250 kids suspended!

[lostfaith]

I'm assuming this is directed to me. Our son has never asked us to talk to his teacher about the amount of homework being sent home. We do not discuss it in front of him. We, as his parents, think is it obsessive (and we are not alone - MANY feel this way). He does complain about the homework, but is a good kid and is not disrespectful to us or his teachers.

Jules, I do not live in the same state you do, but I am having similar stresses with the homework issues. My youngest does not help the situation, he hates school, and all his griping does make the assignments take longer, but still, it is alot every night. My middle son needs lots of support, but like Mysteriew said, he prob. could do more on his own.

Here is the biggest prob. I am having right now. My oldest is on either high honors or at least honors at every report card time. This was not always the case. In 7th,8th and 9th grade, he barely squeaked by. We made him drop all extra curricular activities and concentrate on school. At first he was upset, but got over it. His grades zoomed up there and by his sophmore year he was getting all A's and B's and made honor roll ever since. But the problem is that he never joined anything again, honestly he would not have had time with all the homework he always has, and his good grades do not come easy for him. But now as we are filling out scholarship forms, we are worried that he has nothing to put on there as far as what he has been involved in. They want "all around" students, good grades, active in extra curricular activities, and he has none. Now I am worried about that!

It just seems like one cant win.

So, keep those kids of yours involved in thier sports!!

 

[Details]

Nah - you still get in with good grades and no extracurricular - I sure had no troubles that way. Don't worry about. However, as a fun bit - a single blood donation makes your son a blood donor - might work as an extracurricular.

 

[Jules]

Jules, I do not live in the same state you do, but I am having similar stresses with the homework issues. My youngest does not help the situation, he hates school, and all his griping does make the assignments take longer, but still, it is alot every night. My middle son needs lots of support, but like Mysteriew said, he prob. could do more on his own.

Here is the biggest prob. I am having right now. My oldest is on either high honors or at least honors at every report card time. This was not always the case. In 7th,8th and 9th grade, he barely squeaked by. We made him drop all extra curricular activities and concentrate on school. At first he was upset, but got over it. His grades zoomed up there and by his sophmore year he was getting all A's and B's and made honor roll ever since. But the problem is that he never joined anything again, honestly he would not have had time with all the homework he always has, and his good grades do not come easy for him. But now as we are filling out scholarship forms, we are worried that he has nothing to put on there as far as what he has been involved in. They want "all around" students, good grades, active in extra curricular activities, and he has none. Now I am worried about that!

It just seems like one cant win.

So, keep those kids of yours involved in thier sports!!

Hi lostfaith ~

He doesn't need to show extra curricular activities. Good grades will get him in. We went through the same thing with our daughter who is now in her second year of college. She was on drill team until a series of dislocated knees forced her to quit the beginning of her freshman high school year. She did nothing else throughout high school but got good grades. She had no problem getting in.

Something a friend of ours did with their kids is have them volunteer at either a nursing home or hospital. As a volunteer, the time is VERY limited - sometimes 2 hours per week is all that's required - and that will help. Maybe your son could do something like that?

Good luck to you (and him)! I'm sure it will work out great!

 

[lostfaith]

Nah - you still get in with good grades and no extracurricular - I sure had no troubles that way. Don't worry about. However, as a fun bit - a single blood donation makes your son a blood donor - might work as an extracurricular.

Whew! Gosh I hope you guys are right. We do need the help from the scholarships with tuition. Any little bit helps. LOL, Details, I will tell him about the blood donations. I am sure he will be thrilled

He is doing volunteer work, it is mandatory to graduate from thier school. They have to do 20 hours. I think it is great! Never considered that he could use that on the scholarship forms. :waitasec:

 

[Jules]

Whew! Gosh I hope you guys are right. We do need the help from the scholarships with tuition. Any little bit helps. LOL, Details, I will tell him about the blood donations. I am sure he will be thrilled

He is doing volunteer work, it is mandatory to graduate from thier school. They have to do 20 hours. I think it is great! Never considered that he could use that on the scholarship forms. :waitasec:

Absolutely he can use that!!!

 

[fifi]

Oh my gosh.

My little guy is seven (just). At school he is learning French, German, Mathematics, Handcrafts (knitting at the moment), gardening (which will turn into biology), and he is learning to read and write at an unhurried pace.


He is a happy jolly little character (ie. a kid) who knows nothing of pressure and knows a lot about everything else!!

Childhood is for learning, growing and becoming a decent human being. I aid my child in these tasks. Passing exams or completing 3 hours of homework every night should not be the judge of a child's worth... Let them develop at their own pace and make it fun (we ALL know that the fun kinda dwindles away eventually...)

I hope I make sense.. I have a wonderful multilingual, talented mathematician, who can knit and bake bread and who views 'going to school' as a treat!

 

[KatherineQ]

Hi lostfaith ~

He doesn't need to show extra curricular activities. Good grades will get him in. We went through the same thing with our daughter who is now in her second year of college. She was on drill team until a series of dislocated knees forced her to quit the beginning of her freshman high school year. She did nothing else throughout high school but got good grades. She had no problem getting in.

Something a friend of ours did with their kids is have them volunteer at either a nursing home or hospital. As a volunteer, the time is VERY limited - sometimes 2 hours per week is all that's required - and that will help. Maybe your son could do something like that?

Good luck to you (and him)! I'm sure it will work out great!

Jules - I see you are in Texas too. ;D We are SUFFERING with the top 10% rule here for college admission - our school is extremely competitive. The top 12 percent of my son's class has a 5.0, meaning that they are in AP classes and have always earned A's. So. That means that somehow, the 11th and 12th percentile of kids who are in honors classes and have never ever made less than an A are STILL NOT IN THE TOP 10%. Man that sucks. You can break your back and do perfect, and still not get in. Where kids in other schools who show up and do a half decent job are in the top 10%, they're in like Flynn.

I am so angry I can't believe it. I thought this stupid top 10% rule would end, before my son graduates but it isn't going to. He has picked Texas A&M and we're sending him up there to meet with student leaders and beg. In most Texas high schools, his effort and brains would put him in the top 2% of the school, but not at our high school. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

 

[Mr. E]

At school he is learning French, German, Mathematics, Handcrafts (knitting at the moment), gardening (which will turn into biology), and he is learning to read and write at an unhurried pace.

fifi, this sounds like a Waldorf school? Is it?

Regarding the homework issue, I wouldn't assign homework over Christmas or Spring break. It is supposed to be a break, a chance to refuel. However, a lot of kids don't need a break to refuel because they haven't done any work since school began!

What about summer work (for traditional schools)? Our district used to have required reading for summer vacation. The students got their lists and were expected to read the books and be prepared to be tested when they returned to school. The parents were the ones that had the required summer reading thrown out because they said it was summer and their kids shouldn't "have to read!!!!!!!!!!!!" This has always upset me for a couple of reasons. First, kids lose so much over the summer, you have to spend weeks getting them back up to standard. Also, reading shouldn't be considered a punishment! What happened to kids reading for fun? 98% of the kids I know HATE to read, and their reading skills are very poor. To raise the skills they have to read more, then they get frustrated, and it's a viscious circle.

 

[deanws]

Jules - I see you are in Texas too. ;D We are SUFFERING with the top 10% rule here for college admission - our school is extremely competitive. The top 12 percent of my son's class has a 5.0, meaning that they are in AP classes and have always earned A's. So. That means that somehow, the 11th and 12th percentile of kids who are in honors classes and have never ever made less than an A are STILL NOT IN THE TOP 10%. Man that sucks. You can break your back and do perfect, and still not get in. Where kids in other schools who show up and do a half decent job are in the top 10%, they're in like Flynn.

I am so angry I can't believe it. I thought this stupid top 10% rule would end, before my son graduates but it isn't going to. He has picked Texas A&M and we're sending him up there to meet with student leaders and beg. In most Texas high schools, his effort and brains would put him in the top 2% of the school, but not at our high school. GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

His sat scores. If he has an A average...and his sat scores are in the 1200-1300...he will get in. My child was in the top 5% but what got him his scholarships were the sat scores. He made 1380. He has a full ride. Also, make sure he joins the honors program at A&M. He should apply no later than th end of February.

 

[mic730]

I have no children but each response I find myself agreeing with even though each is different. I do know that each of you love your children and community and I admire your fair debate. Tells me you are all doing right by your kids! Be proud of being good parents!

I attended a small private school that required we do charity work - my Mom stayed on my butt and made me do it every year.

 

[Yeah me]

I'm assuming this is directed to me. Our son has never asked us to talk to his teacher about the amount of homework being sent home. We do not discuss it in front of him. We, as his parents, think is it obsessive (and we are not alone - MANY feel this way). He does complain about the homework, but is a good kid and is not disrespectful to us or his teachers.

:truce: I certainly wasn't trying to direct it at any one person. I just believe that if teachers were able to spend less time on discipline matters and more time on teaching there would probably be less homework. If your kid doesn't fall under the 'discipline problem' category, then kudos to you!!! :dance:

 

[reportertype]

I used to hear complaints from teachers in Texas that they were required to spend way too much time on TAAS studying during class time and thus resulting in extra homework. I wonder if standardized tests are causing some of the extra work? I think in a lot of states, those results are tied to funding. I can't remember how much of an emphasis was put on these tests, but I remember the complaints that it was way too much.


I'd hate to get homework on spring or Christmas break, but I always got really bored in the summers so that would was great. We usually got voluntary reading lists.

 

[fifi]

fifi, this sounds like a Waldorf school? Is it?

It is indeed.. Rudolph Steiner as we call them. He loves it and the kids are wonderful.

Do you have to pay to attend Waldorf schools in the States?

We have to pay here in the UK but elsewhere in Europe these schools are funded by the state (a situation we have been battling to rectify for many years).

Fi

 

[SewingDeb]

Won't the suspended kids get behind while they are suspended? Suspending kindergardeners seems particularly petty.