Thank GOD the kids are in school!

[Nitro Express]

Originally posted by blonddgirl777
I know that when I will see my son leaving for school for the first time, I will have tears in my eyes... "My baby"!

I am sad, just thinking about my maternity leave that will end in February (we have 1 year)...
The day care... UFF!


But I'm sure that it won't take long until I get to anticipate that "back to school" like everybody else...

[Ally_Kat]

Re: Thank GOD the kids are in school!

Originally posted by Susie Q
If I had to go one more day with the kids picking, fighting, and giving me one of those banging headaches, I would have pulled a Thelma and Louise.

I love my kids, I really do. But Jaysus Mighty, thank God for school.

On a side note....ever wonder why when we pay school taxes that we still have to dole out $60 a year in school supplies? Sure, paper, pens, book bag, etc. But what about the weird stuff they request? Poster board, index cards, tissues, calcuators (the ones that cost like $80-90).

But then unsuspecting people like me get them

Kids will use up tissues like you won't believe! Because the BOE won't supple moeny for those (hell, they won't even shell out money for textbooks), parents end up contributing to those.

Index cards are used in most classrooms as in-class flashcards. I know I used to have my kiddies put new vocab words we came across in all subjects. We put the word on the blank side and then we put the definition on the lined side. Would do a lot of study games in class that way. Really helped them learn. And easier to take home than 5 different notebooks.

[Susie Q]

Originally posted by SparkieD
How 'bout the fucking fundraisers they send the kids home from school with? Every damn year on the very first day of school they send mine home with a catalog chock full of expensive bullshit that she's supposed to sell. Crap that nobody needs or wants. Everybody wants to run and hide when they see a kid (or their parent) approaching with that shit packet. And what's worse, they pump the kids up with hope of winning these unrealistic prizes. I won't even let my kid participate. I refuse to pimp my child out like that. She can do some chores around the house and I will buy her a prize. WTF do they use these funds for??? Last year the said they needed a new keyboard system for the music department at the fantastic bargain of TWENTY GRAND!!! Meanwhile, they've made a little trailer park campus for the entire first and third grade, PLUS the playground equipment is as old as I am and very unsafe. Excuse me, music is very important, but safety is moreso and having a real classroom should be a priority, too.

Funny, there are many new schools here to deal with the population boom (hence the portables.) My kid's school in particular is the most in-demand school in this area as it is the very best in terms of academics. What gives???

I hear ya sister!!

Yah, what's up with that bullshit? It's such a pain in the ass, believe me. I never participate in any of that fundraising bullshit either. But...I gotta tell ya, in all honesty I HAVE found something that I am totally i belief with. It's a company that takes children's artwork and makes it into neat products. EACH shild receives a product (tile or bookmark) FREE. The item will come in when orders arrive. This way, for the kids that DIDN'T order anything will STILL have something to take home. No one will feel empty handed. (*disclaimer...I work for this type of fundraising company and believe me, if I didn't believe in it, I couldn't sell it*) www.kidstylesart.com

This is the kind of fundraiser that benefits the school, the kids self esteem, the parents and grandparents...it's a win/win situation. If anyone is interested in this kind of fundraiser for their school PM me, and I can hook you up I'm a sales rep for their company)

Anyways, My kids are in 6th and 9th grade, so I have been through the 'tears of the first days' with each of them. I just have the baby home now, when she does go off to school...Mommy will be a WRECK. The last bird leaving the nest...that's a hard one.

My 6th grader came home today after school to hand me off ANOTHER FUCKING LIST of SHIT that they require. What was the first list? Preliminary stuff? COME ON!! My son did the same thing when he came home.

[Susie Q]

Re: Re: Thank GOD the kids are in school!

Originally posted by Ally_Kat
But then unsuspecting people like me get them

Kids will use up tissues like you won't believe! Because the BOE won't supple moeny for those (hell, they won't even shell out money for textbooks), parents end up contributing to those.

Index cards are used in most classrooms as in-class flashcards. I know I used to have my kiddies put new vocab words we came across in all subjects. We put the word on the blank side and then we put the definition on the lined side. Would do a lot of study games in class that way. Really helped them learn. And easier to take home than 5 different notebooks.

Mine are older now. They are STAR pupils in school, they just raise hell with each other at home.

I just seems Ally that every year shit gets more and more demanding of 'stuff' kids need. Like I said last post....I had to go out and get MORE shit tonight. Why can't they just stick to paper, pens, and pencils? Why all these special requests? Like the one guy said a while back...what's up with the calculators in school now. It used to be you had to do it in your head. Is it a lazy society? What ya think? What grade do you teach?

[Seshmeister]

Originally posted by Nitro Express
My wife just couldn't go back to work so we hunkered down and lived cheap for awhile. Day Care is expensive and then you finish work and then you have to be mom. It burns you out.

Children do much better with a mom at home and they stay out of trouble and do better in school.

We drove old cars and went without the vacations our double income friends could take but a decade later I'm doing fine.

I think a lot of women are finding you either can excel at work or as a mom but doing both is hard, hard, hard work and it will burn you out.

To put our twins into daycare full time at 2 years old would be $4000 a month. Sorry forgot the generous 10% discount for twins. $3600 per month.

Didn't want to do it anyway but jeez...

[Ally_Kat]

Originally posted by bueno bob


Because, you know, it's just too hard for kids to focus on anything for three and a half hours without a 20 minute recess and a 20 minute snack break and designated bathroom runs, nap time, etc etc...

It is! And if you don't want to believe me, I have 30 kids who could change your mind.

Our day starts at 8. Our "lunch" is at 10am to 10:45. Dismissal isn't until 3. Without a snack, we have a bunch of whiney kinders. And if they're not happy, they make sure you're not happy. And if that's happening with one, they all mimic. Then it's anarchy. It's much easier to keep them happy and play psychological child mind games.

However, kindergarten shouldn't be having naps. In fact, you end up doing a lot of activities/lessons that end up with them burning off some of that energy so that they'll sit thru the other lessons.

But this is kindergarten, where going to school isn't so much about learning but procedures so they can become learners. If this is happening in first grade and up, I'd go to a different school.

[ALinChainz]

Nice sig Sesh ... damn nice banner.

[Susie Q]

Originally posted by Seshmeister
To put our twins into daycare full time at 2 years old would be $4000 a month. Sorry forgot the generous 10% discount for twins. $3600 per month.

Didn't want to do it anyway but jeez...

HOLY CHRIST Sesh! I would be living on the streets if I had to pay that much! What do you and Mrs. Sesh do with the seshlets?

[Ally_Kat]

Originally posted by Susie Q
I hear ya sister!!

Yah, what's up with that bullshit? It's such a pain in the ass, believe me. I never participate in any of that fundraising bullshit either. But...I gotta tell ya, in all honesty I HAVE found something that I am totally i belief with. It's a company that takes children's artwork and makes it into neat products. EACH shild receives a product (tile or bookmark) FREE. The item will come in when orders arrive. This way, for the kids that DIDN'T order anything will STILL have something to take home. No one will feel empty handed. (*disclaimer...I work for this type of fundraising company and believe me, if I didn't believe in it, I couldn't sell it*) www.kidstylesart.com

This is the kind of fundraiser that benefits the school, the kids self esteem, the parents and grandparents...it's a win/win situation. If anyone is interested in this kind of fundraiser for their school PM me, and I can hook you up I'm a sales rep for their company)

Anyways, My kids are in 6th and 9th grade, so I have been through the 'tears of the first days' with each of them. I just have the baby home now, when she does go off to school...Mommy will be a WRECK. The last bird leaving the nest...that's a hard one.

My 6th grader came home today after school to hand me off ANOTHER FUCKING LIST of SHIT that they require. What was the first list? Preliminary stuff? COME ON!! My son did the same thing when he came home.

OH! ME! ME!

We're a charter so we need to fundraise for the other half of what it costs to run our school, and we actually provide the majority of school supplies for the students. Mainly because we're a school on a mission to prove poor kids can be smart kids, too. All most of us ask is for a homework folder and schoolbag. Pencils, crayons, and the such are provided by us.

I'd have to drive it by the boss first. I think she'd like it as it's about the kids, which is what we're about.

[Ally_Kat]

Originally posted by Seshmeister
To put our twins into daycare full time at 2 years old would be $4000 a month. Sorry forgot the generous 10% discount for twins. $3600 per month.

Didn't want to do it anyway but jeez...

WTF?! That's more than some top-end private schools in Manhattan!

[Nickdfresh]

Re: Re: Thank GOD the kids are in school!

Originally posted by Ally_Kat
But then unsuspecting people like me get them

Kids will use up tissues like you won't believe! Because the BOE won't supple moeny for those (hell, they won't even shell out money for textbooks), parents end up contributing to those....

Get used to it. Most BOEs are run by petty assholes, often with no college degrees and an agenda that is very anti-intellectual and anti-teacher.

No child left behind...

[Ally_Kat]

Re: Re: Re: Thank GOD the kids are in school!

Originally posted by Susie Q
Mine are older now. They are STAR pupils in school, they just raise hell with each other at home.

I just seems Ally that every year shit gets more and more demanding of 'stuff' kids need. Like I said last post....I had to go out and get MORE shit tonight. Why can't they just stick to paper, pens, and pencils? Why all these special requests? Like the one guy said a while back...what's up with the calculators in school now. It used to be you had to do it in your head. Is it a lazy society? What ya think? What grade do you teach?

I teach the wee lil ones. Holding hands in the hallway. Snacks at 1:30.

I don't know about other states, but in ours, the DOE is pushing math earlier and earlier as their solution to fix our math gap with the rest of the world. You have kinders who can't read being asked to do muliplication and division. They're not developmentally ready, so they rely on calulators in those grades. In fact, Everyday Math has a whole unit on calculators in each grade.

Because of this whole closing the gap mentality, we're pushing more concepts on kids instead of building a strong foundation. Therefore, calculators.

And it's not like we're spending more time on math. Instead we're doing a 5-15 minute mini-lesson, having them work out some problem for another 10-15 mins, sharing for 5 mins, then moving on to another subject. They get a workseet for hw and that's that. Nothing else is really cared about until the big state math test comes. When I was in school, we did an hour for math. Plus, the lesson is scripted in the program, so it's not tailored for the kids in that class. Then there's only one huge assessment test and so much emphasis on this test that teachers teach on how to take the test instead of how to do the functions. Therefore, once again, calculators.

Then there are the kids who don't care.
Then there are the parents who don't care.
Then there are the teachers who don't care. That's right, teachers. You have a lot of teachers here in the city who have been in the system 20+ yrs, making over $100k a yr, and refuse to retire because they get about $2k added each yr and they're making a comfy yrly pension pay for the rest of their lives. This happens so often in non-teaching grades, so then kids are behind on stuff they should know and would be able to do.

It's a clusterfuck, really.

[Ally_Kat]

Re: Re: Re: Thank GOD the kids are in school!

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
Get used to it. Most BOEs are run by petty assholes, often with no college degrees and an agenda that is very anti-intellectual and anti-teacher.

No child left behind...

That's why I'm in a teacher-run school

[Susie Q]

Originally posted by Ally_Kat
OH! ME! ME!

We're a charter so we need to fundraise for the other half of what it costs to run our school, and we actually provide the majority of school supplies for the students. Mainly because we're a school on a mission to prove poor kids can be smart kids, too. All most of us ask is for a homework folder and schoolbag. Pencils, crayons, and the such are provided by us.

I'd have to drive it by the boss first. I think she'd like it as it's about the kids, which is what we're about.

Check your PM's Ally....

[chi-town324]

how bout the people at work that bring in the fund raiser packets from their kids...pressuring you to buy some bull shit candles and what not...