- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
December 2013 Moms
UO
This discussion has been closed.
Re: UO
Seriously though dont announce that you need a break because your real life is effed up and hard and then come back like 1 day later like nothing happened. To me that seems like a pity cry mixed with a tantrum..
Along those lines, on here, over dramatic people are dramatic about everything. There are a few people who I don't even read threads when they start them, because it's just over dramatic whining.
Me: 31 | DH: 33
DS1: 12.23.13 | DS2: 05.06.16
BFP: 06.30.19 | EDD: 3.9.20
TTC3: 11.18
BFP: 02.05.19
CP: 03.07.19
*really traumatic recovery*
I am a teacher and I am basing my "gross generalizations" off of observations in schools in 2 different states where I have worked and been made to teach certain things certain ways.
My unpopular opinion? I think homeschooling gets a bad rap more because people only see it from the outside. Yeah, I had my kids at the local coffee shop this morning - we sat in on a town hall meeting with a Senate candidate. Yeah you might see us out for lunch - I reward my kid with lunch out for every 1500 pages he reads. Yeah, we might run errands all day - I plan my school year with DH's work schedule in mind - if he's got a week day off, it's a no-school day.
And of course, we have struggles with attitude, laziness, lack of motivation (from him and me!) to deal with along the way. Not everything is rainbow-vomiting unicorns in our home.
I hope this doesn't come across as confrontational. It's not meant to at all. I just want to be transparent about our lifestyle. If anyone has questions or comments, I'm happy to answer.
Jill (36) Wife to Joe (36) Mom to: Alyssa (forever 10) Jacob (10) Baby Due 12/31/13
We pick primarily religious material, but there's great secular material as well! And this next time around, I'm going to relax with preschool and kindergarten. Numbers, colors, letters, and writing your name, etc. So much of learning is in everyday living!
Jill (36) Wife to Joe (36) Mom to: Alyssa (forever 10) Jacob (10) Baby Due 12/31/13
On the same note, I do think that professors of teaching should be required to teach a certain number of years in a K-12 classroom. A few of my professors were the WORST teachers, and learning comes from modeling, as well. If you're teaching teachers how to teach...you should have spent time in a k-12 classroom.
See that's awesome. Don't know why more schools don't require that.
UO: I don't find the notion of pop-culture zombies even remotely engaging. They've been uber-popular forever now, and anytime anyone goes on about some zombie stuff, I kind of just want to blink at them really hard, Zorak-from-SpaceGhost-style (with that sound effect of two balloons bonking each other).
Snooze cruise.
Exception: Weird Ripley's Believe it Or Not "real" zombies like the old Haitian blowfish-poisoned ones. It would be rude to call those zombies "cool", but at least they're interesting.
*shrug*
As far as the homeschool thing goes, part of me really feels like it depends on where you live. I'm generally against removing kids from the local school as you're doing further damage by removing the most engaged families from the system, further hurting the less engaged both culturally and financially, but I do have some friends that live in really tiny town where the notion of "working to improve a local school" really just means fighting a handful of crazies that they have no chance of beating in any productive way. In that case, I'm not sure what the alternative to homeschool would be other than just moving.
Yipes. That was a really long sentence. Okay. back to work.
I suppose I should correct and say most schools do not offer it. Also, the ones that due, make it extremely difficult to take your vocational offerings while meeting your required courses. There needs to be a serious improvement in the AZ education system.
I just find it strange that one of your arguments for homeschooling is thinking kids should learn these things in school, when it's things that should really be taught in the home. It seems like people put unrealistic expectations on schools.
But that socialization is still within the limited sphere of other home schooled kids, or at best, other kids within the same racial, socioeconomic, or religious, sphere. The best homeschooling parent can not accurately duplicate the diversity of a public school.
I work at an urban Y. I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that, while more diverse than other opportunities for athletics, our programs do not come close to being representative of a public school's diversity.
Skills like "learning to balance a checkbook" should be done at home. What other type of life skills are you talking about here? Most colleges/universities will work with students on their résumé, most jobs students can get in and right out of high school require applications only. How much can a 17yo put on a résumé? That said, I wouldn't be surprised if high schools did offer help or workshops in résumé building and cover letters. The more college graduates we have and the harder it becomes for them to find employment, it will become even worse down the line for any job that actually requires a resume and may be open to diploma holders. It's not going to get easier.
Yes! We have been brainstorming a list of things that we want the boys to be able to do by the time they are adults. Balancing a checkbook, doing laundry, being able to cook at least one staple meal, etc. are all on the list.
I just find it strange that one of your arguments for homeschooling is thinking kids should learn these things in school, when it's things that should really be taught in the home. It seems like people put unrealistic expectations on schools.
I don't think preparing them to be successful in life is something that should be overlooked in schools. I feel like they should be able to leave school knowing how to do those things, instead of some useless stuff we had in high school.For instance, we had to take a class for career exploration (which I don't disagree with in and of itself), but it was a total waste of time. It forced kids to look at career types that did not interest them at all and didn't really explain how to properly write a resume, cover letter, balance a check book, etc. I feel like if high schools offered something like that, they should group students with like minded careers in mind and teach them how to set themselves up for success in their ideal career field. Those that are interested in arts and music can focus there, those interested in business, law, etc can focus there, those interested in medical can focus there. All of this while learning your basic adult tasks, including typing. IMO that would be a better use of time and set up those who want/need to go to college or those who want to go to vocational school or go straight into the work force as "XYZ" for better success.
Perhaps that should be an option, but it should not be mandatory. Students should not be encouraged to learn resume and cover letter writing in HS when they barely have skills to highlight in those documents. If they want to if straight to the workforce, let them have that option. Do NOT take my child out of AP physics of European History, subjects I cannot teach them at home, to teach them how to balance a checkbook or anything else the can learn on Google or from me. If they want to go to vocational school, offer a period or two for externship senior year that fits into the curriculum in a way that they get credits towards graduation.
I concede I have a somewhat privileged view of this topic. At the same time, I sit on the board on a non- profit and one of our programs is resume advisory and college essay and application process assistance to at- risk high schoolers. We try to help offer them what their school or family may not. But, we would never offer academic subjects as that is what they should be learning in school. That's the only time in their lives they have to immerse themselves and introduce themselves to various subject areas. Do not take that away to teach life skills unless the student opts to take that course themselves.
TFMC 08.02.13 at 19+ weeks. Everyday I grieve for my little Olive.
I'm not sure why you have job in quotations. As a licensed teacher I feel I am fully qualified to teach my own children. I am licensed k-6, middle and high school education.