martinzoo

My friend, Dana, from School for Us, has been having some trouble with her daughter. She doesn’t know if her daughter appreciates how good it is to be homeschooled since she has never been to public school. I think Dana also worries, like a lot of us, about whether she is providing a quality education that would stand up to what the public schoolers get.

GB did go to public school for kindergarten and first grade. So we have an advantage in that area. He never asks to go back to public school. He has very negative feelings toward public schools. And his memories are still vivid. So after reading one of Dana’s emails, I asked GB what he specifically did NOT like about being in public school. And I thought I’d post his list because maybe other kids would share his opinions or like to know what his opinions are about ps. Plus, I thought it could help some of the blogging moms whose kids constantly pester them about going off to school like the other kids.

This list is from my email to Dana:

1- He hated waiting for everybody to finish their work before they could start something new, because he always got in trouble while waiting. He just couldn’t stay quiet and still.

2- Every time something outside the classroom was happening (like resource, lunch or recess), they had to clean up, get in a line and then stay in that line while they walked to the activity. Kids would push, or whisper, or fall out of line and then get in trouble for that. **GB always felt like a bad kid in school because the teacher was always punishing the kids.

3- He hated silent lunch. One hundred fifty kids per grade level is a lot of noise, so the cafeteria ladies always wanted silent lunch until 5 minutes before the bell. I got pretty peaved when I went to the school to eat lunch with my child and I was not even allowed to talk to him.

4. GB eats slow, so he hated the fact that lunch was only 20 minutes.

5. Public school kids are gone ALL day. Our kids leave at 8:40, which means you have to get up around 7:30, and they don’t get home from school until 4:20.

6. They have homework, which is supposed to take 5 minutes, per subject, per grade - for example: GB is in 4th grade, so 5 minutes X 4th grade = 20 minutes per subject. That is what is assigned, but if it takes you longer, you still have to do it. And with GB’s disgraphia, he has a hard time with his writing assignments. So that’s a minimum of one more hour of school work. If they have after-school sports, it leaves no time for playing with toys, video games, or just watching a favorite TV show.

7. They move from subject to subject whether you are ready or not. Since GB writes so slowly, he would often miss recess because he hadn’t finished writing. OR he would have to take it home and add it to his homework assignments. OR he would cheat and do crappy work just so he could be done with the writing.

8. If he was really interested in a subject, he wanted to keep talking about it. But the teacher wanted to move on to the next subject. I can understand this from the teacher’s perspective because it’s hard if all the kids want to have a say in what they discuss. But from GB’s perspective, he likes focusing on ONE subject until he gets tired of it. He’s kind of the opposite of ADD…LOL!

9. He did not like it when the teacher would decide what they would play during recess. She would tell them that they were going to play kick ball, then divide the teams herself. GB would have preferred to chose his own recess, like playing Star Wars or something. Sometimes he just wanted to play by himself. That’s the kind of kid he was then.

10. He hated the bus! It smelled terrible, it was too bouncy and he got a stomach ache each day, and the big kids picked on the little kids. And the bus driver ignored it all. GB got his head smashed against the bus window when a kid swung his back-pack up to the front of the bus. The bus driver never noticed.

11. He hated having a music class! He despises singing and got in trouble each week that singing was required because he would refuse to sing….. even in first grade! He’s THAT stubborn. I really got tired of them acting like he was a bad kid because he wouldn’t just do what they told him to do, like singing. And you can forget him dancing, too! That just cracks me up to think about! With homeschooling, we just skip the singing stuff. I’m hoping some day that he’ll enjoy music more.

12. GB did not feel safe in school. He was victimized by bullies (yes! even in first grade!), and felt like the teachers and principal could not be relied upon for help.

Dana and I are hoping to hear from other moms who have taken their kids out of ps. And out of curiosity, I’m wondering about families whose children never went to ps.

So…. Questions….

1) If your child has ever attended public school, did they like it, or dislike it?

2) If your child has never been to public/private school, do they want to go?

3) If they’ve never been to school, do they understand the differences between the educational approaches?

4) Do you think your children are satisfied with the opportunities they’ve been given.

I can tell you positively that GB is much happier as a homeschooled child. And I’m much happier having him home. I wish I’d done it for my older kids.

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In another post I’d like to address how I felt while my kids were in school, and the interactions I had with the public schools and my children’s teachers. Because that’s a whole other ballgame.