspension. Her crime? She refused to do the seatwork assigned in class and read the readers she was told to. The readers were those kinds with 1-3 words per page. She was at a 4th gradeish reading level by then. The seatwork was coloring pages, and draw a line to match the number with the matching word etc. SHe was too bored and smart for that stuff. So they labelled her behaviour disordered when really she just needed to be challenged. Once they started cutting out the fun stuff for her she decided it wasn't worth even trying to be good anymore, which is why they eventually gave her a 1 day in school suspension(she loved the attention of having the principal to herself and doing school in the office all day). THEN she really was a behaviour issue because she had nothing to lose, she had nothing good going on at school, it was boring and tedious and all the "good stuff" was taken away.

 

Her teacher had been a very good teacher for a very long time but was not allowed to give dd harder work because it was only 1st grade, and enrichment programming doesn't start until 3rd(there is no such thing as a gifted program in that school division at that time, the gifted kids got pulled out a couple times a week to do enrichment activities). Since we started homeschooling and she has done testing etc, they have determined she is 2E so likely would never have been a good fit in a classroom setting anyway, but the teacher never had the chance to find a way to get dd engaged in learning at school because everyone had to do the same thing at the same time.

 

Similar but different situation with ds14. He really was behaviour disordered, he has many learning issues. He got an IPP the grade 1 teacher was an angel working with him the grade 2 teacher not so much. He needed many many supports in the classroom that he could not get and it left the teachers struggling to work with the whole class(a class of 31 students) when he was acting out. For me the final straw with him was this new policy of never holding kids back. He could not do the work, nor did he have the maturity to move on to 3rd grade, but the school has no say in it. The board says failing kids hurts their self esteem so they pass kids to the next level even if they can not do the material. If a teacher lacks the means to help a BD or LD kid, and the board says pass them no matter what, then what motivation does the teacher have to even bother finding ways out side of the box to help said kid, especially in districts that shoot down any suggestions anyway. kwim. So instead the BD/LD kid gets bumped up a level, acts out more, and the next level teacher is left with no way to help the child and the cycle continues.

 

Then the good teachers who want to help give up and quit and the kids get stuck with the crappy teachers who are happy to simply check a box and say they did their part while the kids shut down, drop out, or pass as barely literate twits.

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Yeah. One of my kids mentioned wanting to be a teacher. I told him he didn't. It's not like how he thinks it is.

 

 

Yup, I have my 1st of 2 years of ECE done, plan to start year 2 as a distance student as soon as I can. For me I use it as a daycare worker, and plan to open a preschool. I would love to work with K students but have no interest in playing the ps game as a teacher, at least in preschool it is private and I can pick what and how I teach those kids, and can meet them at their level preparing them for their entry into ps.

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Yup, I have my 1st of 2 years of ECE done, plan to start year 2 as a distance student as soon as I can. For me I use it as a daycare worker, and plan to open a preschool. I would love to work with K students but have no interest in playing the ps game as a teacher, at least in preschool it is private and I can pick what and how I teach those kids, and can meet them at their level preparing them for their entry into ps.

 

 

My niece is currently the educational director of a preschool. She loves it and many of her students are learning to read. She and her teachers are not hampered by bureaucracy. They also have a chance to really help the students who are lagging behind their peers and without pressure. However, she recognizes that many of her students will be way ahead of the game so she's recently been cautioning parents that if they cannot pay for any of the more advanced religious K-1 programs in her city, then they may want to shy away from her program and enroll in something else. This is due to the fact that advanced work for excelling children does not begin until 2nd grade the local school district and the teachers are not allowed to give individual work to bored students. Everyone.must.do.the.same.thing.at.the.same.time.always. So, essentially, the excellent work her faculty does with these 3-5 year olds, could cause trouble for them at the PS.

 

The system is broken.

 

When my brother and I were in elementary school, we were well ahead of our peers. It wasn't a problem at all for our "old school" teachers. They just brought books to school for us to use and set us to work. No one thought it was a good idea to hold us back and because we were small for our age, they also didn't think it was wise to send us up with the older kids. I was never bored. There were always advanced reading books, higher level mathematics books, science projects, you name it available and if I really had extra time on my hands, I was sent down to the first grade room to be a reading buddy to a younger student. It worked out well.

 

However, the middle school teachers were not nearly as "enlightened" and not only were the two of us bored to tears, but they were mean about it because we weren't "like every one else". We heard that crap all the time. My parents wouldn't allow us to be skipped a grade though because my older cousin was skipped and then beat up by the older kids who didn't want "that little kid" in their class.

 

Faith

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Yeah. One of my kids mentioned wanting to be a teacher. I told him he didn't. It's not like how he thinks it is.

 

 

Maybe they could look into alternative/holistic educational programs? I've met Waldorf and Montessori teachers (and Reggio teachers) who love what they do everyday. I too would caution my dc against a career in standardized schools.

 

Good for this teacher for sharing his experience in the classroom, especially when he outlined the typical day. It makes me sad to think that those children who need the movement and break at recess the most are more likely to have it taken away as a consequence for acting out (or simply acting like a young child). His experience is exactly why Dh and I choose to keep our children out of the traditional school system.

 

My dear friend searched high and low for a private school that could meet her ds needs: he is very bright, active, and disruptive in the classroom. He has sensitivities to many foods, as well as social issues (very sweet and kind but is learning how to respect boundaries and read social cues, tends to lean into other children and play in an overbearing way). She finally found a small private school that seemed equipped to help him (and she drove over an hour each way to get him there). After several weeks, they began taking away his recess for disrupting class after lunch. She wholeheartedly agreed that he needed consequences for bei disruptive, but she had to plead with them not to take away his recess.

 

My point is that recess is an outlet for children. Why not explore other ways to encourage positive behavior? Seems like that should be a priority.

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Yup, I have my 1st of 2 years of ECE done, plan to start year 2 as a distance student as soon as I can. For me I use it as a daycare worker, and plan to open a preschool. I would love to work with K students but have no interest in playing the ps game as a teacher, at least in preschool it is private and I can pick what and how I teach those kids, and can meet them at their level preparing them for their entry into ps.

 

My dd is going to major in ECE as well but also with plans to be a preschool teacher. No way would I want her teaching in public school. I can already see tears of frustration happening every night if that were the case.

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In addition to "teaching to the test", I was happy to see the teacher in the video touch on the "social" aspect of today's classrooms.

 

Just today, my dd had a retired teacher tell her that she was missing out on the social opportunities of being around other kids by not going to school. I think those who have been out of the classroom for awhile would be shocked at the limited social opportunities that are available in today's classroom environment. The teacher's comments from the video mirrored the "social" opportunities my kids experienced in public school: no talking permitted in the classroom, many days of eating lunch silently because the lunch room became too noisy, only twenty minutes for recess (but the kids were not permitted to run since they could fall and hurt themselves)

 

In contrast, when I was in elementary school from K - 6th, the classroom had a morning recess, a lunch recess, and an afternoon recess. We were actually able to play kick ball, climb on monkey bars, and play with our classmates.

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Do you think others are talking about his resignation to the same extent as hser's? It seems this is all the talk on all my various homeschool groups, but not even a blip on anyone else's radar. It seems this teacher who wants to do more to help his students is gaining the most respect and support from homeschoolers.

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Do you think others are talking about his resignation to the same extent as hser's? It seems this is all the talk on all my various homeschool groups, but not even a blip on anyone else's radar. It seems this teacher who wants to do more to help his students is gaining the most respect and support from homeschoolers.

 

I posted this on facebook knowing that I have several friends who teach in public schools. A couple of them "liked" or "shared" it.

 

I have good memories of my time in school (along with terrible, traumatic memories, but that's for another thread). I remember painting on my desk with shaving cream, having "read a thons" where we'd wear our pajamas and lay on the floor and read all day with pillows, etc, going on field trips, playing games in class like 7-up. We had classroom pets and classroom stuffed animals. When my dd was in 1st grade here in town a few years ago, they did seem to do fun things like that still. Is it widespread that all of these things are being cut out?

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Not all of us quit public schooling to homeschool. Some of us have chosen it all on it's own.

 

I know that, Jean. Many of us did experience the public school system though, and I actually have a lot of respect for the teachers there who are just as fed up with the system as those of us who find ourselves leaving it. I don't think one is more or less virtuous for when they decided to homeschool.

 

I'm assuming she was referring to the wonderful teachers HER PERSONAL children had before she pulled them out to begin homeschooling? I don't think it was a collective "our." I could be wrong, but I don't think she meant it as any kind of blanket statement. astrid

 

Astrid, you are right. Thanks for clarifying for me.

 

I have a just retired teacher who approached me and asked if she could work with our kids a couple mornings a week in language arts. She was a FABULOUS teacher, and was completely and utterly fed up with the system, which is the only reasno she quit. She was tired of seeing kids lose their joy, tired of being unable to really teach rather than test and read from teacher's manuals. She's been amazing with our kids, and I was thrilled when she told me one month into it, "Now THIS is teaching! We used to be able to do a lot of this in the classroom...I didn't even realize how much I miss it."

 

When we decided to pull our kids, all 3 of our sons' teachers privately pulled me aside and told me they thought it was a wise decision on my part, that they supported me 100%, and two even gave me home numbers to call to offer help if I never needed it. Many, many teachers know what is wrong. Sure, some are misguided in their thinking, in my opinion, but there are thousands who "get it" and are as burned out and frustrated as children and their parents are. But if someone wants to earn a living and truly wants to teach...where to do they go? There are only so many private schools out there.

 

I guess I have a lot of empathy for people like the gentleman in the video.

 

Cindy

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I know that, Jean. Many of us did experience the public school system though, and I actually have a lot of respect for the teachers there who are just as fed up with the system as those of us who find ourselves leaving it. I don't think one is more or less virtuous for when they decided to homeschool.

 

 

 

Astrid, you are right. Thanks for clarifying for me.

 

I have a just retired teacher who approached me and asked if she could work with our kids a couple mornings a week in language arts. She was a FABULOUS teacher, and was completely and utterly fed up with the system, which is the only reasno she quit. She was tired of seeing kids lose their joy, tired of being unable to really teach rather than test and read from teacher's manuals. She's been amazing with our kids, and I was thrilled when she told me one month into it, "Now THIS is teaching! We used to be able to do a lot of this in the classroom...I didn't even realize how much I miss it."

 

When we decided to pull our kids, all 3 of our sons' teachers privately pulled me aside and told me they thought it was a wise decision on my part, that they supported me 100%, and two even gave me home numbers to call to offer help if I never needed it. Many, many teachers know what is wrong. Sure, some are misguided in their thinking, in my opinion, but there are thousands who "get it" and are as burned out and frustrated as children and their parents are. But if someone wants to earn a living and truly wants to teach...where to do they go? There are only so many private schools out there.

 

I guess I have a lot of empathy for people like the gentleman in the video.

 

Cindy

 

Oh, don't mind me. I really agree with the video and it's sentiments.

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I know that, Jean. Many of us did experience the public school system though, and I actually have a lot of respect for the teachers there who are just as fed up with the system as those of us who find ourselves leaving it. I don't think one is more or less virtuous for when they decided to homeschool.

 

 

 

Astrid, you are right. Thanks for clarifying for me.

 

I have a just retired teacher who approached me and asked if she could work with our kids a couple mornings a week in language arts. She was a FABULOUS teacher, and was completely and utterly fed up with the system, which is the only reasno she quit. She was tired of seeing kids lose their joy, tired of being unable to really teach rather than test and read from teacher's manuals. She's been amazing with our kids, and I was thrilled when she told me one month into it, "Now THIS is teaching! We used to be able to do a lot of this in the classroom...I didn't even realize how much I miss it."

 

When we decided to pull our kids, all 3 of our sons' teachers privately pulled me aside and told me they thought it was a wise decision on my part, that they supported me 100%, and two even gave me home numbers to call to offer help if I never needed it. Many, many teachers know what is wrong. Sure, some are misguided in their thinking, in my opinion, but there are thousands who "get it" and are as burned out and frustrated as children and their parents are. But if someone wants to earn a living and truly wants to teach...where to do they go? There are only so many private schools out there.

 

I guess I have a lot of empathy for people like the gentleman in the video.

 

Cindy

 

 

 

The bolded above is EXACTLY the reason why I quit teaching public school (7th grade English) in 2001. I even had a letter to the editor published in the NEA monthly magazine regarding this. DD wants to be a special education teacher and I have to bite my tongue to keep from screaming NOOOOO!!!!! But her heart is so big and she really wants to follow that heart. Hoping things will change, but not betting on it. :-(

 

astrid

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The bolded above is EXACTLY the reason why I quit teaching public school (7th grade English) in 2001. I even had a letter to the editor published in the NEA monthly magazine regarding this. DD wants to be a special education teacher and I have to bite my tongue to keep from screaming NOOOOO!!!!! But her heart is so big and she really wants to follow that heart. Hoping things will change, but not betting on it. :-(

 

astrid

 

That is the whole reason I won't get my teaching degree (though I have looked into Montessori).

 

And how sad is that, too? That the system is frustrating good veteran teachers to the point of quitting and people who want to become teachers!

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