We are beginning Week 4 of Kindergarten today. Thank you Chicago Public Schools -- in the 3 weeks that we've had so far, we've only had 1 full week, and actually, while this is a full week, he has a day off the following week. Looking at the CPS calendar (we are "Regular Track"), Chris & I are continually in amazement how many days he gets off -- he has 6 days off in November!
So far, it's been going okay. I really like his teacher. She's really communicative with parents and seems to be on top of things. The first few weeks have centered around forming letters, both upper and lowercase, as well as beginning to get into their reading and math groups. We've had 2 meltdowns at school where he wasn't able to write his name -- he's fine writing it all uppercase, but has balked at lowercase and we haven't forced him. But, in the first week of school, she wanted them to write their full name (copying it off of their name tag) and he freaked out! The second meltdown was 2 weeks later because he wasn't at his name tag and couldn't spell his last name by memory.
The hardest adjustment for us all is just understanding the routine. Everything is brand new to us and it is hard for me as a mom to not be able to provide any guidance to Ben because I don't know how things work either. For example, Chris is dropping Ben off in the mornings on his way to work, but school doesn't start until 9:15 am and he has to be at work by 9, so he drops him off around 8:45. All of the children (K-8) who get there before school starts are kept in the cafeteria where they are then called out grade by grade to go to their classrooms.
Imagine being a 5 year old in a cafeteria with hundreds of other children where you don't know anyone, don't know what you're supposed to be doing or when you're leaving. Yeah, stressful. Chris left him the first day and called me later and told me that he was glad that I didn't have to do it because I probably couldn't have come away from the experience unscathed. Ben didn't cry, but the kid across the table was. Unfortunately, he ended up getting lost when they called his grade to leave :( The next day, when Chris dropped him off, he was crying and he Chris stayed with him until it was time for him to go to his classroom, which was good because then Chris could understand the process and he could drop him off in the optimal place for Ben to be able to hear when his grade is called.
The amount of homework has been excessive for a Kindergartner, in my opinion. His school is a Classical school, which in this case means that they are working a grade level ahead, and I believe it. He daily has at least 30 minutes of homework, which includes handwriting practice, math, and reading. In addition, he is supposed to be doing 15 mins of reading each day (we don't), and learning his sight words. This makes our after school routine somewhat cramped as we get home around 3:20, get a snack, put the baby down for a nap, do homework until about 4:15 and then have about 30 mins of downtime until I am making dinner, eating, bath and then starting the bedtime routine at 7:15. Part of the problem is that CPS has the shortest day in the country -- his runs from 9:15 - 2:50, which is 5 hours, 35 minutes. The short day, combined with the large number of days they get off make the work they do at home that much more.
There's a big debate on how to extend the day raging in Chicago right now. I'm for a longer day, but I sincerely hope that some of the homework they send home right now would actually be done in class instead of at home. Some days I feel like I'm homeschooling him!
Though honestly, I'm not complaining about it. I'm happy with the way he is progressing and his attitude has been amazing. He is so-so about whether or not he likes school (or so he tells me), but he's making friends and not complaining about having to do his homework, even telling me he'd like to do it. He has definitely been ready for the challenge academically. I want to make sure he gets downtime in and not push him so hard so young. I was talking to my friend whose son is in a good neighborhood school and their homework is currently drawing pictures for about 5 minutes. She makes the good point that how can kids who come from neighborhood schools compete with kids from Gifted/Classical schools when the level of work is so disparate?
I have three opposing forces working within me when I think about all of this. One is upset that I am unable to homeschool my son to spare him of all of the initial anxiety of having to learn new routines and being with him when he doesn't know how to do things like write his name in upper and lowercase letters. However, I know that it would never work for us. I remember asking a homeschooling friend what she does when her son says "No!" when she asks him to do something. She told me that her son very rarely does that and basically does what she asks him to do. This would most certainly NOT be my experience with Ben. He would fight me 80% of the time, particularly when we were working on things that didn't come easily to him (i.e., anything but math).
The other force is the suck-it-up force. Both of my parents worked full-time. I was in daycare from the time I was 2 years old. I went to before school care, after school care, etc. I got teased by older children for being Korean at one of my daycares. I had to learn new routines whenever we switched daycares (which we did after I was getting teased continuously). As a result, I was very independent from a young age. Maybe it's good for him to struggle and figure out things on his own. Still, as a mom, it's hard to watch your kid struggle even if it might be good for him.
The third force is the trust God force, that we are in this school for a purpose and to make the best of it. For the first time, Ben is making friends independent of me and we have an opportunity to be lights for Christ in this school. We told Ben that some people might not know who God is at this school and he said "EVERYONE knows who God is!" and we told him no, that's not necessarily true.
We finally do feel this week that we're starting to get a better handle on things and getting more comfortable with the school and our new routine... just in time for me to start stressing over getting Caroline into Skinner!
6 comments:
I have been waiting and waiting for this update! :) We had a lot of the same feelings when Evan started school - although our dropoff situation is a lot easier, from the sound of it. Evan had a TON of homework - only on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, though - and the writing was the worst part. I loathed the spelling homework. I also find it hard to know how to be involved with Evan's school since I have 2 younger kids. Emailing the teacher has helped a lot. We really should plan a phone call because I'd like to hear how your whole family is doing. :)
Thanks for posting this. It's really good to compare with our public K experiences. We have had some similar ones, though it makes a big difference that we knew a few kids in K at this school. Emma has a fair amount of homework too, though no math and less reading. The hard part for me is EXACTLY what you said. The homework is not hard, but she gets home at like 3:40 PM and that's not enough time to rest, have dinner, bathe, and get the homework done without keeping her on a tight schedule, which is not what I want to push toward in the first month of K either. I think she should get some rest with a full day K week. We also have the option of early drop off, but it is crazy to think of 5 year olds navigating everything alone in a big school with 10 year olds present! I love our school and our teacher, but it's definitely a learning curve for parents and kids who are new to this system. Usually Dan and Jeff drop the kids off. Maureen and I were each dropping off kids on Friday last week and we were totally confused! Like all new things, I guess it takes time for everyone to adjust.
Wow, it is interesting to hear experiences in other areas of the country.
Our K is from 7:35 a.m. - 2:25 p.m. (Yes, we leave the house between 7-7:10 every day).
We are supposed to do 15 mins of reading every day, which is easy for us to do by reading at bedtime. The homework has been really easy, and I'm a little worried about him being bored. There is a decent amount of it, but it is stuff he already knows. (Drawing shapes and labeling them/naming things that start with certain letters, etc, etc) Also emphasis on knowing our address and phone number by heart.
I wish I could go home with him every day and have that afterschool time to do homework. He is in afterschool care from 2:45 - 5, and usually they finish their homework with them there. If not, we do it after dinner, before bedtime.
Poor Ben, getting lost that day.
:-(
Hi Kindra,
I've enjoyed reading your comments about school for Ben. Don't you love schooling dilemnas? At least you have this wonderful public school option. Where we live, there isn't a choice, it's just the local public school (with no gifted or advanced program until 3rd grade).
I wanted to send Sophia to kindergarten at least since it's half day, but she was already reading and her math skills are where the kindergarteners end the year. The private school options here aren't great either (besides not in our budget)....So we are homeschooling. I still can't believe it, it's definitely been a God thing. Because a year ago, I would have said exactly what you said that I couldn't do it because of Sophia's personality. But, last year when she was in pre-K I started teaching her to read. we started the book 3 times before it took, the first two times we only made it to day 8 (at the most) before screaming fits began. And we've been going for 5 weeks and I still have at least one day a week where I'm ready to go sign her up at school. However, there are positives... academically she is already ahead of where she would be at the end of the yr in public school, we're able to teach her from a Biblical worldview (using Sonlight curriculum), very flexible schedule (we're done with school in 2hrs a day), and probably the biggest benefit, although most painful, is we have to work through the screaming/frustration fits (i.e. talk about a sanctifying process for Mommy!)
Oh, and the homework is one main reason why I think it would be very hard for me to school (whether private or public), because they are gone all day and then come home and have more work to do. (Especially when part of the reason the local public school does homework is to make sure the parents are working with the kids, even if they get done with their work early in school, they still have to bring homework home). Not sure how we would have time to do the other stuff we want to do as a family. But we're also taking it one day at a time.
Definitely agree in your post that God is sovereign and we have to trust Him in all of our education matters. And it sounds like Ben has a great school to go to!
Thanks for posting the update, somehow it is encouraging to know that whatever decision each of us makes regarding school, there are positives and negatives with all.
Take care!
Deborah -- I know what you mean about writing being the worst!! I know why they do it early in the year -- they can't do anything if they can't write -- but it's downright painful sometimes.
Lisa -- I'm glad that you feel the same way. Sometimes I think I should be pushing him more, but he needs some time to rest too! That's so nice that Andrew goes to school with Emma. Makes it definitely less stressful!
Katie -- we read to him everyday too as part of the bedtime routine. They want HIM to read for 15 minutes, PLUS they want us to be drilling him on sight words. After a full day at school, plus homework, plus sight reading flashcards, we're all pooped! I don't know how moms who work outside of the home do this!! Seriously -- getting home at 5, making dinner, doing homework, bed -- do you guys get any downtime at night?
Marie -- thanks for your comment!! Makes me think that maybe I could homeschool him if a gun was pointed to my head :) I am sad he's not getting a biblical worldview -- we've just had to work at it more at home (i.e., memorizing bible verses, hosting kid's bible study at our church on Wednesday nights). You're SO right -- no educational opportunity comes without cost.
too funny, Kindra. Oh, and there are some "die-hard" homeschoolers who have children they can't homeschool. One of the leaders of our co-op has her son in private school and is homeschooling her daughters, said she never thought she wouldn't homeschool, but it wasn't working. For us we were willing to give on either the academics or biblical worldview (and work on the other at home), but not both! Look forward to hearing how the year goes and makes me think I should start pushing for charter schools here (won't happen, no money).
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