My kids are spread across a range of grades throughout primary, middle and high school. None of them are A grade students or bottom of the class they just sit somewhere in the middle.
Unsplash – Thomas Kolnowski
I get frustrated as a parent because it seems I am at school every second week for some kind of concert, presentation or award ceremony yet my kids don’t seem to be improving much. Maybe they need to do less rewarding and more work?
This is NOT a post to bash teachers. They have a VERY hard job that I personally couldn’t do. I’m just venting my frustration at change and the fact that me or my children are not keeping up. I’m not sure who or what is to blame for our diminishing education system. Is it is numbers problem? Or a behaviour one? There seems to be no accountability placed onto students anymore. No holding back, no missed grades for late assignments, there isn’t even punishment if you don’t hand it in at all. It’s shrugged off and they are still pushed up to the next grade even if they earned their spot or not.
Teaching is hard!! – Unsplash – Ian Schneider
Did you know they don’t even teach kids times tables anymore! They just teach them skip counting. They know the answers, but not the questions. If you ask my kids what 4 times 6 is they can’t rattle off the answer. They have to skip count 6,12,18, 24. Which is super frustrating for me. All my teachers used to say “you won’t have a calculator with you everywhere you go” and now with my phone I do and I laugh and I laugh, but how frustrating would it be if I needed to take it out every time I wanted to multiply or divide something.
Unsplash – Deleece Cook
I went into the new school year with a positive attitude. Hoping they would start issuing homework, dishing out punishments for missed deadlines. *insert tantrum* because it’s not going to happen! When teachers do dish out punishment. THIS HAPPENS!! They haven’t yet reported what the student did, it could have been anything. The teachers actions may not have been warranted. I don’t know. I can only speculate. My kids have told me about times in class where students have sworn at teachers or thrown furniture at them. How are they expected to teach if this is happening around them.
That wasn’t what I wanted to write about though. This morning I saw this and THIS TRIGGERED ME!! A friend shared it and I was blown away. So now I’m even more determined to step in. I can’t change what happens at school. I can raise concerns with my kids teachers, but I can’t go much further than that. I CAN change something though. I can change what happens at home.
From now on my kids will do homework! I have printed word sheets and we will do spelling words and we will do reading. Homework isn’t set by schools anymore, studies show it doesn’t help academically. I find this really hard to believe, but I would also like to point out that homework isn’t just to learn what’s directly on the paper you have to hand back. It’s also about self discipline and time management. WANTING to improve yourself and not rushing through it because you HAVE to.
We will now have times tables back on the toilet door.
Everyone will grab an English or Maths worksheet out of their selected level and complete one every afternoon after school.
Anton practicing his numbers, because even in year 3 he still writes several of them backwards and no-one corrects him. They apparently don’t need to, they say he’ll grow out of it. I don’t believe them. Brandy is in Year 7 and STILL can’t do her 5’s the right way.
From one desperate mum to another, that just wants her kids to go further than she ever dreamed of. I know knowledge is power and I hope we can stick to this easy routine and encourage some students to do a little better.
Bye
Bec
3Plus5 