British Dad Fined For Taking Daughter To WDW

[21stamps]

Sorry, but it is kindergarten. A week off isn't going to destroy your child's academic career.

No, it isn't If done properly. The parents need to be committed to making the work-all of it-up. I think it's horrible that public schools can dictate of a child can go on vacation or not, but I do think there should be stringent rules about completing all missed work.

I wasn't prepared for all of that last year. My 5 year old was up until 10pm every night for over a week. The online work alone was 1 hour per day...then combine that with all of the folders and his daily homework..and 2.5-3 hours of football 4 days per week. We both had to be dedicated to it, and we were, but it was tough. We were both better prepared in our expectations this year.lol

Public Schools just need to set the same kind of policies, and stick to them. Then they don't need the stupid "no vacation" rules. But things like parents offering a child written journal are not a substitute for the actual lessons.

 

[thomas998]

I have always wondered why excused/unexcused status even matters. It doesn't matter if a kid misses a week of school because of a family vacation or because they have the flu. The child is missing school regardless, so why does it matter if the school excuses it or not. I think that kids regardless of WHY they miss school should be able to make that work up at home. I don't think that the school should be responsible for taking extra time with my kid to make up the work that they missed while they were out. This way, child/parent (depending upon age) is held responsible for making their own decisions of if they want to make up the work or take the bad grade.

I don't know about the UK but in the US the reason that schools care why you missed is that schools are given money based on the number of students that attend each year. The government mandates that to consider a student as attending a school he or she must attend a minimum number of days... Because schools tend to try and do the bare minimum they have to make sure that if a student isn't in class that the reason is one that will be accepted by the government.

 

[Phonedave]

So you can agree that the problem is not about hindering performance.. but conflict purely about what are 'approved' activities or not with regards to believing they fit the school's intentions (because many will simply pass the buck back to the school)..

I believe that pulling a child out of school for ANY reason has a very real chance of impacting their performance. To correct that performance requires additional effort (in other words either expenditure of money, or time taken out of an already busy teachers schedule to help the child, thus allowing less time for other kids)

The problem is that not all activities are equal.

some of these activities fall under the umbrella of education. Activities such as attending band activities, Olympics, debate competitions, and field trips (where a teacher has created an actual lesson plan around the field trip) can all contribute to a students education and growth. If it is an educational activity, that has been agreed to by the BoE, PTC, and by extenstion taxpayers of the district, then that is fine.I have no problem with allocating the extra resources to help bring the performance of a student participating in such activities back up to par.

Other activities are of an unfortunate, unavoiadable nature - illness, death of a relative, etc. Again, I have no problem with spending resources to bring a student uimacted by these events up to par.

Then you have the activities that are neither educational or unfortunate - A WDW vacation falls into this category. A WDW vacation is not a necessity - at any time, but especially during the school year. Pulling a child out of school to take one is for purely reasons of convienence. As for the family bonding or good memories, or other such excuses. Are people really saying that they only way they form good family memories is when they go on a vacation together. What do they do, ignore each other for the other 50 weeks out of the year? If somone is going to pull their kid out of school for such a reason, then they should bear the burden. No prepared in advance lesson plans, no study guide, no time in or out of class to go over the work that was missed. If the student comes back, jumps right into the lesson, and does great, then fine. If they flounder and fail, then it's not the schools fault. If the kid needs help, then the parents need to arrange for a tutor on their time and dime. Of course we know this cannot be the results, because the State and Federal govenments don't take into account unnecessary absences when looking at student performance. So, what choice do the schools have but to curb such absences.

Now we can go back and forth about what should and should not be an "approved" absence. I do think missnig school for an entire week for Pop Warner football is not a good idea. I think the Pop Warner teams should better coordinate their schedules to limit the amount of time out of school. Many other sports try to work around school schedules to limit time missed. My kids have missed school for sports reasons, never a week at a time, but a day or two. They were approved by the district. I think sports, or for that matter, any team based competitive activity contributes greatly to the educational process, and is something that should be accomodated in schools.

 

[Phonedave]

No, it isn't If done properly. The parents need to be committed to making the work-all of it-up. I think it's horrible that public schools can dictate of a child can go on vacation or not, but I do think there should be stringent rules about completing all missed work.

I wasn't prepared for all of that last year. My 5 year old was up until 10pm every night for over a week. The online work alone was 1 hour per day...then combine that with all of the folders and his daily homework..and 2.5-3 hours of football 4 days per week. We both had to be dedicated to it, and we were, but it was tough. We were both better prepared in our expectations this year.lol

Public Schools just need to set the same kind of policies, and stick to them. Then they don't need the stupid "no vacation" rules. But things like parents offering a child written journal are not a substitute for the actual lessons.

Here is the problem - not everyone is like you.

Some (maybe many) people will take their kid out of school, get the amount of work you did, and give a half a** attempt at getting it done wth their kid, and then give up.

Now the kid is behind in class. The school cannot say "yeah, well, that would be your fault, you fix it". What they do is spend extra time with the student, either after school or during class. This takes time away from other students. Other students who may be doing poorly not because their parents wanted to go to WDW during the cheaper season, but beacuse they are actually having trouble with the subject. This is not fail to the rest of the students.

 

[DfromATX]

My 5 year old was up until 10pm every night for over a week. The online work alone was 1 hour per day...then combine that with all of the folders and his daily homework..and 2.5-3 hours of football 4 days per week. We both had to be dedicated to it, and we were, but it was tough.

And all that so you could go on your Disney trip?

 

[21stamps]

I believe that pulling a child out of school for ANY reason has a very real chance of impacting their performance. To correct that performance requires additional effort (in other words either expenditure of money, or time taken out of an already busy teachers schedule to help the child, thus allowing less time for other kids)

The problem is that not all activities are equal.

some of these activities fall under the umbrella of education. Activities such as attending band activities, Olympics, debate competitions, and field trips (where a teacher has created an actual lesson plan around the field trip) can all contribute to a students education and growth. If it is an educational activity, that has been agreed to by the BoE, PTC, and by extenstion taxpayers of the district, then that is fine.I have no problem with allocating the extra resources to help bring the performance of a student participating in such activities back up to par.

Other activities are of an unfortunate, unavoiadable nature - illness, death of a relative, etc. Again, I have no problem with spending resources to bring a student uimacted by these events up to par.

Then you have the activities that are neither educational or unfortunate - A WDW vacation falls into this category. A WDW vacation is not a necessity - at any time, but especially during the school year. Pulling a child out of school to take one is for purely reasons of convienence. As for the family bonding or good memories, or other such excuses. Are people really saying that they only way they form good family memories is when they go on a vacation together. What do they do, ignore each other for the other 50 weeks out of the year? If somone is going to pull their kid out of school for such a reason, then they should bear the burden. No prepared in advance lesson plans, no study guide, no time in or out of class to go over the work that was missed. If the student comes back, jumps right into the lesson, and does great, then fine. If they flounder and fail, then it's not the schools fault. If the kid needs help, then the parents need to arrange for a tutor on their time and dime. Of course we know this cannot be the results, because the State and Federal govenments don't take into account unnecessary absences when looking at student performance. So, what choice do the schools have but to curb such absences.

Now we can go back and forth about what should and should not be an "approved" absence. I do think missnig school for an entire week for Pop Warner football is not a good idea. I think the Pop Warner teams should better coordinate their schedules to limit the amount of time out of school. Many other sports try to work around school schedules to limit time missed. My kids have missed school for sports reasons, never a week at a time, but a day or two. They were approved by the district. I think sports, or for that matter, any team based competitive activity contributes greatly to the educational process, and is something that should be accomodated in schools.

I agree with this wholeheartedly, and I do take my child out of school for vacations.lol.

We can't fool ourselves by saying that Disney is "educational" enough to think the lessons should not be made up 100%.

Here is the problem - not everyone is like you.

Some (maybe many) people will take their kid out of school, get the amount of work you did, and give a half a** attempt at getting it done wth their kid, and then give up.

Now the kid is behind in class. The school cannot say "yeah, well, that would be your fault, you fix it". What they do is spend extra time with the student, either after school or during class. This takes time away from other students. Other students who may be doing poorly not because their parents wanted to go to WDW during the cheaper season, but beacuse they are actually having trouble with the subject. This is not fail to the rest of the students.

We all choose to go during the school year for several reasons.. maybe some because of costs, some because of job schedules, some because of lack of school breaks, some because they don't want to be out of town during Christmas, and some because they want to escape cold weather.

Our week this year was not cheaper than a summer week. But it's the week that worked best for my schedule, and yeah, we're going on a summer vacation as well, so I'm not making an excuse. I wanted to go at that time of year.lol

It's (hopefully) not about thinking our children are special or entitled, I think someone here said something along those lines. It's just a choice that we make.

If a school absolutely does not allow it, then you should just switch schools if it's that important to you. Or follow the rules.

My school allows us to remove our kids for vacations, I don't ask them. I talk to the teacher and office and tell them my plans..usually before the school year starts. I am not going to let my child fall behind...and I think the school counts on all of us parents feeling the same. I'd say the majority of students miss at least a few days per year for family vacations..some up to two weeks.
There's many schools that do not have a "no excused absence" rule. But they have rules on what is expected when you return.

And all that so you could go on your Disney trip?

That vacation was not all Disney. It was a just over 2 weeks combo of Disney and Key West. I do consider Key West educational, it would have been more educational if it wouldn't have stormed so much lol... but again, not a replacement for school..just an important supplement.
I won't make an excuse for taking him out of school for it, I could have done the same in the summer.. But we had a different summer vacation.. so I fit it in when it works.
And for that one specifically, it had a lot to do with price.. if I waited til Spring then it would have been a heck of a lot more expensive, cutting more into my travel budget that year, and I probably would have to cut one of our other trips out- which I'm not willing to do. It was a huge vacation, and I wanted to get more for my money on that one for sure.

 

[thomas998]

I believe that pulling a child out of school for ANY reason has a very real chance of impacting their performance. To correct that performance requires additional effort (in other words either expenditure of money, or time taken out of an already busy teachers schedule to help the child, thus allowing less time for other kids)

The problem is that not all activities are equal.

some of these activities fall under the umbrella of education. Activities such as attending band activities, Olympics, debate competitions, and field trips (where a teacher has created an actual lesson plan around the field trip) can all contribute to a students education and growth. If it is an educational activity, that has been agreed to by the BoE, PTC, and by extenstion taxpayers of the district, then that is fine.I have no problem with allocating the extra resources to help bring the performance of a student participating in such activities back up to par.

Other activities are of an unfortunate, unavoiadable nature - illness, death of a relative, etc. Again, I have no problem with spending resources to bring a student uimacted by these events up to par.

Then you have the activities that are neither educational or unfortunate - A WDW vacation falls into this category. A WDW vacation is not a necessity - at any time, but especially during the school year. Pulling a child out of school to take one is for purely reasons of convienence. As for the family bonding or good memories, or other such excuses. Are people really saying that they only way they form good family memories is when they go on a vacation together. What do they do, ignore each other for the other 50 weeks out of the year? If somone is going to pull their kid out of school for such a reason, then they should bear the burden. No prepared in advance lesson plans, no study guide, no time in or out of class to go over the work that was missed. If the student comes back, jumps right into the lesson, and does great, then fine. If they flounder and fail, then it's not the schools fault. If the kid needs help, then the parents need to arrange for a tutor on their time and dime. Of course we know this cannot be the results, because the State and Federal govenments don't take into account unnecessary absences when looking at student performance. So, what choice do the schools have but to curb such absences.

Now we can go back and forth about what should and should not be an "approved" absence. I do think missnig school for an entire week for Pop Warner football is not a good idea. I think the Pop Warner teams should better coordinate their schedules to limit the amount of time out of school. Many other sports try to work around school schedules to limit time missed. My kids have missed school for sports reasons, never a week at a time, but a day or two. They were approved by the district. I think sports, or for that matter, any team based competitive activity contributes greatly to the educational process, and is something that should be accomodated in schools.

Pulling a kid out of school doesn't have a real impact on every child when it happens. If a child is at the top of their class then the reality is the child could probably miss half the days in a year and still get as much out of school as it was ever going to provide because schools don't educate based on the brightest, not even based on the average anymore the mantra in my state seems to be educate based on the dumbest.

Then of course is the grade of school... Kindergarten is probably one of the most pointless levels of school ever devised. I was pulled out of it when I was a kid because I was bored beyond belief, my kids should have probably just skipped the grade completely as the entirety both in my day an in my kids day was little more than learn the alphabet, learn color, and basic counting.... My kids could do all that garbage when they 3, the truth is Kindergarten only makes sense for people that never wanted to spend any time with their children teaching them the most basic things. Which sadly includes quite a few parents but certainly not all parents.

 

[21stamps]

Here is the problem - not everyone is like you.

Some (maybe many) people will take their kid out of school, get the amount of work you did, and give a half a** attempt at getting it done wth their kid, and then give up.

Now the kid is behind in class. The school cannot say "yeah, well, that would be your fault, you fix it". What they do is spend extra time with the student, either after school or during class. This takes time away from other students. Other students who may be doing poorly not because their parents wanted to go to WDW during the cheaper season, but beacuse they are actually having trouble with the subject. This is not fail to the rest of the students.

I don't understand this. A parent shouldn't have the choice to give up.

Teacher/school/parent communication should be enough. A rule is a rule. If you have a set amount of time to complete a task- complete it. If not- face repercussions. Punishing all parents/children of certain schools isn't fair.
Punish the ones who deserve it.

 

[Phonedave]

I agree with this wholeheartedly, and I do take my child out of school for vacations.lol.

We can't fool ourselves by saying that Disney is "educational" enough to think the lessons should not be made up 100%.



We all choose to go during the school year for several reasons.. maybe some because of costs, some because of job schedules, some because of lack of school breaks, some because they don't want to be out of town during Christmas, and some because they want to escape cold weather.

Our week this year was not cheaper than a summer week. But it's the week that worked best for my schedule, and yeah, we're going on a summer vacation as well, so I'm not making an excuse. I wanted to go at that time of year.lol

It's (hopefully) not about thinking our children are special or entitled, I think someone here said something along those lines. It's just a choice that we make.

If a school absolutely does not allow it, then you should just switch schools if it's that important to you. Or follow the rules.

My school allows us to remove our kids for vacations, I don't ask them. I talk to the teacher and office and tell them my plans..usually before the school year starts. I am not going to let my child fall behind...and I think the school counts on all of us parents feeling the same. I'd say the majority of students miss at least a few days per year for family vacations..some up to two weeks.
There's many schools that do not have a "no excused absence" rule. But they have rules on what is expected when you return.



That vacation was not all Disney. It was a just over 2 weeks combo of Disney and Key West. I do consider Key West educational, it would have been more educational if it wouldn't have stormed so much lol... but again, not a replacement for school..just an important supplement.
I won't make an excuse for taking him out of school for it, I could have done the same in the summer.. But we had a different summer vacation.. so I fit it in when it works.
And for that one specifically, it had a lot to do with price.. if I waited til Spring then it would have been a heck of a lot more expensive, cutting more into my travel budget that year, and I probably would have to cut one of our other trips out- which I'm not willing to do. It was a huge vacation, and I wanted to get more for my money on that one for sure.

You must have deleted your other post as I was replying to it.

I will state again, what I stated before - Not everyone is like you.

If more people took responsibility for their actions, not just with this topic, but in general, the world would be a better place, but that is a different thread.

I don't know where your school district is, but for this one that I am most familary with, there are some VERY entitled parents. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of wonderful parents as well. Unfortunately, there are those that blame the schools and teachers for every little thing wrong with their kids. Sometimes the schools need to take a CYA mentality. It's unfortunate, but it is the way it is.

-dave

 

[Pixie VaVoom]

If I had any children I would most likely have taken them out of school for a last visit to the "TROLLs" in NORWAY, before their most unfortunate demise.

 

[Phonedave]

I don't understand this. A parent shouldn't have the choice to give up.

Teacher/school/parent communication should be enough. A rule is a rule. If you have a set amount of time to complete a task- complete it. If not- face repercussions. Punishing all parents/children of certain schools isn't fair.
Punish the ones who deserve it.

Unfortunately the other part of this issue is, it's not really fair to punish the kid. If sombody pulls a 12 y/o out of school for two weeks, and then does nothing to help get the kid back up to speed (and sometimes that is somethign to parent just can't do - maybe they just don't speak Mandarin for example) it's not the 12 y/o fault. It's not as if they could say "Hey, mom and dad, I have too much going on at school, leave me home". So of course the school is going to pick up the slack and do whatever is necessary to get the kid back up to speed - but it's not right. It takes rime and resources away from other students.

-dave

 

[21stamps]

Pulling a kid out of school doesn't have a real impact on every child when it happens. If a child is at the top of their class then the reality is the child could probably miss half the days in a year and still get as much out of school as it was ever going to provide because schools don't educate based on the brightest, not even based on the average anymore the mantra in my state seems to be educate based on the dumbest.

Then of course is the grade of school... Kindergarten is probably one of the most pointless levels of school ever devised. I was pulled out of it when I was a kid because I was bored beyond belief, my kids should have probably just skipped the grade completely as the entirety both in my day an in my kids day was little more than learn the alphabet, learn color, and basic counting.... My kids could do all that garbage when they 3, the truth is Kindergarten only makes sense for people that never wanted to spend any time with their children teaching them the most basic things. Which sadly includes quite a few parents but certainly not all parents.

That is not at all true. Not as a blanket statement anyway.

Kindergarten is not at all useless. I don't know how old your kids are.. but in Kindergarten now- kids are doing- in Language Arts- sentence construction..verbs, nouns, adjectives, writing a small (1-2) paragraph story. Addition and Subtraction. Geography.. US and World. Science. Music.

It is setting them up to go into first grade with a strong knowledge in these areas, and building and expanding from there. I'd say kindergarten now is the equivalent of 2nd grade when I was young.

Kindergarten has changed A LOT in recent years. Kids have more pressure than my generation for sure.

You must have deleted your other post as I was replying to it.

I will state again, what I stated before - Not everyone is like you.

If more people took responsibility for their actions, not just with this topic, but in general, the world would be a better place, but that is a different thread.

I don't know where your school district is, but for this one that I am most familary with, there are some VERY entitled parents. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of wonderful parents as well. Unfortunately, there are those that blame the schools and teachers for every little thing wrong with their kids. Sometimes the schools need to take a CYA mentality. It's unfortunate, but it is the way it is.

-dave

Sorry, I did, I was trying to edit it- accidentally deleted, and replaced it.lol.

My kid goes to a private school..they place just as much accountability on us as they do the kids. I wish all public schools would do the same...some do. The problem is, a few bad apples ruined things for the majority- same as always.

 

[Phonedave]

Pulling a kid out of school doesn't have a real impact on every child when it happens. If a child is at the top of their class then the reality is the child could probably miss half the days in a year and still get as much out of school as it was ever going to provide because schools don't educate based on the brightest, not even based on the average anymore the mantra in my state seems to be educate based on the dumbest.

Then of course is the grade of school... Kindergarten is probably one of the most pointless levels of school ever devised. I was pulled out of it when I was a kid because I was bored beyond belief, my kids should have probably just skipped the grade completely as the entirety both in my day an in my kids day was little more than learn the alphabet, learn color, and basic counting.... My kids could do all that garbage when they 3, the truth is Kindergarten only makes sense for people that never wanted to spend any time with their children teaching them the most basic things. Which sadly includes quite a few parents but certainly not all parents.

Again, it depends on the child, and it depends on the lesson that was missed. If a bright studend misses a review of a skill they have already mastered, then there will be little impact. If any child misses the introduction of a new topic, then there may be an issue.

Kindergarden is more than just learing colors, counting, and letters (actualy most kids entering kindergarden can read now, so I hope they know their letters). There is a also a socal aspect to kindergarden, and learning to operate in a structure environment. Now, if kids were in day care prior to kindergarden, they have already learned these skills (maybe, depends on the day care). Kindergarden today jams a lot more information into their classes then they did when we went. I too was well ahead of my kindergarden class. I actualy have vivid memories of tellng my teacher, about a month into the year, that I had finished the sight word modules, and what should I do now. She said, do the next module. I replied that I had done them all, not just the first one.

-dave

 

[21stamps]

Unfortunately the other part of this issue is, it's not really fair to punish the kid. If sombody pulls a 12 y/o out of school for two weeks, and then does nothing to help get the kid back up to speed (and sometimes that is somethign to parent just can't do - maybe they just don't speak Mandarin for example) it's not the 12 y/o fault. It's not as if they could say "Hey, mom and dad, I have too much going on at school, leave me home". So of course the school is going to pick up the slack and do whatever is necessary to get the kid back up to speed - but it's not right. It takes rime and resources away from other students.

-dave

It's not right to hold back a class, I completely agree. I don't think a school should do that. I think it's the parents job to do what is necessary..and if they don't- then they need to be prosecuted. That's the way the law should be. My opinion. I'm sure there are parents who could probably care less, but they want to go to Disney (or somewhere else) during an inexpensive time. I just believe that group would be a small minority..and should be able to be dealt with.

 

[21stamps]

Again, it depends on the child, and it depends on the lesson that was missed. If a bright studend misses a review of a skill they have already mastered, then there will be little impact. If any child misses the introduction of a new topic, then there may be an issue.

Kindergarden is more than just learing colors, counting, and letters (actualy most kids entering kindergarden can read now, so I hope they know their letters). There is a also a socal aspect to kindergarden, and learning to operate in a structure environment. Now, if kids were in day care prior to kindergarden, they have already learned these skills (maybe, depends on the day care). Kindergarden today jams a lot more information into their classes then they did when we went. I too was well ahead of my kindergarden class. I actualy have vivid memories of tellng my teacher, about a month into the year, that I had finished the sight word modules, and what should I do now. She said, do the next module. I replied that I had done them all, not just the first one.

-dave

Exactly. All of that stuff is done at age 3, or before, now. Kids can do sight words at 3 and are reading by Pre K. Reading and writing- at least writing words that are said to them, if not a complete sentence, are requirements to get into kindergarten.

 

[Pixie VaVoom]

Exactly. All of that stuff is done at age 3, or before, now. Kids can do sight words at 3 and are reading by Pre K. Reading and writing- at least writing words that are said to them, if not a complete sentence, are requirements to get into kindergarten.

We are fast approaching the Renaissance standard of education. They say that Queen Elizabeth 1 was translating Latin, and reading Plato in Greek... before puberty!!

Of course, on the other hand... the Modern Sciences were still in their infancy then, the Microscope had not been invented and the Common Core was not even a glimmer in an educators eye !!

 

[21stamps]

We are fast approaching the Renaissance standard of education. They say that Queen Elizabeth 1 was translating Latin, and reading Plato in Greek... before puberty!!

Of course, on the other hand... the Modern Sciences were still in their infancy then, the Microscope had not been invented and the Common Core was not even a glimmer in an educators eye !!

We've dropped the ball on early learning in this country.. but we've been on the way back up!

A child's brain can absorb so much!!! It is so stupid that a second language used to be primarily taught in high school.. the key is to start it young. That's when they have the best chance of retention.

Who would have though that infants could learn sign language??? It's the most amazing thing to me. And a huge relief and stress saver as a parent lol.

I do think that we are on our way to great learning starting early.. only if common core gets thrown out though!!!

I will add that I think homeschooled kids have the slight advantage here though. They have more individualized attention and time to fit in additional learning.

 

[thomas998]

That is not at all true. Not as a blanket statement anyway.

Kindergarten is not at all useless. I don't know how old your kids are.. but in Kindergarten now- kids are doing- in Language Arts- sentence construction..verbs, nouns, adjectives, writing a small (1-2) paragraph story. Addition and Subtraction. Geography.. US and World. Science. Music.

It is setting them up to go into first grade with a strong knowledge in these areas, and building and expanding from there. I'd say kindergarten now is the equivalent of 2nd grade when I was young.

Kindergarten has changed A LOT in recent years. Kids have more pressure than my generation for sure.



Sorry, I did, I was trying to edit it- accidentally deleted, and replaced it.lol.

My kid goes to a private school..they place just as much accountability on us as they do the kids. I wish all public schools would do the same...some do. The problem is, a few bad apples ruined things for the majority- same as always.

You are right it isn't true as a blanket statement... Certainly no more true than the poster I was responding to that said it would ALWAYS be detrimental to take a child out of school.

I'm sure some people live in areas where kindergarten is more than state funded babysitting... but unfortunately I don't live in such an area nor was I raised in one because the pointless example of kindergarten that I gave fit perfectly with the experiences I've had with it.

And sadly in my area Kindergarten has only changed for the worse... Now our schools are providing kids with tablets in kindergarten for what purpose I have no idea... Only that it seems to make the life of the teachers easier as they now have the electronic babysitters to keep kids quiet ignoring completely medical studies that recommend limitation of computer and table usage at such a young age, certainly not providing 6 hours a day of it...

 

[Pixie VaVoom]

If we think about it, in the earliest days of the Unites States, BEFORE public schools...ALL education under the college/university level was HOMESCHOOL !! You sat under mom's feet while she was baking, and you drew your letters and numbers in the spilled flour. Math was practical !! "How many pints to a gallon?? I have to shoe all the horses...how many threepenny nails do I need??"
You read grocery labels, and newspapers. Even picture books were a luxury. And if you did well you got a cookie, and if you cut up capers, you got a glare, or a swat - or sent out to muck the stable. We expected kids to move about, we didn't expect them to be little drones lashed to a chair for 6 hours a day !!! I have seen grown adults get cranky at a church minister if he preaches longer than 30 minutes - but we expect kids to sit all day long !!
I am amazed at how many kids I hear of that are on mind altering DRUGS, because they don't adapt well to the educational standard. Well if that many can't adapt - maybe it is the standard that needs to change!!
And too much time is spent on those kids that don't want to learn, that are just there because they have to be, or for the social aspect, or the free food. If they don't sit down and shut up - boot them out. We have other kids to teach!!
I remember in the late 70's, I worked after school, and I would use the class time that teachers spent yelling at other kids to do my all homework. I rarely had to take anything but special projects or test prep home.
And forgive me, but TOO Much MONEY is spent on students who will never be productive members of society. I am not saying don't educate the special needs kids to the best of their ability, but I know of a $50,000 per year special needs Aide whose entire JOB for the school year was to train ONE severely mentally handicapped 17 year old to look at a clock when someone rang a bell...REALLY !!! THE ENTIRE YEAR !!! $50,000...nice work if you can get it !!

ending my rant... IMHO...Our entire educational system needs a HUGE re-vamp.

 

[MomofPrincessGrace]

We've dropped the ball on early learning in this country.. but we've been on the way back up!

A child's brain can absorb so much!!! It is so stupid that a second language used to be primarily taught in high school.. the key is to start it young. That's when they have the best chance of retention.

Who would have though that infants could learn sign language??? It's the most amazing thing to me. And a huge relief and stress saver as a parent lol.

I do think that we are on our way to great learning starting early.. only if common core gets thrown out though!!!

I will add that I think homeschooled kids have the slight advantage here though. They have more individualized attention and time to fit in additional learning.

Agree. My daughter started learning Spanish in 4-K. She was also taught addition/subtraction that year, and was able to read sentences smoothly at 4. In her current kindergarten curriculum she is learning the names and order of US Presidents, how to write stories, and so many other things. She is currently ahead of other students in her class because of her early education and has pretty much taken kindergarten 2 times since her final year of pre-K was on a kindergarten curriculum. Its amazing how much little minds absorb. I went to a "private kindergarten" at the daycare I was attending and probably learned 1/4 of what she is learning.