Crime and Punishment - 4th Grade

My friend, Jessica wrote this piece a few days ago and it struck a nerve in me.

My son's teacher has been punishing their "rowdy" behavior by withholding their recess time. Seems to me this is counter-productive on so many levels, but the main one would have to be the energy levels of kids. They NEED time to run around and have some unstructured time in their day.

He is already bringing home an hour or two of homework just about every night. So when he comes home from school, he goes straight to work. Then he goes to Taekwondo or Baseball. He has lots of energy and is extremely active.

Let's just remember that we are talking about 10-year-olds. I see little value in the work he brings home to do. Lots of busy work and "Independent Study" projects that, from what I have experienced, require lots of parental supervision.

At the elementary school level, our children need to be introduced to the love of learning. Not the rigorous study time associated with secondary education. They need to be fascinated with the world around them, not spending every waking moment practicing for a stupid standardized test.

And they most certainly do NOT need to be justifying their need for a recess by writing an essay about why they think they "deserve" to have one. In perfect cursive.

Well Hello There!

I suppose I've abandoned my blog. One of these days, I'll get back into it, I swear! In the meantime, I've just been spending time with these handsome fellas:




School starts two weeks from today. I will officially have a first grader (OMG!). Our summer has been a non-stop whirlwind of camp (for the boy), work (for the parents), the lake, Mexico, hanging out with friends, and enjoying every moment that we have. There hasn't been a spare moment to put a coherent thought to print.

On a not-so-interesting side note, we managed to purchase all of the school supplies in one evening at three different stores. Considering the random supplies asked for, and in non-standard colors, I call this a success!

I Nearly Went "Overboard" This Morning

Quote courtesy of www.imdb.com.

But WHAT? My children are in need of medical assistance! And you can sit here and smugly lecture me on the importance of tests? Tests which exist to pigeonhole childrens potential, a thing which cannot *possibly* be measured, least of all by anal compulsive HUNS! And my husband may be a "large child," but that's none of your business! And my children may be rotten, but they're MINE. And I think that they're bright, and sensitive, so I have no doubts whatsoever about their intelligence. I do however have *serious* doubts about YOURS.

In the movie, Overboard, there is a scene where Annie Proffitt is in a meeting with the principal of her sons' school about her wild children. She tells this woman off but good! And this morning, it was all I could do to not channel her rant and go rip a substitute teacher a new asshole.

Yesterday, my child, along with five others in his class, got in trouble for various and sundry things that were typical 5 and 6 year old behavior. In fact, none of the items listed in the note home to us seemed out of the ordinary or necessarily "bad." And after some of the things Boy Pop told me, my blood was already boiling.

That's neither here nor there. We dealt with those little issues. What really set me off was this morning, when Boy Pop was choosing his afternoon snack out of the pantry.

Boy Pop: Oh, I still have my snack from yesterday.
Me: Why?
Boy Pop: Because the teacher told us we could save them until tomorrow since we were so bad.
Me: ...
Boy Pop: She told us we were the worst class out of every class in kindergarten.

Excuse me, but you do NOT say that to a classful of children. Young children. And after more details were pulled from Boy Pop, this particular substitute should most definitely NOT be subbing at an elementary school level. She yelled at the class. Multiple times. This is so far from acceptable that I am still fuming.

I did not sign my son's note. Instead, I sent the actual teacher an email with my concerns. I tried to be polite. But I will not be signing this particular note home, period, and neither will Dr. Pop.

This woman can bite me.

Friday Confession and Other Musings

This week has just about killed me...

Boy Pop loves school. He came home from his first day saying, "It was the funnest day, ever!" This week, he also was chosen to participate in the morning announcement broadcast, a production that shows to all classes first thing in the morning, via closed-circuit TV. He held the flag as the classes said the pledge of allegiance. My big boy! He was even the only one who held his hand over his heart!

As for me? I'm not loving my new schedule of waking up earlier than I ever thought I would, getting myself ready, then waking my child up, cooking breakfast, doing all the morning things with my child, then driving him to school and myself to work. I truly under-appreciated my husband these past three years. He graciously took over the morning routine once he started working out of the house and it SAVED me!

I took the day off work on Tuesday. I think that was, in hindsight, a mistake. What I gained in private time to sob for the end of my son's "baby"hood (yes, I know he's almost 6, but he was a baby!), I lost in other ways. It really was nice to have the day to myself, to be able to get some things done around the house, uninterrupted. To be able to do it all while I'm fresh and not exhausted by a nine hour grind at a place I don't love. To be able to pick up my son right when school got out and walk with him and hear all about the day, right when the day was done, and not after he spent time in after-school care.*

But then, when I was taking a quick trip to the store yesterday with Dr Pop, I was immediately reminded why I work... I dropped a tidy sum of money on items to improve the organization of my home. Money I earned and was able to spend any way I chose (after bills, of course). Money that would not be there otherwise. Money that helps us live a nice life and will help us quit the daily grind all the sooner.

I flip-flop on the subject a lot.

But if this week is any indication, then next 13 years are going to kill me.

*So, after-school care. Hmmm... Not loving my choice right now. It is at the school and is extremely chaotic. In the next few weeks, I think Dr Pop and I are going to come up with a plan to eliminate this altogether.