Wednesday, February 3, 2010

I didn't get the memo

As a homeschooler with large, gaping, outer spaced sized black holes in my education, I have a somewhat dubious opinion of schooling my own children. But somewhere along the way I missed the memo about public school. Has it always been so structured? and even silly? And private school. Has it always been so expensive?

Jamie is currently in a Pre-K class for developmentally delayed kids. He did the same 10 week program last year with great success. I'm not sure if he can't or won't learn his abc's and count to 10, but he certainly doesn't do it at home with me. We work and we try, and he struggles, but never make any progress. Now we go to a group class for a few hours in the morning and BAM! suddenly he can do stuff in one week that I have been trying to get him to do for six months.

And I'm glad for him, I really am. Maybe I'm a little bit jealous that none of my patience and perseverance with academics has made the tiniest difference, but mostly I'm relieved that a group setting seems to be the magic key that unlocks his desire to learn things. But am I a horribly ungrateful person for wishing he were learning something slightly less institutionalized?

Jamie turns his chair upside down, climbs on it and jumps off. An adult reprimands him "Jamie! That is very dangerous, don't do that anymore." . During imaginative play time, he wants to pretend a book is a pizza, but he's not allowed to do that either, because its "not book time". I do understand that learning to work together, follow instructions, and being polite is all important developmental stuff for a preschooler to learn, but it almost feels like it's put up on some sort of pedestal of this is the way it is done. At home I work hard to foster the opposite attitude, and try to fan every little flame of creativity into life. Not that it's necessarily working, but the world we live in needs innovators. Even in my circles, the best floral designers, photographers, and writers are all people who think outside the box. Why would I want that trained out of my kids?

They also refuse to call him Jamie. They tell me he has to learn his real name, so they call him James and then wonder why he doesn't respond. Is this normal? I hold preschool and kindergarten teachers in awe, so I'm totally willing to be taught here. Is this just something Jamie needs to learn? Does traditional school get better or is it always so rigid? Am I doing something wrong?

Which leads me to my main point. I have no-freaking-clue what the heck I'm doing.

6 comments:

eLiz said...

I have no idea either. But I do feel strongly about a mother's instincts! Hope things get better, or less confusing, or that you find something that works great.

Bekah said...

I don't understand this, either. On a much, much smaller scale, I have been thinking about some of the same things...in terms of, where does creativity come in during education? I've been tutoring this little girl who is smart, but has a wild imagination and simply cannot focus on anything for very long. I can tell that she UNDERSTANDS what is going on, but for whatever reason, she does not APPLY herself to do things As They are Instructed. I think this is totally fine. As long as she understands the concepts, who cares if she wants to show me in her own way? But the school says that she is doing poorly.

I can tell that the school has suppressed her creativity. Because when I give her opprotunities to answer questions in a creative/silly way, she looks perplexed. Her mind starts racing and then it's like she tries real hard to contain herself and write out the "Correct" answer.

For whatever it's worth, I think you know exactly what you're doing. It sounds like he's doing super well where he's at, even though the environment seems to be different from what you foster at home.

Stacey said...

I've heard of kindergarten teachers who refuse to call kids by their nicknames, but most preschool teachers want to call the kid what he's used to being called. We have parents who ask us to call their child a completely different name (aka. his real name is Daniel, but he's always gone by Christian and now the parents want him to use his real name) and we discourage it! How confusing to go to a new place AND be called a new name!

As for some of the creative stuff, bear with the teachers. Preschool rooms get REALLY messy and if you have 20 creative children, it can be a disaster both for safety and for getting things back to where they go. One kid jumping off a chair is one thing, but it can be the beginning of a riot!

As to "This is the way it's done," unfortunately school gets more structured and rigid, so they are trying to prepare him for that. It's hard and it's sad, especially when we want kids to have their own minds and free spirits.

That said, my class will continue to play "Monster," even though the principal asked us not to.

Jaime said...

The lack of creativity really annoys me. Jack goes to full-time kindergarten, and they only have playtime on Friday afternoons. They're five for heaven's sake!

obclhorn said...

Biting my tongue.... ;-)

ShellyLynn said...

I'm so glad she's only 2. I seriously have no idea what to do about school.