The Realities of Public School

[purdypiedad]

Last year when I was forced to give up homeschooling and put Kristine in the public school, we were so very fortunate to be assigned to a fabulous teacher who made Kristine's transition super easy and who recognized Kristine's amazing gifts and allowed her to excel.  This year, we weren't so lucky.  I had heard enough odd things from Kristine that

Comments

[rhia_hilldancer]

You will become a cop. You will move to a good school district. Kristine will get the opportunities she deserves. *hugs*

[purdypiedad]

Thank you! *HUGS*

[sartorias]

Remember too, if she is reading at home, the rest will even out. A bad year or two doesn't harm a smart kid, as long as that kid is reading. I hope she gets into GATE soon--but meantime, home challenge!

[purdypiedad]

You are totally right, of course. It's just so frustrating coming from the homeschool perspective. Kristine's teacher's solution was just to give her additional assignments at home after school. Sounds entirely too much like punishing a kid for being smart to me. Grrrrrr. At least she does love to read. :-)

[sartorias]

Yeah--totally non-optimal teacher. The sheer waste of the system is tragic. But the thing right now is: your smart kid might be bored, but won't take any real harm of a dull class. Soon's she gets challenged, she will zoom up to her level like a balloon popping up to the surface of water. I used to teach at a small, accelerated and enriched private school, and I saw it over and over again: kids would come in from indifferent to bad schooling, but by Christmas they were zooming.

[purdypiedad]

Your experience is encouraging. Thank you.

[raecarson]

You will become a cop. You will move to a good school district...

But in the meantime, as much as it sucks, working well below your potential and having a teacher who is miles dumber than you are actually valid learning experiences. Kristine is super bright, and that will be HER LIFE. 'Course, it's best if you don't have to learn that lesson for more than a year or two...

[purdypiedad]

Good point, for sure. Unfortunately, Kristine has already learned to dumb down to fit in. I really wanted her with the accelerated students. Almost her whole class is ESL. She's great at helping them, which is a good skill to learn, but I really was hoping she'd be in a place where it was cool to achieve. *sighs* I guess we can't have everything we want, huh?

[hindustar]

Teachers don't like to be corrected, especially by students. Your daughter has a rough way to go, I hope she doesn't get discouraged in any way though. *hug*

[purdypiedad]

lol... Don't I know it. She's definitely my daughter. Many, MANY teachers hated me. I actually got kicked out of GATE for correcting my teacher too much (To this day, I remember the occasions, and I was, correct, albeit, rude.). Hopefully she will acquire a little more humility than I did when I was in fourth grade!

*HUGS*

[sammystudio]

ever consider moving to another state? since you love the heat so muchas i snicker have you considered south florida?

the local doughnut eaters police are always hiring...

[purdypiedad]

I've definitely considered moving to another state, and I would LOVE to move to South Florida! OMG, it's my personal heaven.

Unfortunately, the application process would require a minimum of 3 trips out there (possibly as many 5), and the move itself would costs be thousands since I'm all the way on the West coast. I simply couldn't afford to apply there, let alone move.

As for the doughnut eaters, it is a bit of a pisser that once you've been there a while you can get away with being fat and out of shape; meanwhile, I have to complete with ex-Navy Seals and Army Rangers just to get in. Gah!