Furious
Here is the text of an email I received from Daniel's teacher about three hours ago:
Daniel came in this morning and said that he didn't do his homework because he was watching American Idol last night. I told him that homework needs to come before American Idol and I hope that this will be supported in the future. It is not really that
the homework can't be done tonight it is more the message that TV shows can trump homework that I hope you will support.
And here is the text of my reply to her:
Jill:
Sorry, but sometimes you really cross the line with the tone of some of your emails, and this is one I really don't appreciate. I won't have you dictating to me how our household operates because of the homework demands placed on a 6-year-old first grader. Daniel is spending every single night at Sylvan Learning Center for an hour's worth of math learning, then we come home and work on spelling review and reading for almost another hour. I'm sorry, but I am not going to make my entire life outside my paid full time job Daniel's homework. If we had sat down last night after Sylvan and spelling and reading, we would have put at least another hour into homework, which would have put us at about 8:30pm -- pretty much Daniel's bedtime. I don't think I should have to explain myself or defend myself to you; Daniel works hard and we will get his math items taken care of tonight, when we have more time.
I also think that you need to remember that this a 6-year-old that you're hearing from. So when he comes in and says "I didn't do my homework because we were watching American Idol," there might be a little more to the situation than that.
I have mentioned to you before that I feel like we are spending an inordinate amount of time on homework, considering Daniel is only in first grade, and I will continue to find ways to balance it out and work assignments when we have the time to devote to them, rather than making Daniel's entire life school and homework, and nothing else. I am more than pleased by the progress he is making this year; sorry if it's not up to your standards, but it is definitely up to mine, and frankly, I think my standards as his parent trump your standards as his teacher. He works his butt off, he hasn't complained once about having to go to Sylvan every night, and I just really resent being attacked in this manner for the way I run my household. And while perhaps an attack wasn't what you intended, that's definitely how it came off.
I'm cc'ing Mr. Weaver on this because I'm just that disgruntled right now.
Thank you for your time.
Needless to say, I am MOST displeased.
Daniel came in this morning and said that he didn't do his homework because he was watching American Idol last night. I told him that homework needs to come before American Idol and I hope that this will be supported in the future. It is not really that
the homework can't be done tonight it is more the message that TV shows can trump homework that I hope you will support.
And here is the text of my reply to her:
Jill:
Sorry, but sometimes you really cross the line with the tone of some of your emails, and this is one I really don't appreciate. I won't have you dictating to me how our household operates because of the homework demands placed on a 6-year-old first grader. Daniel is spending every single night at Sylvan Learning Center for an hour's worth of math learning, then we come home and work on spelling review and reading for almost another hour. I'm sorry, but I am not going to make my entire life outside my paid full time job Daniel's homework. If we had sat down last night after Sylvan and spelling and reading, we would have put at least another hour into homework, which would have put us at about 8:30pm -- pretty much Daniel's bedtime. I don't think I should have to explain myself or defend myself to you; Daniel works hard and we will get his math items taken care of tonight, when we have more time.
I also think that you need to remember that this a 6-year-old that you're hearing from. So when he comes in and says "I didn't do my homework because we were watching American Idol," there might be a little more to the situation than that.
I have mentioned to you before that I feel like we are spending an inordinate amount of time on homework, considering Daniel is only in first grade, and I will continue to find ways to balance it out and work assignments when we have the time to devote to them, rather than making Daniel's entire life school and homework, and nothing else. I am more than pleased by the progress he is making this year; sorry if it's not up to your standards, but it is definitely up to mine, and frankly, I think my standards as his parent trump your standards as his teacher. He works his butt off, he hasn't complained once about having to go to Sylvan every night, and I just really resent being attacked in this manner for the way I run my household. And while perhaps an attack wasn't what you intended, that's definitely how it came off.
I'm cc'ing Mr. Weaver on this because I'm just that disgruntled right now.
Thank you for your time.
Needless to say, I am MOST displeased.