#7 Postby furluvcats » Sun Feb 01, 2004 12:41 pm
I wholeheartedly agree that it's a 50/50 partnership, teacher and parents working together to make sure our children succeed. And I believe that the typical American family consists of over worked parents, cramming too many extra activities into their children's lives. It's always been education first in my home. If and when you've fully succeeded with your academics, then there will be time for outside activities.
The flip side of holding children back, more than 1 year, is that there are many negatives a child may experience.
For example, my son was held back in K, which he needed, and then again in 4, which I argued strongly against. He has been homeschooled now through 1/2 of his second year of 4th, and all of 5th, the grade he's in now.
Louisiana has its own form of segregation in its public schools. Children have to apply almost a year in advance and go through months of tests, and meetings, etc. to qualify for acceptance into a Magnet school. These are the ONLY schools in town with fair demiographics. These are the the schools with low crime. These are the schools that get alot of outside funding. These are are ONLY schools with acceptable test scores. (2 or 3 local schools were not even allowed to open this year, because the test scores, and the teacher scores were so LOW. Have you ever heard of that?) So, to qualify for these few spots in the Magnet schools, your child has to take the CAT test, score over 50% in the nation on all tests, then the scores from these tests are combined, and scored again. The top, scores, get offered the spots. There are many other prerequisites also, I am not including. So, basically, if your child is not in the A honor roll group, he/she will not get in. Teachers children get the first available spots.
Anyway, the other children who did not get accepted get sent to the "throwaway" schools. The schools with high crime, low test scores, etc. Louisiana is a weird bird when it comes to alot of things, our educational system being worst then all but Mississippi I believe. Anyway, I can't send my children to a school other than the Magnet we've applied to. It wouldn't be fair or beneficial.
Anyway, back on subject with the pitfall of my son being held back 2 grades, is that he is taking the tests at the magnet school, and he is a giant among small children. He's almost 6 ft tall, size 10 shoe, feelings and emotions and looks of a high school student. He can't relate to the kids whom he would share classes with. As it stands, he'll be 20 years old when he graduates, with his class consisiting mostly of 17 and 18 year olds. His self esteem is wounded, he feels like a failure, and a big oaf.
My kids were moved to different towns in different states way too often. My first husband I kept moving as our company grew. Moved closer to our work, and up the ladder into bigger houses, in more exclusive neighborhoods. We didn't take the kids into consideration. They started new schools so often, in different states, that they missed alot of what they needed, bc different school districts in different states were on different levels of teaching, etc. This I do not blame on schools, or teachers, but on us for doing this too them. It hurt my son tremendously.
When I remarried and we settled permantly in Bossier City, LA. the kids were finally in classes for full terms. But here is where I ran into problems. My son could not read. We met with his teacher at least once a week about his poor reading skills, etc, begging for the answer to what could we do as his parents to help him succeed. Unfortunatly, we got a bad teacher that year...she had too many students, and she lacked the desire to do anything extra to help a child. She refused to work with kids on their individual levels. We asked that our son be allowed extra reading assignments. Her words exactly to us were " I don't have to teach him to read. He should have known how to read when he got to my class". A teacher told me she would not help my child learn to read! We fought this, went to the principal, etc...our principal was really just a protector of her teachers, she said her teacher never said that, etc...we really did have a rotten teacher that year. No bones about it. Thats the year of the "infamous" LEAP test. If your kid doesn't pass it, then he stays in 4th grade. My son passed the LEAP test! We were sooo proud of him! But they retained him again anyway, WHY? Because he had a low grade in Reading...no duh, thats why we met with the teacher all year long, and asked for extra help for him. We worked with him at home, but in class he was lost. You have to read to understand every subject.
This is getting long winded, as education is my favorite subject, but I'll try to wrap things up here. We bought a house in Shreveport End of Dec 2002. Tried to keep the kids in the school they were at in Bossier, but its a diifferent district, and they could not stay, even tho more than half the year was over. We didn't KNOW about Magnet schools in Shreveport, had not applied and you can't attend halfway through the year anyway, so that option was not open to us. The poorest school in the area was open to us though. Their test scores do not even rank. Heard nothing really good about the local private schools either, which are in great number here, with high amounts of children enrolled, and they can charge an arm and leg more then when I was in private school, because the demand is so high. Demiographics, here again. We chose to homeschool. And what a blessing its been for me and my children. They are taught on individualized ciriculum to meet each childs needs. My son reads fluently with CONFIDENCE. His grades are AB honor roll now, and as I stated in a different post, he has just taken a test to see if he qualifys to skip 6th grade next year and make up a grade he is behind in.
It takes compassion and hard work, from both teachers and parents to see that our children are well educated and a success. There are many choices out there, and sometimes what seems the strangest alternative ends up being exactly what your child needs. Not only have I seen my children grow and excell with homeschooling, but I myself have grown as a parent and person through the process.
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