Category: Education

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Homeschooling seems like a better idea

For reasons like suspending a 4 year old for sexual harassment, er, hugging (btw, that story pushed our little E TN news webpage onto Reddit.com). The child’s hugging is appropriate for continued emotional development.

Emotional Development
Most children aged four to five will:

  • Still rely on caregivers, while no longer needing or wanting as much physical contact with caregivers as they received in infancy and as toddlers
  • Continue to express emotions physically and to seek hugs and kisses
  • Socialize with peers, begin to develop relationships, and learn to recognize some peers as friends and others as people they don’t like
  • Have more opportunities to interact with peers, either through school or recreational activities, and will play with other children

[Source]

Today I get the pleasure of having a meeting at Noah’s school. I requested a meeting with one teacher and I ended up with a meeting with all his teacher’s and the vice-principal. This kind of ridiculousness makes me regret not homeschooling Noah this year.

Update: The meeting ended up being 5 women and me. The teacher and vice-principal were only interested in rhetoric and bureaucracy taking exactly the defensive posture I tried to get everyone to put aside. Btw, the meeting was called because at the beginning of the year my son lost a $9 book that my wife offered to replace and it was never replaced so while the rest of the class had books they could write in, my son had to do all his work on a loose leaf paper using a borrowed workbook. I found out about this last week. Absurd statements rolled from the primary teacher’s mouth such as "from the meeting with your wife I gathered the only reason your son is in school is to be a safety." She is a hateful person and I have less respect for her after my meeting than I did before.

This meeting also reinforced my belief that we made a mistake not homeschooling Noah for the fifth grade. One approach some friends used with their children was to home school only in the fifth grade. This gave the child some one-on-one time with the parent at a non-critical year. For instance, to do the one year in the sixth grade would potentially harm the child’s social opportunities through middle school. I think Noah would have learned more this year and had a better time at home. A home schooled child can have plenty of time for social interaction through community activities/sports, home school social networks, and home schooled group classes (that’s right, homeschooling does not imply a child locked away in a closet).

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Quiet Down Class – Don’t Make Me Shoot My Gun!

Ah! Our reactive society thinks throwing guns at the teachers is going to make our schools safer. Ok. Maybe it will. At what cost? Our future is in the schools now. I am already disturbed by the overwhelming influence that the schools have on the upbringing of our children. I mean, for the bulk of their day we place the development of a human being – morals, ethics, beliefs, integrity, etc – into the hands of burnt out strangers or naive youth. What message are we communicating to the students when suddenly every adult in the school has a sidearm? Either a) we don’t trust you or b) you can’t trust the world. Regardless, we are bringing up our children to not trust and to believe that it is better to unquestionably close ourselves off (ie. lose liberties) in the name of safety. When we are pinching pennies in our retirement homes, what decisions will our youth be making for us as our political leaders?

I am not saying that arming teachers is wrong. Maybe it is necessary. But make it a responsive decision as opposed to a reactive decision. Respond by weighing pros and cons. You know, our airlines would be safer if we instituted strip searches and body cavity searches on ever passenger then sent them naked with their sore orafices to their cold seats. But that is not going to happen is it?

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Today’s Irony – Let’s Burn Fahrenheit 451

A Houston parent wants Ray Bradbury’s 1953 classic "Fahrenheit 451" banned from his daughter’s high school. Here is the best sentence from the article:

"It’s just all kinds of filth," said Alton Verm, adding that he had not read "Fahrenheit 451." [Source]

Uh, hello?! Don’t you have to read a book to pass judgement upon it? These are the same people that are making it illegal for you to buy sex toys. His rationale for the reconsideration of curriculum:

He looked through the book and found the following things wrong with the book: discussion of being drunk, smoking cigarettes, violence, "dirty talk," references to the Bible and using God’s name in vain. He said the book’s material goes against their religions beliefs. [Source]

Incase you have not read it or have forgotten, Fahrenheit 451 is the temperature at which paper burns. Firemen no longer fight fires but burn books.

"Fahrenheit 451" is a science fiction piece that poses a warning to society about the preservation and passing on of knowledge as well as asks the question about whether the government should do the thinking for the people… Other themes include conformity vs. individuality, freedom of speech and the consequences of losing it, the importance of remembering and understanding history and technology as help to humans and as hindrances to humans… [Source]

Coincidentally, we just passed banned book week which is celebrated the last week of September of every year.

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Assume the negative; unless they call

Yesterday Sarah’s bus was 20 minutes late. I thought Sarah pushed her luck and missed it. Regardless, I drove her to school arriving 2 minutes late. When she came home and explained that "the bus was 20 minutes late and I arrived before the bus students so they counted me tardy" I was dumbfounded. I called the school and received no answer.

Today I called, was transferred to another office where another person tracked down the authority to whom I needed to speak. Before I could finish my explanation, she chimed "all fixed."

Some number of tardies equals an unexcused absence; 3 tardies I think. Some number of unexcused absenses lands a parent in court; 5 I think (but the school can suspend a student for no reason for 10 days I think). So, shouldn’t the school be proactive and not mark the students from this particular bus tardy? This mirrors the wicked insurance industry with the practice of automatically denying a claim and then laying the burden of proof on the exhausted patient. Sometimes it is easier just to say "I’ll take the screw." I wonder how many parents fail to even ask "were you counted tardy" much less follow-up with a phone call to the school.

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Ban Public School!

This morning I posted that schools, some of which have already eliminated arts and foriegn language programs, are now seeking to ban games like tag that promote physical activity on the basis that these games cause physical and mental trauma to children. Michael Silence highlights a ban on pizza parties and sweets brought to our attention by A Whiff of Smiff.

Let’s cut to the chase and ban school. It is easier to have a totalitarian government when people are poorly educated. (those bottom states voted red as noted by Latte Man)

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Who needs Prozac! Tag! You’re it.

I’ve been feeling increasingly depressed. Work stress and my general situation have just beaten me down. I have managed to keep the dizzy spells back but often it is just by luck that I’m not swirling away.

Yesterday I got off my bum and ran. It wasn’t a terribly lengthy run but it was on hills and made me wheeze like the air had suddenly shut off. Then last night I took a break and had Sarah join me for The Knoxville Juggler’s Club meeting. We had a blast and I exercised hard.

Today I feel great! The work is still there. Today’s schedule is nuts (that link won’t show it because we use 9 calendars to coordinate our family). I may have a career altering decision to make at lunch. And the wolves are still at door. But I truly feel less down!

Schools have blunted our creative education with the elimination of arts and language skills.

“We can no longer afford the arts,” yet recent studies have confirmed that public schools cannot afford to eliminate arts education because of the important contributions it makes in the cognitive development of the whole child. [Source]

Were it not for the exceptional PTA at Rocky Hill, our elementary school would not be teaching foreign language at all. Now schools are looking ot reduce physical activity, like banning tag, on the premise that these activities are not safe. They are making a huge mistake.

The principal said children playing tag suffered both physical and emotional injuries.

Exercise works to prevent depression! (without side affects)

…another treatment for depression – exercise therapy – that can be as effective as antidepressants and counselling. Several scientific studies have shown that a regular programme of exercise can help people recover from depression – lifting their mood, reducing anxiety and improving self-esteem and concentration. They have also found that taking regular exercise can help protect people against becoming depressed in the first place. [Source]

A study of male graduates at Harvard found that the relative risk of depression over a 25-year period was 27 per cent lower for men who played three hours or more of sport a week. [Source]

I think Franklin Elementary School Principal Pat Samarge has it wrong. Tag, even with its "abuses" develops our children physically and mentally. Without exercise, Samarge is contributing directly to physical problems and, as the studies have shown, Samarge is also contributing directly to the emotional abuse of depression! Of course, not playing tag doesn’t mean these children will become depressed nor does it imply that these children are being denied opportunities to exercise. It simply means that Samarge has taken away an opportunity, opened a door to potential lethargy, and eliminated a possible depression preventative.

Yummy! I had pondered creating a site to review teachers from the parent and student point of view. I am happy that it has already been done!

Side note, In case you missed "Schools Abolish Recess in favor of Sensitivity Training", click this to see the picture! "I’m OK! You’re OK! a horrible bigot."

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Rocky Hill Clown Day – a big success!

A friend from the Knoxville Juggling Club joined me to teach the Rocky Hill Elementary first grade how to juggle. All of the children did well. There were about 3 that I wish I could work with weekly; they would turn into amazing jugglers!

My friend has the pleasure of practicing 45 minutes a day. His work is astounding! We were able to pass clubs around the children and do several duo tricks.

Clown Day is a special treat for Rocky Hill Elementary because for the past 26 years or so Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus has sent clowns to the school when they come to town. All the first grade dress as clowns and 12 stations are set up in the gym for circus type activities including a station to learn juggling. Now, most first graders are on the cusp of having the dexterity for juggling. We have roughly 12-15 minutes to teach 8-12 children at a time how to juggle. Rocky Hill has always impressed me with their integration of special needs children. These first graders could include children with Downs Syndrome, Autism, wheel chairs, and other challenges. We work to make sure that all children of all capabilities have fun at the juggling station (although, I never saw the wheel chair student yesterday so I think the teachers made the wrong assumption that he couldn’t participate).

Continue reading Rocky Hill Clown Day – a big success!

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Failing Dad

Cathy and I bill ourselves as "approachable parents." We want our children to feel comfortable approaching us on any topic including sex, drugs, and so forth. Apparently there is something at a genetic level that keeps children from talking to parents.

Sarah is currently in honors math. I am proud that she excels. Sarah yesterday brought home a note explaining that she will not be invited into Algebra I because she has failed her last 6 tests and told the teacher she "doesn’t want to be in Algebra I." Throughout the past grading period I’ve constantly asked, "how are you doing?" only to be told "fine." My trust has been betrayed. I neglected to talk to the teachers and get regular reports on Sarah. I let her down but the onus is not completely upon me. I cannot help those that do not seek help. I all but begged her to ask for help and she hid her test results from us.

Repercussions? 1) Severely limited extracurricular activities in the 8th grade until she shows responsibility and caring about her studies. 2) Much more parent/teacher communication next year. 3) Calendar planning skills to be enforced.

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Bearden Middle School Bomb Threat – Update

Since the school was given the all clear, normal classes began at 11am. Any student checked out received an unexcused absence. Words exchanged amongst parents in the office were:

"the school declared this a drill and a normal day,"
"originally they were claiming it would be an excused absence,"
"all parents should call downtown to the administrative offices and complain to get this switched to an excused absence."

Overheard of the students:

"half my team is gone,"
"we aren’t going to do anything but sit around,"
"half the school checked out at the church."

I reiterate: All parents of Bearden Middle School (BMS) students should call downtown, not the school, to protest this day as an unexcused absence. All checkouts should be excused.
Central office information: 865-594-1900
Middle School Coordinator 865-594-1619