school is hard, and not just for kids
There's something going on at my daughter's school that she's not telling us about. It may be that her best friend is on vacation right now. But every single night this week, she's come home in a foul mood, and had a massive eruption while doing her homework.
And let me tell you something, that homework is hard. First grade math has gotten a lot harder since I was in first grade. Last week, she actually had word problems to do. Word problems. In first grade.
There are a lot of things that she's learning that make me and landisdad look at each other in surprise. This year, they have Spanish, for example. I think that's great, especially since there are four kids in her class who speak English as a second language, and at least two others who speak some Spanish at home. I didn't take a foreign language until I was 11 or 12--twice her age.
But word problems? Did you even learn how to add when you were six?
I can't tell if it's the math, or the best friend, or something entirely different. And that's unnerving. It's unnerving to send your child off to school, and then to just not know what's happening there. I posted yesterday about the frustrations that we had last year with the Bee's kindergarten teacher, and I'm happy to report that she hasn't had any problems with the first grade teacher. But when she was having those problems, the thing I was most frustrated about was the fact that I couldn't ever really know what was happening in that classroom.
I'm starting to feel that the hardest part of parenting is when you're not with your kids.
And let me tell you something, that homework is hard. First grade math has gotten a lot harder since I was in first grade. Last week, she actually had word problems to do. Word problems. In first grade.
There are a lot of things that she's learning that make me and landisdad look at each other in surprise. This year, they have Spanish, for example. I think that's great, especially since there are four kids in her class who speak English as a second language, and at least two others who speak some Spanish at home. I didn't take a foreign language until I was 11 or 12--twice her age.
But word problems? Did you even learn how to add when you were six?
I can't tell if it's the math, or the best friend, or something entirely different. And that's unnerving. It's unnerving to send your child off to school, and then to just not know what's happening there. I posted yesterday about the frustrations that we had last year with the Bee's kindergarten teacher, and I'm happy to report that she hasn't had any problems with the first grade teacher. But when she was having those problems, the thing I was most frustrated about was the fact that I couldn't ever really know what was happening in that classroom.
I'm starting to feel that the hardest part of parenting is when you're not with your kids.
posted by landismom @ 6:00 PM
5 Comments:
At 8:42 AM,
Melissa said…
I can only imagine how frustrating that must be. I guess parents never go to the classroom to observe? We're far from school-age here so I have no idea how these things work.
About the homework, that's insane. I don't remember doing any homework in grade school at all, much less word problems or a foreign language. Foreign languages weren't even offered until I was in high school!
At 9:39 AM,
... said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
At 9:43 AM,
... said…
I hear you. My daughter has taken to blowing her top at night. She doesn't want to go to school in the mornings and complains loudly that she wishes she had never left her old school (we changed schools this past September)
And last week she seemed happy as a lark! I actually went and observed her classroom, but the teacher was totally pandering to me so I suspect I wasn't seeing the real deal.
It can be so upsetting. When I'm at work and I think about my child somewhere far from me doing her own thing, dealing with stuff on her own... well, it just feels really wrong.
If I weren't a community college drop out I would consider homeschooling. And if I were rich I'd send her to one of those kind and gentle arts schools.
Sad.
At 10:52 AM,
Tammy said…
Poor Bee. I can't even imagine the frustration of feeling academic pressure at age six. I distinctly remember my very first homework assignment, which was in grade three. We had to take the words in our spelling list for the week, and use each one in a sentence. Pretty manageable fare for an eight-year-old.
I fear putting Sam in the public school system. Neither the mister nor I has very much respect for it, both of us having been brutally understimulated bright kids. Sigh.
At any rate, landismom, I'm so glad tha Potato has avoided that horrorshow of a teacher. I read your old posts about her, and they made me shudder.
At 8:27 PM,
landismom said…
Yeah, the homework that Doppelganger describes in her comment is actually another piece of homework that the Bee had to do last night. And again, while I learned to spell words while in first grade, I'm fairly sure I was not expected to string together whole sentences!
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