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Back-to-school is in 3 weeks and something is going to be different for many kindergartners in the Lane County School District: Full-day kindergarten. This will not be new. Used to be that many elementary schools, as well as many K-8 grade schools, had full day kindergarten in the past. For a while there, however, they switched to half-day kindergarten. I figured this was done for financial reasons. I get it that schools have to do what they have to do to keep their doors open and continue to pay teachers. (Sadly, many schools in this area have been forced to close and many teachers have lost their jobs.) I totally get that switching to half-day kindergarten was just one way for schools to cut costs. I am all for keeping schools in a good financial situation. In the past, I’ve donated to fundraisers and financially supported my kids’ school in whatever way possible. But given that each of my children have experienced full-day kindergarten as well as half-day kindergarten, I gotta say that given a choice between the two, I support full-day kindergarten.
These are just some of the things I learned from my son’s experience of going to half-day kindergarten compared to what my daughter got out of full-day kindergarten:
Full-day kindergarten prepares students for normal school hours.
Both of my kids attended preschool and sometimes they were not there for a full-day. I tried to have them attend full-day whenever possible because they LOVED their preschool and I felt it was a great way for them to prepare for being at school, albeit “Big Kid School,” for a longer period of time. This, however, didn’t happen and, wow, did my daughter have a time adjusting to being away from home for so long. She was used to it by the time she got to first grade, however. With my son, he was only at Big Kid School for a few hours – a BIG change from his preschool hours! Then after he went to school fulltime in the first grade, it was hard for him to adjust to being at school for so long. He just was not used to it, even though he was going to the same school he attended in kindergarten.
I understand that not all parents can afford to put their kids into preschool. I can’t judge how first going half-day then full-day in between grades would affect young children. That’s something for another parent to share about, I suppose.
Half-day kindergarten seemed like a waste of time.
As I went back and forth dropping my son off for school then driving to pick him up again, there were MANY times when I’d arrive at his school or his bus stop asking myself, Wasn’t I just here? Seriously, it seemed like only a few hours ago he was off to school. I seriously began to doubt if he was gaining much out of that very brief time he was there. Exactly how much teaching can you squeeze into that short amount of time? His teacher often sent home “supplemental schoolwork” for him to do at home and this further made me wonder if that stuff could’ve been worked on at school IF he was there long enough for it. With my daughter, she often came home from school with so many stories of ALL the things they did in her school day and things that happened at the school. It just seemed like my son barely even had any kind of kindergarten education when he attended for half-day.
The half-day schedules were CHAOS compared to full-day schedules.
Many schools have “no school” days. When my son was attending half-day kindergarten, however, the “no school” days became a game of cat and mouse. My son attended P.M. kindergarten and when it came to a “no school” days or half days, it was not easy figuring out who REALLY did not have school. On some days, the A.M. kinders had school but not the P.M. kinders – or vice versa. I always had to figure out myself if my son had to be at school on a certain day or no. Plus, they often changed release times for special days. Then if that wasn’t enough, it messed around with his bus schedule. I found that out the hard way when a bus driver on a different route had to let me know my son was on his bus. So what bus he got off on those special hours was always a mystery to figure out. With my daughter, however, on full-day kindergarten, “no school” meant no school.
Lunch was an issue.
The brutal truth about children: They get hungry. A LOT. And when a child is in school for even a few hours, he/she is gonna start asking for a snack every now and then. Being hungry at school was not an issue for my daughter because she was there for a full-day and got to eat lunch in the cafeteria and they also had snacks. But with my son, they didn’t serve lunch at first. I would, of course, feed my son breakfast before driving him to the bus stop, but eventually he started coming home and complaining about not being able to eat anything at school. Not even a snack. I took this up with the school and soon they started giving the P.M. kinders a brown bag lunch. The children were not able to eat in the cafeteria like the other kids, unfortunately, and, because they got a brown bag lunch, their choice of food was limited to a sandwich, fruit or veggie, milk and a cheese stick. This was not much of an improvement for my son because the only sandwich he would eat at that time was a peanut butter sandwich, and because a child in his classroom (where they were eating their food) had a peanut allergy, that kind of sandwich was forbidden. I really tried to get Jesse to eat the meat sandwich the school gave to him but he WOULD NOT touch it. (Even today, he doesn’t eat a meat sandwich!) I had to resort to sending along snacks, like crackers, for him to eat during their lunch time. When he went to first grade, however, the variety of foods available at the cafeteria took care of his lunch time problem.
Full-day kindergarten was SO much better than half-day because I had more time.
Now I have a personal reason why I like full-day kindergarten better than half-day: I got so much more done while my child was at school longer. I was able to work on my books longer, write more articles, read longer and run more errands – all because I had the time. I was able to get SO MUCH done in that uninterrupted time and it made for a better afternoon for myself and my child because, after a productive day, I could spend more time with her and give her more of my attention. I worked from home when both of my kids were in kindergarten so I did the bulk of my work while my daughter was at school. With my son, I did spend time with him for a while after he came home, but then I was back at the desk working on finishing up that last article I had to turn in to meet my deadline.
Going to kindergarten for half-day was not a complete disaster for my son, however. He still got to experience being in an elementary school setting. He still went on the annual field trips and got to attend the annual events. He still got to experience riding the bus to and from school. And he still got used to what kind of behavior was expected of him with his classmates and his teacher. I just really think full-day kindergarten would have been better for him because he would have been at school the same time that everybody else is at school and he would have been able to do more things. Learn more things.
Full-day kindergarten seems to have more benefit to children, in my opinion. I just really think it’s best for a child to attend kindergarten during the same hours their first grade and fifth grade classmates attend, because it will cause less confusion. I also feel they will be able to do more “kindergarten” stuff. I am glad students will be attending kindergarten fulltime this school year and I hope it will help ease their transition to regular first grade schedules when that time comes.
A couple of days ago, Jennifer was super late coming out of the school building after school was let out. She was kept after school for 20 minutes, actually, and it wasn’t because of detention. I asked her to explain what had happened and was a little angry by her answer.
By way of explaining, I will copy and paste an email I sent to the school about it:
“Yesterday, Jennifer was kept 20 minutes after school in her last class. When she finally emerged from the school, I asked her about what happened. To put it mildly, I was very troubled and a little angry after Jennifer explained to me what happened. Apparently, Jennifer has been placed into a Robotics class for her last class, and this was done without consulting either myself or her father. If we had known, we would have asked for an alternative. Robotics is not really Jennifer's thing and not something she is interested in, either. She told me she hates this class. Well, what happened was that yesterday, she was teamed up with a student who ended up sabotaging the assignment they were given. Jennifer was forced to try to fix it, put it all back together, all by herself and, of course, she was not able to because she didn't know how. She might as well have been asked to perform brain surgery! Because of this, the teacher gave her an F.
Jennifer was very upset and her dad and I are also upset. We feel she was wrongfully given this F and she did not deserve to be put into this situation. The whole thing is unfair.
Jennifer does strive to do well in school. Grades are important and we always work with her in areas she is struggling in at school. However, when it comes to an elective, I feel there should be a little more leeway as well as some feedback from a student's parents on what classes are available.
Please let me know if you or someone on staff will look into this. Please consider removing Jennifer from that class. I would be most interested in talking with the teacher myself and asking him/her to reconsider the grade. Perhaps Jennifer can do some extra credit instead of having the F on her record.
Thank you for your time. I look forward to your reply.”
Yep, you read that right. They placed Jennifer into a class that not only does she NOT have any interest in but also not exactly a knack for. If I had known they wanted to put Jennifer into a Robotics class, I would have requested an alternative class. But what really set me off was the F! I felt that was unfair, given the situation. (But life is unfair, right??)
Well, two people responded on this issue: The registrar and the teacher. I got some really good feedback on this situation and we managed to talk it out. Apparently, the Robotics class is a part of some kind of “rotation system” the school is using to introduce students to classes they may not otherwise understand and decide not to take. That’s fine. What bothered me, though, was a student given a failing grade in this class, and this grade counting towards their final grade for the school year! (This is what I found out when we discussed this further.) It makes more sense to give the students a grade that does NOT affect their final grade if it’s a class that is not required for completion.
Well, I got an email from the teacher today and it’s been decided that Jennifer can complete two assignments and, if she does well on those, her grade will go up. What a relief!
I still don’t understand why they grade students on these rotation classes but I am just glad this was resolved and we can do something to fix the bad grade that she was given.
Today I was reading this magazine and it had an article in it about getting ready for “BTS.” Huh? I thought. BTS? What’s that? But further reading gave me my answer. Apparently, “BTS” means “back to school.”
Ah, yes. Back to school. Already on it. Actually, I’ve been on it for months! We have been spending a lot of time getting ready for when the kids go back to school. Given that Jesse begins elementary school and Jennifer begins middle school, it’s a big deal! (I have also marveled over how each child is having his/her own milestone in his/her education. How interesting they both have these milestones!)
We have already gone back to being on a “school schedule." Kids are being put to bed earlier at night and they have to wake up earlier in the mornings. Jennifer and I spent some time synchronizing our schedules per the new school hours she will have and also discussing alternatives in the event her dad or I are late picking her up for school. (Gotta always have a Plan B!)
As for Jesse, I have already gotten things pretty much squared away with everything that needs to be in order for when he goes back to school. He gets a free breakfast at the school, so he told me he will not be eating breakfast in the mornings. I have worked with him on having “time limits” for getting washed up in the mornings, getting dressed and ready to go. Because the big problem we had during preschool was getting ready to go to school on time, we have been practicing that. I have also been fine-tuning his social skills, explaining that he needs to remember to share, to keep hands to himself and asking to do something instead of grabbing something from someone’s hands to do it. (But we’ll see how that goes!) Sometime ago, Jesse got a booklet for kids entering kindergarten and what sort of things they should know by then. He can write his own name, read basic words, knows his alphabet and can count to 100. But there were other things in that book, like knowing his middle name and address, and we worked on him memorizing those things, too.
As for both children, I already went through their dressers/closets to get rid of old clothes and decide what clothes they’ll need for the school year. (Both of them need jeans, sweatshirts and shoes.) I have also made sure they are up-to-date on vaccinations, though I’ll be double-checking on that soon when I take Jesse to get his physical next week and now that I just received a form in today’s mail on new vaccination requirements for kids entering kindergarten and 6th grade. We have already also discussed any other questions or concerns they had about their new schools.
I also worked on the budget for September to include back-to-school fees we’ll need to take care of for the big day.
So as far as BTS is concerned, we are pretty much on top of things. The kids will be getting their backpacks and shoes soon, Jen will get the rest of her school supplies soon, and Jesse will get the rest of his paperwork filled out soon. After all that, when the big day comes, I hope there won’t be any surprises or last-minute items to check off our list.
As someone who has been deaf for over two decades, I have become well aware that there are people who don’t seem to realize that there are deaf people in this world. I could only shake my head over news reports on the TV telling people how to evacuate in the event of a flood but the instructions WERE NOT closed-captioned on the TV (so I guess they wanted all the deaf people to drown?) or the time some idiot decided to push his shopping cart into my back because he “told me to move” when I could not hear him. I accept there are such things that will happen, just as I know that some people, especially those who are in a position to make certain choices related to my children’s ability to attend a school, don’t think for a minute that, gee, maybe there is a very good reason why I can’t get through to a parent on the phone. Why, maybe I should try e-mailing them instead!
I bring this up because of something that happened today. Something that got me VERY upset, very angry and just fuming.
Today I received an email from a teacher at Family School, a local school I chose as a second choice for my son, Jesse, to attend when he starts kindergarten in the fall. This particular teacher at this particular school informed me that she had left two messages (where?) and that, because she had not heard back from me, she automatically removed Jesse from a waiting list for that school. The waiting list thing is kind of important because it’s a backup plan in case Jesse ends up NOT getting into the school of choice we put on the form. She also informed me that if I wanted to put Jesse back onto their waiting list, I would have to fill out a School Choice Form all over again and resubmit. (Fat chance of THAT!)
That was the gist of her email. And, to be honest, I was a little shocked that this person did not even give me a chance to explain to her the situation. She just assumed I was not going to talk to her and removed him just like that. So sad, too bad.
Well, I was also a little angry about it. Because, you know what? This was the First Time I ever heard from this woman, even this school. I went through all of my archived emails just to see if I had missed anything from her, as well as deleted emails from this month and March. Nope, nothing. Not one email from her. The first time I EVER hear from this person, about THIS TOPIC, and it’s to tell me that because I have not answered her messages that I knew NOTHING about, she’s writing Jesse off. Thank you, have a nice life!
This was just REALLY uncool. Why did she not even try to contact me by email at all? She OBVIOUSLY has my email address! Plus, I specified on the School Choice Form that e-mail is THE preferred way to contact me. I didn’t write “DEAF-CONTACT THRU EMAIL” but now I’m thinking maybe I should have. Because obviously, people will see instructions to contact via email and think to themselves, “Email? We don’t DO email! We worship our mighty telephone and too bad for you if you can’t use one!”
After this, I don’t think I will even TRY to get Jesse back on their little waiting list. They obviously don’t want to bother with trying to contact his deaf mother in a way that works best for her. I only hope and PRAY the school that accepted him WILL be able to make room for him. Because if not, I don’t know what my chances would be in getting Jesse enrolled into a third elementary school that he could go to. I’d rather not rely on chance.
At least I know what school he WON’T be going to now.
UPDATE: On the evening I received that email, I replied and explained that I am deaf and that is why I didn't get the messages. The teacher sent back a response apologizing for the misunderstanding.
Not too long ago, I started a conversation with a friend (a local mom) about school enrollment for Fall 2013. Jesse starts elementary school and Jennifer starts middle school, so I wanted to know when I’m supposed to start getting things together to get the kids enrolled in their new schools. It’s REALLY interesting that I asked my friend about that at that particular time, because she directed me to a web site and the schools were opening doors to visiting new students and accepting applications right now!
Wow, I am SO glad I asked.
Anyway, I went over the web site with all that information, then had a sit-down with hubby and Jesse to talk about school choice. We decided to let Jesse pick which school he wanted to go to for kindergarten. (In Oregon, you don’t HAVE to enroll your child into the school that is in your district, which is how it was in California when we lived there.) He decided he wanted to go to Jennifer’s school. Jennifer already knows what middle school she wants to go to, and we have been spending time going over the school’s schedules and deciding on how to get her ready for this transition.
So now that I knew which school both of them wanted to go to, I arranged for Jesse to have a tour of the school. He ended up getting TWO tours, because after the secretary informed the principal she would be giving us a tour, the principal said she wanted to give Jesse a more formal tour at a later date.
Today was the date of the first tour. After I got Jennifer to school this morning, I woke Jesse up and we talked about his appointment for the tour while we ate breakfast. As he got dressed, he started to express some concerns to me. What if they don’t like him? What if they don’t like his hair? (His HAIR??!!) What if the kids think he is a baby? Etc. (Jesse still speaks with a bit of a lisp, just like Jennifer did when she started kindergarten.) I assured him they would love him and everything will be fine. There were lots of kids at the school who were his age and, besides, the little kids are on one side of the building and the big kids are on the other side.
So I eventually got him to the school right on time for the tour. The secretary was so nice to him and even at one point was holding his hand as they walked all over the school. They just really clicked! Jesse loved the school and everybody was so nice to him. (He especially liked the playground, too!) At the end of the tour, he drew a picture for the secretary and I bought him a school T-shirt. He has proudly been displaying it ever since he got it.
But I did get some bad news while I was there. After the tour, I was talking with the secretary and we went over the School Choice form which I had filled out and which I had given her when we arrived. She told me that, unfortunately, the school we choose is NOT guaranteed. Apparently, the school district has set up a lottery and students go into the schools they can be fit in. The officials draw forms from a basket and if the first choice school is not full, the student will go to that school. But if it is full, the student goes to the second choice school.
I was disheartened to learn about this. What’s worse is that Jesse does not have sibling priority, in which he’d be given priority for a school a sibling already attends. This is his sister’s last year at this school, so he doesn’t get priority. So we don’t really know if he’ll be able to go to that school. He might not be able to. Which stinks because we wanted him to go to that school because Jennifer went there, even though we left the decision up to him and did not say anything about what WE wanted. We decided to let him choose. But it seems the school district will get to choose; not the student and not the parent. I understand the reason for it but it still sucks.
I was bummed to learn this because another elementary school that is closer to us just had an Open House and we missed out on that because I was set on getting Jesse enrolled in the school he wants to go to. But at least the schools are still having tours. That is a good thing. I’ll have to get in touch with the two other elementary schools I put on the School Choice form and see if we can arrange a tour for Jesse.
As to Jennifer, I decided to head on out to see this middle school she and her friends kept talking about at their school. Students from this school have actually visited her school and told her about it. She has her heart set on going to this school but when I told her about the lottery, she got upset and a little angry. Anyway, I visited this school today as well and met with the secretary. She was very nice and the school itself was nice, too. There are lockers there! A big change from elementary school! So I talked with the secretary and scheduled a tour for Jennifer at a future date. I also asked about the middle school that is in our neighborhood, since I’ll have to put it on the School Choice form anyway, and made a mental note to check out one other middle school I’ll have to list as a third choice.
There was one other school I visited today – but not for scheduling a tour for the kids. This one was actually to donate a copy of Dogs Forever! to, since they opened up a Book Nook and put out a call for donations of gently used books for the students. This school, an elementary school, looked so much like Jennifer’s and I had to wonder how many other schools look so similar. It was still yet another school I had to visit today, and I got a cold reception at this particular school. They wouldn’t let me past the office! Well, I'm glad it's out of our way; certainly would not list it as a choice on the School Choice form! Still, I had a nice “school visiting” day all around and feel I got a lot accomplished.
Several years ago, one of my sisters turned in a report on the history of music. The teacher told her “very good” and gave her an “A” on her paper. The only problem was, it wasn’t her paper. She didn’t write it; I did.
For as long as I can remember, we all took turns doing each other’s homework. My mom would do homework assignments, as did my older siblings. We thought nothing of it. Sure, it was cheating, but at least everybody got a passing grade. I can still remember how, in high school, another sister called her BFF up every night of the school week to get answers to her math homework. I can still remember how I was asked to do another sister’s assignment, which was to write a letter to her congressman about animal testing, and how I was asked to write a different draft because the one I wrote was too sarcastic. (I have always been something of a smartass.)
After a while, I finally wised up and realized something was wrong here. This system wasn't right. It didn't seem right I was writing everybody's book reports or essays. They should do it themselves. Just because I was the writer in the family, and that I could put sentences together more coherently, it wasn't fair I was being used this way by my siblings. And yes, it IS being used! Eventually, I declined requests to write somebody's paper for them. They had to write it themselves. After a while, they took their "will you please do my homework for me?" requests to other people.
Sadly, many of my siblings are doing their kids' homework, too. Apparently, all that matters is the grade they get on their paper, not that the kid actually learns anything!
But the thing of it is, even as my siblings continue that tradition with their kids, I don’t do that with mine. And I don’t do that for anybody else, either. I won’t help somebody cheat. I won’t do anybody else’s homework anymore. I won’t become some kind of homework mill.
Maybe some parents don’t think it’s a big deal, but I do. I mean, how are kids supposed to learn anything if somebody else is doing their homework for them? It’s not right. And, fortunately, my daughter also understands that this is not right. When I told her about this, and about how I refuse to do that kinda thing anymore, she gasped and said, “Cheating is bad!” I’m glad she feels that way. Maybe I'm on the right track in not doing her homework for her.
Because we FINALLY had some nice weather today, and because the kids are finally over their fevers/coughs/sore throats, I took them to the park this afternoon. Before then, they spent some time out in the backyard, working with plants. I was so proud of them; they were pulling weeds, watering plants and checking on flowers, all without my asking! Anyway, after the park, we piled into the car and went to the grocery store. Everything was going fine, we were in the freezer section picking out dinner, when Jesse pointed at someone and said, "Hey! You're stupid!"
Jennifer looked at me in shock. I double-checked with her to see if he had said what I had THOUGHT he said. Yes, she confirmed that he did indeed call a complete stranger "stupid."
I grew up in a family where name-calling ran rampant. I myself called others names, but what hurt me the most was my father often calling me "stupid." This left a wound that has never really healed. But this is why I am so against name-calling. I just won't stand for it. We don't call names at home, so I had to wonder why Jesse was starting to call people a name.
It's possible he heard it on a TV show. But my husband thinks otherwise. He thinks Jesse has been exposed to name-calling at his preschool.
This is not the first time he has blamed Jesse's preschool for something. Sometime after Jesse started preschool, he began hitting and kicking us. We don't allow that kind of behavior at home. We don't hit and kick each other! (Unlike how my own childhood was like.) So after he started doing this, my husband thought Jesse picked up on that behavior at school.
I cannot really tell for certain if this is true. I HAVE quizzed Jennifer a couple of times on what goes on at that school, because she has spent the day there a time or two. She said that hitting, kicking and name-calling NEVER happened at the school. And believe me, I know Kim! She is one of the most gentle and nonviolent people I have ever met. She has enormous patience with those kids.
But, still...we have to wonder. What if a child did call someone a name? What if Jesse did pick up on that from his preschool?
Then again, we must remember: He's 3. He doesn't need to be exposed to these things at preschool for them to happen. He's a boy, he's a toddler, he's working through his emotions the only way he knows how.
And of course, I'm probably just making excuses here....
We have made it clear to Jesse we won't tolerate name-calling. In fact, at dinner, he called Jennifer a name and my husband had to remove him from the table to have a face-to-face talk with him about this name-calling business. I only hope it is enough. I don't want to take Jesse out of preschool just because he is exhibiting this behavior. Hopefully, something will click for him and the next time he sees a child calling someone a name, he will know that that's bad instead of copying it.
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