My cranky is all hanging out
I'm not good at being a public school parent, really I'm not.
Benjamin just started full day Kindergarten. He had been doing half day, but Jonah's appointments have been taking up so much of our afternoons that frequently he was coming home early from school just to sit in a waiting room until it's time to go get Ruthie. That's not fair to him, especially since all the fun stuff, art and music and gym and recess and all that stuff happens in the afternoon when he's not there.
So I let him stay.
Coincidentally (?) today his folder finally comes back in his backpack. The first week it had been sent back empty every day and I emailed the teacher asking if we shouldn't be getting papers home. Ruthie and Jonah both brought reams of paper home every afternoon. I got a nice little "there, there, Fretful Mommy" response and so I let it go. We got 1 batch of papers later that week and then nothing at all for the last 2 weeks.
Until today- a pile of papers dating back to the 12th. THAT one was a snarky little note from the teacher asking that parents make sure to send the folders back every day so they can get their papers. Gah! Also were several homework pages with no due dates on them. Damned if I'm going to make Ben sit down and do several days worth of homework because his teacher can't be bothered to make sure the only half-day kid in the class got the same stuff as everyone else.
And Ruthie came home all upset because she didn't understand her math assignment. It was, and I'm not exaggerating or misrepresenting in any way, to watch a place value tutorial online. That's it. Which one? Where? By whom? Not explained.
So I sent him an email asking for clarification and I got back that she had been told to google "place value math tutorial" and find a specific youtube video and watch it before tomorrow. Really? Still no URL or identifying info on the video. I did the googling and sent him the link to the only youtube video that comes up on the first page of results and it's for itty bitty kids. I also explained in little words that Ruth is not allowed to be randomly googling stuff and surfing youtube videos and if he would in the future send home a specific URL, I'd be happy to make sure she completes her assignments, yadda, yadda, yadda. He sent me back a URL (that did not appear on any of the first 3 pages of search results) and a very convoluted explanation about how they had a class discussion about asking parents to help them use the computer and the perils of youtube and a whole bunch of other bullshit. But really? A youtube video? Without a URL or even a title? And it takes 3 emails from mom to get him to produce the damned thing? And further, place value? Really? Advanced forth grade is working on place value? None of this bodes well.
Benjamin just started full day Kindergarten. He had been doing half day, but Jonah's appointments have been taking up so much of our afternoons that frequently he was coming home early from school just to sit in a waiting room until it's time to go get Ruthie. That's not fair to him, especially since all the fun stuff, art and music and gym and recess and all that stuff happens in the afternoon when he's not there.
So I let him stay.
Coincidentally (?) today his folder finally comes back in his backpack. The first week it had been sent back empty every day and I emailed the teacher asking if we shouldn't be getting papers home. Ruthie and Jonah both brought reams of paper home every afternoon. I got a nice little "there, there, Fretful Mommy" response and so I let it go. We got 1 batch of papers later that week and then nothing at all for the last 2 weeks.
Until today- a pile of papers dating back to the 12th. THAT one was a snarky little note from the teacher asking that parents make sure to send the folders back every day so they can get their papers. Gah! Also were several homework pages with no due dates on them. Damned if I'm going to make Ben sit down and do several days worth of homework because his teacher can't be bothered to make sure the only half-day kid in the class got the same stuff as everyone else.
And Ruthie came home all upset because she didn't understand her math assignment. It was, and I'm not exaggerating or misrepresenting in any way, to watch a place value tutorial online. That's it. Which one? Where? By whom? Not explained.
So I sent him an email asking for clarification and I got back that she had been told to google "place value math tutorial" and find a specific youtube video and watch it before tomorrow. Really? Still no URL or identifying info on the video. I did the googling and sent him the link to the only youtube video that comes up on the first page of results and it's for itty bitty kids. I also explained in little words that Ruth is not allowed to be randomly googling stuff and surfing youtube videos and if he would in the future send home a specific URL, I'd be happy to make sure she completes her assignments, yadda, yadda, yadda. He sent me back a URL (that did not appear on any of the first 3 pages of search results) and a very convoluted explanation about how they had a class discussion about asking parents to help them use the computer and the perils of youtube and a whole bunch of other bullshit. But really? A youtube video? Without a URL or even a title? And it takes 3 emails from mom to get him to produce the damned thing? And further, place value? Really? Advanced forth grade is working on place value? None of this bodes well.