Bright 2nd grader & school truancy / part-time home-school?

"Banty" wrote in message
...
In article c%gob.46853$hp5.4729@fed1read04, Circe says...

"Banty" wrote in message
...
When did we reach the point that parents and kids exist to serve to
the
school instead of the other way around?

So - you're saying it's not fair - schools are like neighbors or
something
such
that it's a tit for tat situation with parents? Or, rather, it should
be
manifesty unfair in the *other* direction, as you expect that they as
*one*
institution should accomodate the childcare needs and vacation dreams
for
perhaps hundreds of families?? That's how you view it?

Nope. Just saying that accommodations and flexibility need to exist in
BOTH
directions. Just because I choose to send my child to the school does not
mean I have suddenly transferred all my parental authority to the school.
And if the school cannot avoid creating complications in my life by
instituting things like unpredictable half-day schedules or changes in
the
school hours that mean I have to make four trips to drop and pick-up my
kids
from school/preschool instead of the two I used to make, I am certainly
willing to be accommodating and even understanding. I merely expect it to
be
a two-way street.

It can't run the same traffic both ways, though. The school schedules are
pretty much known or unavoidable (like snow days). Individual parents
have more
opportunity for flexbility than a school.

I don't have a problem with the fact that our schools have been closed
unexpectedly this week due to the fires. There have, however, been the
occasional times when they've suddenly published a minimum day a few days
before it occurred. These minimum days were not, as far as I could tell, on
any of the calendars sent home at the beginning of the year, so they were
not something parents could plan for in advance.

Now, maybe it's IMPOSSIBLE for the school to know in advance that it will
need to have a minimum day on a particular date. (I remember a number of
minimum days during school because the weather was abominably hot and the
classrooms weren't air-conditioned; those are pretty difficult to plan for,
I agree.)

My main point here, though, is that the *mission* of the school is rather
straightforward - educating kids. Not facilitating family life - it's
educating
kids.

Right. But their mission doesn't trump my parental authority. I am the
parent and *I* get to decide whether going to school or going to Michigan is
in *my* kids' best interest.

Some of the stuff here is about escalating expectations - school happens
to keep kids safe and occupied for x days and y hours a day, so I can
work, but
now school should do that for x+a days and Y+b hours a day, so that I can
really
work. Those expectations can't be what drives the school - that's not
what
they're *for*.

For the record, I think school makes it *harder* for most parents to have
full-time jobs that the reverse. How many people have a 6-hour workday? It's
a *heck* of a lot easier, IME, to arrange full-time childcare for 9-10 hours
per day than it is to get a work schedule that fits your children's schools
schedule (especially if you have children in different schools operating on
different schedules). School schedules vastly *complicate* life for working
parents rather than the reverse.

And, FWIW, I have not had any problems getting MY school to be reasonably
accommodating and flexible. I don't *try* to take my son out of school
without a good reason or any time I feel like it. For example, my husband
has to take a business trip to Chicago next week. I went to grad school
there, and I would *love* to take my kids there, show them where Mommy
used
to live, and take them to the Art Institute, the Field Museum, and the
Museum of Science and Industry. It would be a fantastically educational
trip
for them and the fact that our hotel room would be covered by the company
would make it considerably cheaper than we could do it otherwise. But
we're
NOT going because I don't feel Julian should miss school, especially
since
we've been out one whole week due to the fires already and they'll just
be
trying to get back into the groove next week with a bunch of kids who've
basically been on an unplanned vacation and probably won't be too
thrilled
about getting back to work.

So it's not like I'm in the position of pulling my kids out of school
whenever the spirit moves me and I'm peeved that I can't.

OK - so what limit do *you* see? *Should* a girl be able to attend four
days
out of five, AND take weeks off in January, AND take extra time off
*before*
Thanksgiving to see a relative? Exactly when do *you* start considering
some
parents' desires unreasonable? And for how many and which parents?

How about we let the individual teachers and parents hash this out on a
case-by-case basis, instead of trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all
policy?
--
Be well, Barbara
(Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [19mo] mom)

This week's special at the English Language Butcher Shop:
"Rejuvinate your skin." -- Hydroderm ad

Daddy: You're up with the chickens this morning.
Aurora: No, I'm up with my dolls!

All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful.
Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its
other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a
fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman

BTW... you can see a summary of our program at
http://schools.4j.lane.edu/family/index.html

The site just went live today.

Jen

Circe wrote:


Nope. Just saying that accommodations and flexibility need to exist in BOTH
directions. Just because I choose to send my child to the school does not
mean I have suddenly transferred all my parental authority to the school.
And if the school cannot avoid creating complications in my life by
instituting things like unpredictable half-day schedules or changes in the
school hours that mean I have to make four trips to drop and pick-up my kids
from school/preschool instead of the two I used to make, I am certainly
willing to be accommodating and even understanding. I merely expect it to be
a two-way street.


I've never heard of you doing anything that I thought
was inappropriate. However, while I agree with the idea that
people should be flexible on both sides, I also think attendance
is a serious thing. I've pretty much had it up to *here* with
people who don't place any value on the time of other people
than themselves (not saying you're in that camp at all). I
do see a bit of a pattern among many people--people who can't
be bothered to show up when they say they will at a party,
college students who skip classes (and who almost invariably
expect you to recount your lecture for them), people at work
who are always too busy to show up for training but pitch
a fit when they get dinged for not following procedure, etc.
In the case of school, even elementary school,
teachers put in a significant effort to be prepared and to
show up at school each and every day. Think how many parents
would be up in arms at a teacher who missed a lot of school
for some of the same reasons that students are missing school!
At some level, I think it's disrespectful to the teacher to
say, "Yeah, you better come prepared every day unless you're
on your deathbed, but I want a lot of latitude in determining
when it's worth *my* while to come." Again, I'm not saying
you said that yourself, but I've encountered that attitude
among several parents IRL, not to mention among some of the
college students I used to teach. And whatever people say,
most of the time kids were missing school, they *were*
affected negatively. There were kids who could have skipped
and still done well, but for whatever reason, they generally
weren't the ones skipping (which I think wasn't *entirely*
coincidental). So the end result was that the kids who
were missing (or their parents) would get all bent out of
shape when grades weren't what were expected. And guess
who bears the brunt of that tirade? Still, beyond all that,
I just think the bottom line is that it's disrespectful to
expect the teacher to show up prepared but not the child.
Now, I understand that not all teachers are living
up to their end of the bargain. When a teacher isn't meeting
a child's needs, that's a big problem. I also have *huge*
heartburn with high stakes testing, homework overload,
zero tolerance policies, and all sorts of other crap.
I do think it's somewhat ironic that the people who've
been pushing a lot of this stuff are often the very people
who are always complaining about institutions infringing
on parental rights ;-) Nevertheless, even if it is
somewhat just desserts for them, that doesn't make it
right.


So it's not like I'm in the position of pulling my kids out of school
whenever the spirit moves me and I'm peeved that I can't. My concern is that
current education reform policy, contrary to its sales pitch, is taking more
and more control away from parents and treating children as though they
exist for the betterment and improvement of the school itself rather than
the *school* treating the children as though they are there to be educated.
IOW, when I'm told that I should let my children take a test to which I
object because the school will be punished if I don't, I'm basically being
told that my children exist to serve the school rather than the school
existing to *educate* my children. And yes, that ruffles my feathers.


This I agree with entirely. The problem is that it
puts people in a very difficult bind where conscientiously
objecting to bad policy could very well harm a lot of
innocents. One can only hope that things will be changed
before this turns into a bigger debacle than it already is.


As I said, my school has been reasonably flexible and accommodating. Nor am
I saying that parents should feel justified at removing kids from school at
each and every whim. By the same token, however, I get a *little* concerned
when a parent's judgment of what's best for her child and family are
dismissed as frivolous and selfish because the school somehow knows better.
I'm also troubled by the assumption that what motivates less flexibility is
that large numbers of people abuse it if it's there. I'm put in mind of
Ronald Reagan's welfare queen, whose high-on-the-hog, taxpayer-funded
lifestyle was supposedly representative of a large proportion of the welfare
population and who later turned out to be fictional. IOW, I don't get the
impression that the number of parents taking their kids out of school for
family trips and the like is significantly greater than in the past; what's
*different* is the degree to which federal and state mandates are wagging
the dog.


Agreed but...I have to say I do know an awful lot of
people IRL who make decisions I think are really suspect about
what constitutes a reasonable excuse for missing school or
a reasonable number of days to miss--and a number of them
are among the parents who will happily pitch a fit if Junior
isn't getting top grades or if the teacher can't somehow
find the time to personally tutor Junior to catch him up.
Perhaps the problem is that this area is a little too affluent.
I don't know if this is any worse than it was in the past.
Heck, for all I know it was *worse* in the past. I also
wouldn't want to sit in judgement over some other individual
family's decision. However, I'd bet a significant amount
of money that of the instances I know of personally, a
goodly percentage weren't really earth-shatteringly important
reasons to miss school ;-) I do think there are people who
are quite cavalier about their children missing school and
who do their children a disservice. There are probably many
more who use their flexibility very responsibly. Unfortunately,
even if these rules weren't being driven by stupid policy, it
doesn't take very many irresponsible people to be a real PITA
for a teacher.
Just as one example, in Adrian's class, there
were things that had to be delayed for *three* weeks that
should have been done right at the beginning of the school
year because out of a class of 27 (or so) students, *planned*
absenses had too many kids out every day for the first
three weeks of school and the teacher really felt the
material was important enough that everyone should hear
it first hand! I don't know all the reasons, but I do
know that they were planned absences and not illnesses.
Even if they were all fabulous excuses, that's a significant
impact. The teacher, by the way, didn't complain and
even said that he fully supported absences for family
reasons, bless his heart, and maybe every single one
of those absences was truly necessary. They were still
not without consequences for the teacher and the entire
class. In my mind, it would be a shameful thing to
cause that sort of disruption without a darned good
reason.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"Circe" wrote in message
news:c%gob.46853$hp5.4729@fed1read04...
"Banty" wrote in message
...
When did we reach the point that parents and kids exist to serve to the
school instead of the other way around?

So - you're saying it's not fair - schools are like neighbors or
something
such
that it's a tit for tat situation with parents? Or, rather, it should
be
manifesty unfair in the *other* direction, as you expect that they as
*one*
institution should accomodate the childcare needs and vacation dreams
for
perhaps hundreds of families?? That's how you view it?

Nope. Just saying that accommodations and flexibility need to exist in
BOTH
directions. Just because I choose to send my child to the school does not
mean I have suddenly transferred all my parental authority to the school.
And if the school cannot avoid creating complications in my life by
instituting things like unpredictable half-day schedules or changes in the
school hours that mean I have to make four trips to drop and pick-up my
kids
from school/preschool instead of the two I used to make, I am certainly
willing to be accommodating and even understanding. I merely expect it to
be
a two-way street.

And, FWIW, I have not had any problems getting MY school to be reasonably
accommodating and flexible. I don't *try* to take my son out of school
without a good reason or any time I feel like it. For example, my husband
has to take a business trip to Chicago next week. I went to grad school
there, and I would *love* to take my kids there, show them where Mommy
used
to live, and take them to the Art Institute, the Field Museum, and the
Museum of Science and Industry. It would be a fantastically educational
trip
for them and the fact that our hotel room would be covered by the company
would make it considerably cheaper than we could do it otherwise. But
we're
NOT going because I don't feel Julian should miss school, especially since
we've been out one whole week due to the fires already and they'll just be
trying to get back into the groove next week with a bunch of kids who've
basically been on an unplanned vacation and probably won't be too thrilled
about getting back to work.

So it's not like I'm in the position of pulling my kids out of school
whenever the spirit moves me and I'm peeved that I can't. My concern is
that
current education reform policy, contrary to its sales pitch, is taking
more
and more control away from parents and treating children as though they
exist for the betterment and improvement of the school itself rather than
the *school* treating the children as though they are there to be
educated.
IOW, when I'm told that I should let my children take a test to which I
object because the school will be punished if I don't, I'm basically being
told that my children exist to serve the school rather than the school
existing to *educate* my children. And yes, that ruffles my feathers.

Rewire your synapses around this:

The schools do not exist to 'serve the parents and kids'.
The schools do not exist to 'serve the parents and kids'.
The schools do not exist to 'serve the parents and kids'.

They exist to _educate_ _the_ _kids_

And educating kids is a service provided to the kids and, by extension, to
their parents.

They're not there to be handy-dandy childcare centers. They're not
drop-in
drop-out at-your-own pace learning centers.

Agreed on both points. But they are also not prisons wherein children are
sentenced to do time. And since there is a legal requirement in most
states
for children to attend school (or else homeschool), it seems entirely
reasonable to me to expect the schools to have predictable hours so that
parents who work (and therefore obviously don't have the option of
homeschooling anyway and are thereby *legally* obligated to send their
children to school) don't have to scramble to make arrangements for
childcare when a minimum day is suddenly announced. If it's fair for the
school to expect parents to ensure that their children are in school at
the
required times, it's fair for parents to expect the required times to be
predictable and rarely changed. Again, a two-way street is all I'm
suggesting.

Minimum days are rarely "suddenly" announced. Our school calendar, not only
for this year, but for NEXT YEAR is already set in stone, and those
half-days are on it. So are the days with no classes. The only unexpected
days are those due to weather or factors beyond our control. However, every
time we have a day off, unless it's a major holiday, we have parents
complaining that "How do you expect me to accommodate you? You only let me
know two days before". Well, actually, that's just when we sent out the
reminder flyer. If you read the materials you got at registration, you have
that schedule. Or if you go to the school website, you have that schedule.



To other silliness in this thread - no they are
not a fascist institution.

Not yet. But when state or federal law effectively takes flexibility away
from an individual teacher of school by mandating that children cannot
miss
more than X number of days during the year and the school/teacher does not
have the discretion to permit an absence for a child who is clearly
exceeding academic standards, I think it's getting pretty close.

Agreed. However, too often children missing classes for Disney or Ski trips
(or to babysit little brother or sister because mommy is too strung out on
drugs to do it-a common scenerio in my school) aren't exceeding academic
standards. In an ideal world, there would be exceptions. And I know in my
school, the principal has been creative in working with parents. Last year,
we had a family where one child has cancer, and the Make-A-Wish foundation
came through. Unfortunately, they came through for the week of state tests.
All three of the kids in the family missed those days and those tests, with
the blessing of the principal and the school.


The only state requirement is that you educate your
kids. No one will drag you to a gulag for homeschooling or using an
alternative
school.

And for most parents, neither homeschooling nor alternative schools (i.e.,
private schools requiring $$$) are realistic options. The fact that there
really *are* so few realistic options for most families is part of why
*some* flexibility is necessary.

There is a difference between SOME flexibility and total flexibility. I have
little trouble making up assignments for a child who has a chance to go to
Europe because a parent is presenting at a conference, or because a
relative three states away is celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and
a family reunion is scheduled, or anything else where the schedule is not up
to the parents. But when a parent wants to take their child out in February
(when state testing is in March), for the sole reason of beating the crowds
at Disney World, that's something different entirely.
Banty (and no - I didn't say there should be *no* flexibility - no, I
didn't
say a parent *never* has a valid concern - no, I didnt' say schools can
lord
over every detail - what I'm saying is -- what the fundamental
situation
is)

As I said, my school has been reasonably flexible and accommodating. Nor
am
I saying that parents should feel justified at removing kids from school
at
each and every whim. By the same token, however, I get a *little*
concerned
when a parent's judgment of what's best for her child and family are
dismissed as frivolous and selfish because the school somehow knows
better.
I'm also troubled by the assumption that what motivates less flexibility
is
that large numbers of people abuse it if it's there. I'm put in mind of
Ronald Reagan's welfare queen, whose high-on-the-hog, taxpayer-funded
lifestyle was supposedly representative of a large proportion of the
welfare
population and who later turned out to be fictional. IOW, I don't get the
impression that the number of parents taking their kids out of school for
family trips and the like is significantly greater than in the past;
what's
*different* is the degree to which federal and state mandates are wagging
the dog.

I would agree on this. However, as a teacher in an inner city school, I can
tell you that truancy with the parent's blessing is a major problem for us.
The reasons usually aren't family trips, but just that the parent can't be
bothered to get the child to school, so writes the excuse note, or because
the child is more useful at home. And it is difficult to have rules on
parent-excused absenses which are more restrictive in inner city schools
than in suburban ones, especially since such schools often have
significantly different racial populations, so cries of racism are a
concern. So what happens is that good parents, who have the best interests
of their children at heart, and are willing to work with the schools, are
penalized due to the parents who abuse the system and will not work with the
schools.


--
Be well, Barbara
(Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [19mo] mom)

This week's special at the English Language Butcher Shop:
"Rejuvinate your skin." -- Botox ad

Daddy: You're up with the chickens this morning.
Aurora: No, I'm up with my dolls!

All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful.
Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its
other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a
fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003 05:56:33 -0600, "Donna Metler"
wrote:

Minimum days are rarely "suddenly" announced. Our school calendar, not only
for this year, but for NEXT YEAR is already set in stone, and those
half-days are on it. So are the days with no classes. The only unexpected
days are those due to weather or factors beyond our control. However, every
time we have a day off, unless it's a major holiday, we have parents
complaining that "How do you expect me to accommodate you? You only let me
know two days before". Well, actually, that's just when we sent out the
reminder flyer. If you read the materials you got at registration, you have
that schedule. Or if you go to the school website, you have that schedule.

Agreed, I have never worked in a school where the calendar was not
pretty much set including any half-days at the beginning of the year.
There are emergencies which will be exceptions, but most are known
in August or September.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
...
I'm also troubled by the assumption that what motivates less flexibility
is
that large numbers of people abuse it if it's there. I'm put in mind of
Ronald Reagan's welfare queen, whose high-on-the-hog, taxpayer-funded
lifestyle was supposedly representative of a large proportion of the
welfare
population and who later turned out to be fictional. IOW, I don't get
the
impression that the number of parents taking their kids out of school
for
family trips and the like is significantly greater than in the past;
what's
*different* is the degree to which federal and state mandates are
wagging
the dog.

Agreed but...I have to say I do know an awful lot of
people IRL who make decisions I think are really suspect about
what constitutes a reasonable excuse for missing school or
a reasonable number of days to miss--and a number of them
are among the parents who will happily pitch a fit if Junior
isn't getting top grades or if the teacher can't somehow
find the time to personally tutor Junior to catch him up.
Perhaps the problem is that this area is a little too affluent.

Well, our school is also in affluent area, and I haven't gotten the
impression that parents in my neighborhood take school attendance lightly at
ALL. I think part of the reason my school is willing to be so flexible is
that people don't tend to abuse that flexibility as a general rule and that
when parents DO take their kids out, they are both willing to and capable of
ensuring the child completes the independent study work so he/she doesn't
fall too far behind.

I don't know if this is any worse than it was in the past.
Heck, for all I know it was *worse* in the past. I also
wouldn't want to sit in judgement over some other individual
family's decision. However, I'd bet a significant amount
of money that of the instances I know of personally, a
goodly percentage weren't really earth-shatteringly important
reasons to miss school ;-) I do think there are people who
are quite cavalier about their children missing school and
who do their children a disservice. There are probably many
more who use their flexibility very responsibly. Unfortunately,
even if these rules weren't being driven by stupid policy, it
doesn't take very many irresponsible people to be a real PITA
for a teacher.
Just as one example, in Adrian's class, there
were things that had to be delayed for *three* weeks that
should have been done right at the beginning of the school
year because out of a class of 27 (or so) students, *planned*
absenses had too many kids out every day for the first
three weeks of school and the teacher really felt the
material was important enough that everyone should hear
it first hand! I don't know all the reasons, but I do
know that they were planned absences and not illnesses.
Even if they were all fabulous excuses, that's a significant
impact. The teacher, by the way, didn't complain and
even said that he fully supported absences for family
reasons, bless his heart, and maybe every single one
of those absences was truly necessary. They were still
not without consequences for the teacher and the entire
class. In my mind, it would be a shameful thing to
cause that sort of disruption without a darned good
reason.

Well, I agree that the disruption is unfortunate, but I also think it was
the teacher's *choice* to delay the material until all the students were in
class. The teacher presumably knew what the material was. The teacher
presumably could have given the material to the parents of the students who
were going to be out and had them impart it to their children. We're not
talking about calculus here, are we? We're talking about curriculum for
third graders, and I'm sure most parents in affluent schools are perfectly
capable of homeschooling third-grade material for a few days.

IOW, you're blaming parents for a decision that was really made by the
teacher. If you were sure that every single absence was the result of an
illness or truly justifiable reason, the delay would have been just as
disruptive.
--
Be well, Barbara
(Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [19mo] mom)

This week's special at the English Language Butcher Shop:
"Rejuvinate your skin." -- Hydroderm ad

Daddy: You're up with the chickens this morning.
Aurora: No, I'm up with my dolls!

All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful.
Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its
other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a
fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman

"Donna Metler" wrote in message
...
Minimum days are rarely "suddenly" announced. Our school calendar, not
only
for this year, but for NEXT YEAR is already set in stone, and those
half-days are on it. So are the days with no classes. The only unexpected
days are those due to weather or factors beyond our control.

Shrug All I can tell you is that several minimum days were announced last
year at my school which were not on the calendar sent out at the beginning
of the year. (As it happened, they didn't affect us because our school chose
to keep kindergarten schedules the same even when minimum days were in
effect for the rest of the school.)

That said, minimum days don't usually represent a significant burden to the
parents of elementary school-aged children. Most elementary schools have
after-care programs and arrangements can usually be made even at the last
minute for a child to attend the after-care program on a minimum day.

The *problem* is for parents of middle school-aged children in particular. I
don't know of *any* middle schools in my area that offer after-care. There
just aren't many options for getting those 6th and 7th graders care for 3-4
hours on a sporadic basis, even if you know well in advance.

To other silliness in this thread - no they are
not a fascist institution.

Not yet. But when state or federal law effectively takes flexibility
away
from an individual teacher of school by mandating that children cannot
miss
more than X number of days during the year and the school/teacher does
not
have the discretion to permit an absence for a child who is clearly
exceeding academic standards, I think it's getting pretty close.

Agreed. However, too often children missing classes for Disney or Ski
trips
(or to babysit little brother or sister because mommy is too strung out on
drugs to do it-a common scenerio in my school) aren't exceeding academic
standards.

And for those kids, labelling even parent-excused absences as "truancy" is
probably justified. I'm just saying that across-the-board policies that are
enforced regardless of circumstances are a substitute for common sense.

(Complete aside, but related to the substitution of policies for common
sense:

The reason the largest fire in California got as big as it did may well have
been because the California Department of Forestry and US Forest Service
refused to allow helicopters that were available to drop water on the fire
when it was still only about 50 feet in diameter. The reason the drops were
disallowed was because they were requested within a half an hour of sunset,
and regulations state that helicopters and planes cannot do drops if it is
half an hour or less until sunset. But on this day, it was very clear and
sunny, so the ambient light after sunset would still have been substantial
*and* it was *known* that the Santa Ana winds were blowing at 50mph *and* it
was known that ground crews would not be able to reach to location of the
fire with their equipment due to its remote location. The pilots were
*willing* to accept the risk of doing drops later than policy dicates
because they felt it would be safe and that the alternative would be worse.
But policy trumped common sense and this--more than 280,000 acres burned and
more than 1,500 homes lost--is what we got.)
--
Be well, Barbara
(Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [19mo] mom)

This week's special at the English Language Butcher Shop:
"Rejuvinate your skin." -- Hydroderm ad

Daddy: You're up with the chickens this morning.
Aurora: No, I'm up with my dolls!

All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful.
Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its
other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a
fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman

On Fri, 31 Oct 2003, Circe wrote:


Well, I agree that the disruption is unfortunate, but I also think it was
the teacher's *choice* to delay the material until all the students were in
class. The teacher presumably knew what the material was. The teacher
presumably could have given the material to the parents of the students who
were going to be out and had them impart it to their children. We're not
talking about calculus here, are we? We're talking about curriculum for
third graders, and I'm sure most parents in affluent schools are perfectly
capable of homeschooling third-grade material for a few days.


I'm in the middle on all of this. Flexibility must exist on both
sides. Both sides are damned if they do and damned if they don't.
And we all have examples of responsible behavior and abuses of
the system, etc., etc., etc.

I think it's the attitude toward what is being taught and
how it's being taught that bothers me -- a little.

In nearly 20 years of teaching, I've never used a textbook
or generated a mass of worksheets to be used. Much of what I've
done has been process-based. For example, when we did a multi-
class social studies unit on community and government with
second graders, we visited all the city government offices,
developed our own community, our own government and community
infrastructure, court system, etc. Each student played an integral part
in our community and government. Their counterparts
in the city came to the school on a regular basis to work
directly with them. And what we planned for next week was highly
dependent upon what happened this week... Not the same thing
as working your way from chapter one to chapter two in a
textbook.

That sort of thing is not easily packaged in a hand-out
that can be sent home with parents to duplicate.

And while yes, we can put together something that will
suffice, it's not going to be something we just pulled from
our already-prepared plans and lessons. It will require
that we take some extra time and plan anew.

As for my anecdotal contribution, I will say that
the majority of students for whom I prepared such
packages NEVER did the work.

So while I disagree with the policies (I've taken my
own children out a couple of times), I understand what might have
motivated them in some places.

However, I'd bet a significant amount
of money that of the instances I know of personally, a
goodly percentage weren't really earth-shatteringly important
reasons to miss school ;-) I do think there are people who
are quite cavalier about their children missing school and
who do their children a disservice.

Well, when my kids were in public school and the teachers had to make
a special effort to provide them with work at their level, which was
different from what the rest of the class was doing, I was pretty
cavalier about them missing school. When my kids were out, they
didn't miss anything they didn't already know, and it *freed* the
teacher from having to come up with something productive for them to
do.

Using Banty's guideline that schools exist "to educate the children"
I guess that any day that the class is going to cover only material
a particular child has already mastered, and the teacher doesn't have
time to come up with something else for that child to do, the child
should be automatically excused, particularly if their parents are
willing to have them do something "educational" that day instead.

Now that my kids are in a private school and learn appropriate things
every day, I'm a lot less cavalier about them missing school. But the
do still miss school for Jewish holidays, and often a day or two extra
for travel days surrounding the holidays. The teachers and principal
totally support that and don't mind helping them catch up if necessary
when they return. Sometimes children have had travel opportunities
with their families, and this has been supported and encouraged as
well. This is a private school and their funding (tuition) does not
depend on the number of days the kids attend, so they can financially
afford the flexibility. But there's also an attitude that parents
and teachers and schools are *partners* in the children's education,
and that the parents' role should be respected and valued, for they
can provide some opportunities for their children that the school could
never provide.

--Robyn

"Joni Rathbun" wrote in message
...
In nearly 20 years of teaching, I've never used a textbook
or generated a mass of worksheets to be used. Much of what I've
done has been process-based. For example, when we did a multi-
class social studies unit on community and government with
second graders, we visited all the city government offices,
developed our own community, our own government and community
infrastructure, court system, etc. Each student played an integral part
in our community and government. Their counterparts
in the city came to the school on a regular basis to work
directly with them. And what we planned for next week was highly
dependent upon what happened this week... Not the same thing
as working your way from chapter one to chapter two in a
textbook.

Well, all I can say if that I hope my kids have teachers like you in their
lives. Frankly, kindergarten and first grade have been nothing short of
worksheet hell.

You sound like a first-rate teacher, Joni, and I'd be loathe to have my kids
miss out on classes like yours!
--
Be well, Barbara
(Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [19mo] mom)

This week's special at the English Language Butcher Shop:
"Rejuvinate your skin." -- Hydroderm ad

Daddy: You're up with the chickens this morning.
Aurora: No, I'm up with my dolls!

All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful.
Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its
other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a
fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman