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Ugh. School. Kindergarten. Help.
So, when I joined OS El D was just a little nugget - not even a year old... and here it is the Summer before he starts kindergarten. Srsly, where did the time go?
Hive mind, I ask you to bequeath your parental knowledge, funny stories or just straight up warnings to me:
1) What are the top 5 things you wish someone had told you before your kid started kindergarten?
2) What did you do to 'prep' your kid for it?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by mightyninjamom on -
Jeebus Oracle, seriously? That is crazy. You can't do that to kids that age and not expect any negative reaction! Kids are in school for so long, I think there is a better age to capitalize on their learning, and I don't think kinder is it. I mean, there are tons of studies that show how 'absorbent' the brain of a small child is, but if you think about it, isn't that there to help them learn to operate in a society and not to necessarily memorize the alphabet? What I mean is, that kind of learning ability has probably been there the whole time, whereas school for very young children hasn't. So what was it there for? Not to sit in a desk for six hours straight, that's for damn sure.
The Oracle said:Don't get me started on the diatribe about how anxious schools are creating anxious kids. Just. Don't.
It took us pulling our kid out of school completely to realize he wasn't the one with the anxiety disorder. It was the school. The district. The country, all in a wad about test scores falling behind.
Seriously, the Kindergarten (KINDERGARTEN!) policy of five-assignments-in-a-six-hour-period-or-no-recess can kiss my ass.
Okay, I'll just be over here breathing into a paper bag now.
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Permalink Reply by Boring User Name on -
Yeah, I'm also pretty easy to get worked up about all this. If you haven't seen Race to Nowhere, you should.
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Permalink Reply by Kat on -
I cannot believe in the 21st century any educator thinks keeping a kid in from recess is helping anything.
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Permalink Reply by Kat on
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YES. This year we had all kinds of behavior issues with Younger Son. Really, really serious ones. After all kinds of scrutiny of my parenting and our support levels at home for his vast amounts of homework, and taking him to a counselor and even medicating him, I finally stopped the insanity, stopped the meds, and told the teachers that I didn't care if he "failed" his SOLs. In 4th grade, what did they mean anyhow? Shock and horror was the response. Also, I realized that the "privilege" of being invited into the gifted cluster class had not turned out as expected... far from challenging him to further his potential, it just threw him into a really overcompetitive environment. We've opted out of testing and I've asked for him to go back into a "normal" classroom next year. Already, most of our behavior issues are gone. It was never HIM, it was the level of stress in his environment.
The Oracle said:Don't get me started on the diatribe about how anxious schools are creating anxious kids. Just. Don't.
It took us pulling our kid out of school completely to realize he wasn't the one with the anxiety disorder. It was the school. The district. The country, all in a wad about test scores falling behind.
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Permalink Reply by G to the G on -
BUN - thanks I haven't seen that... I will.
I'd be SO raising hell over a no recess policy. WTF. I'm already struggling/railing against the 'assessments' they are handing out at the pre-k level. Scary.
Kat - thanks for sharing that... its really a testament to a what parent's role is and should be for their kids...always being the advocate.
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