Thought I'd just throw up some links of things that I've seen lately that I think are neat!
First, Great post on how to get your kids to clean their rooms. You need a system! Reminds me of this post on age appropriate chores I wrote a while back.
And along those lines, here's another good post on how to get little ones to help you tidy! And another very worthy one (with pictures!).
Here's an interesting article on why a woman decided to be a SAHM. I like the feel of this article--I might chronicle my own journey soon in a post!
Now for something complete different: Here's what's supposed to be a feel good article about teachers in Reader's Digest: 20 Things Your Child's Teacher Won't Tell You. It's written by the American Federation of Teachers, so it's slanted. I find things like this a little difficult to read. One point, for instance, says:
4. We don’t arrive at school 10 minutes before your child does. And we don’t leave the minute they get back on the bus. Many of us put in extra hours before and after school. Ah, but I know teachers who DO arrive 10 minutes before (or sometimes after class is supposed to begin) and they leave early. Some do work long hours. But not all.
The truth is some teachers are amazing. Some do have a calling. But not all do. I don't understand why teachers get so defensive about this. If you're a great teacher, parents will know it. We parents talk about who the good teachers are. We try to arrange to get our kids into your classes.
If you're a lousy teacher, though, parents know that, too. We're allowed to criticize electricians, pastors, plumbers, and cashiers. Why is it so sacrosanct to not criticize teachers? Hint to you teachers: it makes you look incredibly thin-skinned, and makes us not take you seriously. We love the great teachers. If your unions would stop whining, we may appreciate the rest of you a little more, too. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but that's how we feel! You do yourselves no favours when the line taken so often in the media is, "teachers are awesome. They do a great job. The fault lies entirely with parents." We know some parents are lousy, but not all are, just like with teachers. When you take "it's everybody's fault but ours" line, it sounds like you're just passing the buck, and it's hard to respect someone who does that.
Another note: whenever I post on teachers, I invariably have commenters questioning my right to post on this, because I homeschool my kids.
That assumes that the only people who have a stake in the education system are parents whose kids are there right now. But I have friends with kids having great trouble in school because of teachers, or curriculum, or bullying. I have nephews and nieces in the school system.
But more importantly, aren't we all stakeholders in the education system? First, we're stakeholders simply because our tax dollars go to fund it, and so we all should have a say. But secondly, we're stakeholders because all our future doctors, nurses, clerks, garbage collectors, lawyers, designers, and computer engineers are currently in school. If we care about the future of our country, we care about schools, whether our own children are in public schools right at this minute or not.
I hope that addresses that concern!
What do you think on these issues? Any great suggestions for kids' chores? Why did you decide to stay home (if you do)? Any thoughts on schools, teachers, or thin-skinned unions? How do we help teachers and parents get on the same page again? I'd love to hear your thoughts on any of these issues!
 Labels: blogging, chores, teaching |
Stumble It!
As a full time teacher I can tell you that if a teacher is doing their job well, they are never showing up 10 min. before class or leaving early. Most teachers at my school work more than 50-60 hours a week including prep, marking, extra-curricular activities and actual classroom teaching. So yes, there are teachers who drop the ball just as there are parents who would rather have the teacher parent their child than do it themselves. I've had parents ask me to discipline their child at school so they don't have to do it at home and look like "the bad guy". I've even had a dad ask me to take his son's xbox away from him! So it definitely goes both ways. Communication between parents and teachers is key though. If we can work together and tag-team the students for their good, it can be powerful!