Education Uncensored

Do you have a toy room in your house or do you have bedrooms with toys?  We’ve done this several ways.  We’ve moved furniture between the three bedrooms more times than I care to count. 

The boys had separate rooms in the beginning, then one day I came home and Wayne had moved them to the same room.  Bad idea, we moved them back to separate rooms.  Then, after they were another year or 2 older, we put them back in the same and created the “toy room”.  Then, the room that we formerly called our office became their bedroom because it was bigger and that left a small toy room and a small storage room.

And, with the start of school and the fact that the 4 year old tends to talk and talk and talk to avoid going to sleep, the 6 year old then cries and whines because he can’t go to sleep for the talking.  And, some nights?  Some nights they both just down right played. 

And, so the idea was born, back to separate rooms.  I am a genius like that.  We emptied the toy room into the family room and and all but furniture out their bedroom.  Who needed a toy room when they had so many toys in their bedroom?  Grrrrr!

We commenced to moving the heavy stuff and I put them to separating the piles of toys.  Once my part was done, I sat down and helped them separate and I quietly tossed about half of the stuff in the trash.  SHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So, now when they get in trouble, we can send them to their room and they can do whatever as long as they aren’t bugging one another, right?  Before when we sent them to their room, the other kid followed and nothing was solved.  My philosophy is this, our kids like to be with us, so if “sending them to their room” is the punishment, I don’t care if they play once they get in there…I just want them to know that what they did was unacceptable.

So, how has the first 2 ours gone since we finished our little project?  Well, they have played in their rooms, they have played in each others room and currently as they were in trouble because someone hit someone and someone hit someone else…….the child being punished is sitting in front of my bedroom door (it’s closed, no one is giving him attention) and the other one?  The other one is standing in front of my new Frigidaire washing machine because I am washing comforters, mattress covers and sheets and I’m using the super duper sanitizing cycle.  How cool is that?

So much for “go to your room”.  It worked on Happy Days, why is it not working here?

So, do you have a toy room?  Separate bedrooms or one for multiple children?  How do you work it all out?

Ok, so you knew it was coming, right?  Let me first introduce this bit of information by saying that over-all the experience here in the second week of school has been ok.  I’ll get to my complaint later because I would not be me if I told you nothing but good things now would I?

And, just in case someone happens to be reading this and wants to blame my child for my opinion, then I want them to understand that my feelings are not personal.  As I introduced myself to the Assistant Principal (he is new this year), we discussed the websites, (both the first grade one and the school one), we discussed me teaching the STI over-view at the first PTO meeting and we had a nifty little conversation regarding all things of this nature.

Before leaving however, I made sure he understood that I am more than willing to do what I’m asked to do.  However, I do have an alter ego who suffers an enormous disdain for homework and when I feel someone is not being honest with me, I have no problems speaking my mind.  He chuckled and we parted ways.

Now, that said, please meet the alter ego.  This homework crap is for the dadblasted birds.  I explained to the good man what research had proven to me (he was a junior high math teacher last year and for a few years prior) and his rebuttal was that he believe that homework had it’s place but that he never gave a lot of it himself.  At that point, we were interrupted and the topic changed.

However, I am willing to even concede to the research that says ten minutes per grade level.  That being the case, my son who whizzes through his homework with ease is apparently in at least the third grade or maybe the fourth.  I have a website that I set up and devoted to purely information for my son’s grade.  His teachers were kind enough to spread the information to the other parents (they asked me to write the letter but they did send it home) and they expressed thanks to me for doing so. 

So, I am reluctant to complain so early in the year but if it starts out like this, can it or will it possibly get worse?  I suggest that you guys go look, PhD in First Grade will take you there and you can see what’s happened in the first 7 days already.  Amazing stuff.  I assured the teachers and the parents that the site would be for information only and not for any malicious content.  I did however explain to the teachers that I had plenty of sites where my malcontent would be discussed.  They chuckled…or more like they coughed.

Anyway, I made the decision to approach the school year in a different manner than last year.  Never mind that I had mono when school started last year and didn’t have the energy for a lot of things plus, heck, everyone needs a learning curve, right?   Last year I simply let the school do their thing, I complained, I complimented, I hollered, I cheered but I took no action really except in cases where I was unhappy.  I didn’t join the PTO, I didn’t do much of anything by the way of being involved.

This year, I have joined the PTO, I am the head room mother for my son’s room, I am going to teach a few quick sessions on how the parents can use the board of educations system to monitor their child’s school work, attendance, notes from the teacher and I’m going to start by doing the first session at the PTO meeting.  Since I have worked on the teacher side of the whole process and have one year under my belt on the parent side, the suggestion was made that I serve as a parent/teacher liaison and I jumped at that opportunity.

I do believe that having my foot in the door on some minor issues will give me the chance to express my opinion and that of many researchers on issues such as homework.  As I posted here from the facebook conversation (or possibly it was before the blog moved), sending home these mass amounts of homework is more than unacceptable.  For one, the parents who are going to babysit their child while he does homework is going to read with their child and encourage learning regardless of what the teacher assigns.  And, the parents who are not going to do it, are not going to do it just because it’s homework assigned by a teacher.  And the problem lies therein…….if I do not sign off on my child’s homework assignments, he loses one point for each time I don’t sign and thus his grades suffer.  In my opinion, this is more than unacceptable. 

I went to first grade once.  I’ve now been to kindergarten twice and looks like I am repeating First grade again some 34 odd years later.  And, of course, there is another child.  At this rate, I will have spent 3 years in every grade by the time my kids graduate.  And, this…….does not make me very happy. 

Again, I want to emphasize what good people the teachers seem to be.  They are louder and a bit rougher than kindergarten teachers but that’s to be expected.  The expectations are higher in general.  And, my son has already, 7 days in complained about the fact that the teacher talks “loud”.  He has yet to say she yells, but he has made it clear that it upsets him when she talks loud. 

Acting as that liaison I mentioned, she has 12 boys and 7 girls.  If she were to tell them they were having ice cream she would have to say it loudly or they would never hear her, even if the ice cream bucket was on her desk.  It’s just the nature of the Y chromosome I think.

I know I’ve mentioned that the administration and some of the teachers in my son’s school act as if they don’t really want parents around.  I tried numerous times last year to get involved but mostly I caused trouble,  I didn’t do it intentionally, I just ask a lot of questions and I don’t particularly like being treated like an ass.  And, generally speaking I don’t act like an ass but I do have that ability tucked in side me somewhere.

And, considering that most of you know the issues anyway, I’ll leave it be.  But, this year, I have teachers in my son’s grade who realize the benefit of a good volunteer.  Here’s what I did on Friday of last week.

first three was this massive assembly line that was set up by one volunteer for each teacher.  There were reading folders that had to be assembled.  If you check that link you read about the extensive nature of these reading folders.  But, here’s how it went…

The outside of the folders

inside left of folder

the assembly process begins after spreading out the assembly line above

Packing all these sheets in this little binder

the back as I attempt to close the folder up

back cover

All fastened in

the finished project, 19 red ones for the students and one blue to use as a sample or guide for assembly.

Just look what a good volunteer I have become

The budget is tight. All of our funds have been frozen. We can order no new supplies at the moment.

Cindy Schultz is the author of The Mom Maven and you can find her on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn at

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For most families back to school means buying supplies off a list the school posted on their website, getting some new clothes and shoes, and maybe organizing the student’s desk at home so they have a place to do their homework. Back to school for this homeschooling family starts before the previous year ends. As we are finishing up our school year, I evaluate the curriculum choices we made for this year and look ahead to what I feel would work best the next year.

From grades pre-K-8 this task was based loosely on a scope and sequence of what topics I felt we should cover as a family in history/social studies and then adding grade appropriate math, language arts, science, the arts and PE around it. Once the boys entered high school we have had to follow a few more rules to make sure enough credits are earned for graduation. This requires a 4 year plan so that nothing is missed and everyone graduates on schedule.

Once I have the basic subjects/topics for the year then I start shopping for curriculum. Our huge state homeschool convention is at the end of May so, if I plan on attending I need to know in advance what topics I am shopping for. Our local homeschool bookfair is usually the first Friday and June so again, I must have a plan early in the summer. I then spend May-July watching for sales/deals and eBay finds to fill out our school year.

As my orders arrive then I have the privilege of creating lesson plans for every subject and each student. When August arrives I usually have most of my planning done and I have decided what supplies/notebooks we need for the year. First we dig through the school cubby to see what supplies on our list we already have and then we hit the stores for the back-to-school sales.

This year my 16yo high school senior is dual enrolled at our local community college. Dual enrolling is a great way for advanced student to earn high school and college credit at the same time and the state pays for the classes!

First semester he is taking English 1101 and Spanish 1101 at the college, Economics with our senior pastor and Christian Worldview and Piano with me. Second semester he will be enrolled as an early admissions student at the community college and he will be taking Spanish 2, U.S. Government, Music History and Intermediate Algebra as well as Christian Worldview and Piano with me. My 14yo high school sophomore is taking Economics with our senior pastor, and Algebra II, English/Lit 10, Biology, World History 1455-1707, New Testament Survey, Health/PE, Spanish 1, Piano, Drama and Art with me.

Back to school means change and a fresh start for every family no matter how they choose to educate their children. I hope you and your family have a great 2009-2010 school year.

Cindy Schultz

TheMomMaven.com

14 year homeschooling veteran

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Now, let me say this, if you don’t already know how important it is for us to learn to read at an early age (what with all the ideas of learning foreign languages and the like as well), it’s just painful to watch kids read and not enjoy it.  But, when children are forced to sit and read and not play and run and let energy released, they become very reckless when it comes to reading. 

If you have any questions about what you think might be excessive, just visit my son’s first grade blog that I am handling.  PhD in First Grade is going to be  great site, but just look at the stuff that’s been required and it’s just the second week of school.

With that, I am excited that my son still loves to read.  And, considering the amount of time that my husband and I spend on line, for quite a while he thought all books and magazines should be stored near the toilet.  But, then….then I received a book last summer, one from the Daniel X series.  My husband sat down and it took him about 3.5 hours to read it.  I was in the hospital and he was just sitting with me.  Once he started, he simply would not put the book down. 

So then there’s the new book.  It came and my kids were ecstatic when they realized that a book was in the bag.  Now, with that said, they aren’t old enough to read or understand it but the importance of seeing us read is that important. And, the book sat on the sofa for a day or two, I had decided that I would read this book. 

However, before I could settle down with it, it was in my husbands hands.  He let the internet go that day and he read…and he read…and I requested a few favors here and there but mostly, he just kept reading.

When the afternoon turned to evening, he proudly closed the book, a smirk turned to a smile and he declared, that really was better than the last one….there’s two more in this series right?  I wasn’t sure how many more are available in the series but I know what he is getting Christmas…

Ok, so now we venture into the world of webinars and ebooks.  Most definitely a new place for me.  So, as I continue to plan, work out the kinks and get things together, I want to give you a brief over view of the things I plan to cover in each webinar as well as each ebook.  If you are interested in either, there is a sign-up form at the bottom, please enter as much information as possible please to help me get you the information you need.

Buying a Domain

Choosing a hosting company

Installing wordpress for your domain on your host

Working with various plug-in

Writing a Powerful Post

Driving Traffic

Monetizing a Blog – including the various methods and companies

Acquiring Sponsorships

Constructing Pitches

Constructing Media Packages

Please take this survey even if you have no intentions of every attending any webinars or buying a book.  That will at least give me an idea of where the biggest interest lies and how much detail to devote to the various topics.

There are still spaces available in the 2 PM Webinar today, the 10 PM webinar on Sunday and the 6 PM webinar on Monday.  Email me for more information at jareason (at) gmail (dot) com.

Click Here to take survey

I know this is very 70’s-like of me to say, but I was just wondering……….

I don’t have a lot of recollection of my school years for the first and second grade.  I mean, for specifics my memory kicks in at a critical third grade where I was forced to transfer out of our small school where everyone was family to a very different community.  A community where I was basically bullied and outcast because my parents were divorced, my mother had remarried, my father had more than a high school education (he was a teacher, where as most of the father’s of my classmates were postal carriers, chicken farmers, etc). 

But, the one thing that my memory hangs on tight to is the fact that every teacher (including my father at the time) was dressed in a particularly professional manner.  Most of the women wore dresses (I know, I really am that old) and my father (as did the other men) wore ties.  Coaches were the only men exempt from that tie ordeal and that’s because they generally taught physical education as well.

Each morning we were greeted with matronly-looking women who were soft spoken, slow moving and always caring and loving.  (In my adult life I had an opportunity to run into the second grade teacher who was working for the local university handling student teachers in our area.  Her theory was that all the special education that goes on is ridiculous.  Yes, she agreed it had it’s place but her main thought (which I didn’t agree with at first but later had some serious thoughts about) was that when she taught, there were plenty of children with learning disabilities.  But these children were taught with love and patience.  Time and understanding were key to the learning for these children.  Basically her thought process was that those with mild learning disabilities needed to be in the classroom with their matronly teachers who could love them, guide them and prevent those nasty labels.  As I said, in the beginning I wasn’t so much on her side, now, a few years later, I think she might have been on to something.

Anyway, as I visited my son’s school yesterday 2 of the me in the building (the assistant principal and a sixth grade teacher) were dressed fully clad in a tie.  The head administrator was dressed professionally enough for what this day and time deems professional but I can’t help but wonder if something more business-like wouldn’t have afforded her more respect.  And the teachers, clad in jeans and t-shirts and flip flops caused me to start to totally re-think this issue.

Up until a couple of years ago the kids had uniform policies and even now the students have a particularly normal dress code but the thing is, the teachers aren’t necessarily expected to follow it. 

And there in my friends, lies what I believe to be a big problem.  Students with a shirt that is consider to have “shirt tail” must tuck their shirts inside their pants.  Teachers who wear t-shirts or shirt tailed shirts do not.  Students with shirts tucked in must have on a belt.  Teachers do not necessarily have to abide by this.  Yet, teachers are always reprimanding and writing students up for violating the dress code.  Odd?  I think so.

I think one of the biggest issues facing our public school teachers and administrators at the present time is respect.  And, I honestly believe that in order to gain respect you have to give it.  And by not practicing what they preach, our educators are skipping a huge step.  I know, I’m so 70’s and hippie like but I can’t help but wonder if the discipline problems in my elementary and high schools wasn’t a bit better simply because of those matronly-looking women and those tie clad men.

Clothes really do make a man in my opinion in this case.  If the teachers and administrators viewed their job as a business employment and dressed the part instead of simply throwing on whatever is handy, I think they would find that some of the respect afforded teachers 30 years ago just might return. 

Think about it in terms of your physicians.  If your pediatrician, oncologist, heart specialist comes into the exam rooming wearing a t-shirt and flip flops, to you trust their opinion as much as you would if they met you wearing scrubs or a nice dress or pantsuit for the women and collared shirts and ties for men? 

Ponder that.  Let it ferment.  Push it around in  your mind, then let me know what you think.  I’m really curious about this.

So, what does one say for their inaugural post a a new site from an old place?  I’m not sure that this is exactly the time but it’s what is on my mind so I am going to go with it. 

First of all, you are more than welcome to visit my son’s first grade website constructed by yours truly, muah.  The site address is PhD in First Grade and you can see what we have accumulated in four short days.  You can see the stuff I’ve talked about so much lately or for the last year even.

With that said, there is a note there explaining to the parents the formality of the site.  I wrote the letters to release the teachers of any actual obligations.  I did tell the teachers that the site would be for the stuff they want announced and that no malicious content would be posted over there.  I laughed when I said, “I have plenty of other places to write the bad stuff” to which two of the first grade teachers who have commented on my blogs before only half-heartedly laughed. 

What?

I’m not funny?

I guess not.  This isn’t what I had in mind so I am going to save my other thoughts for another post.  Enjoy and by all means, if you would like to guest post, I’d be more than happy to have you. 

As you know, my deep rooted plan is to bridge the gap between educators, parents, homeschooling parents, public school parents, preachers, policeman, fireman, etc.  And, you can help that by lending us your best “Back to School” advice.  You can email me directly at admin (at) educationuncensored (dot) com.

Thanks for visiting and please do share the new link with your friends, peers and online buddies.