Lately I’ve been feeling very irate and concerned about Ashlyn’s schooling. Ever since she started kindergarten, things have not gone smoothly for one reason or another.
Last week, after having completed 1/3 of the school year, I just found out about a math workbook we never got. Assigned pages from the math workbook are supposed to be attached to homework packet we turn in each week….the same homework packet we’ve been getting back with stars, happy-faces, and stickers on it (with NO comments or inquiries of the missing math section).
And if I had not overheard a fellow-mom’s conversation, I bet we would have gone the rest of the school year not knowing. So I approached the teacher the next day about it:
Peg: “do you have an extra workbook?”
Teacher: “no.”
Peg: “can you order one for us? I’ll pay for it.”
Teacher: “it’s difficult to place an order for just one book.
Peg: “can I find/purchase it at Lakeshore?”
Teacher: “no.”
She offered me nothing. So, what?!…are we shit out of luck?…we won’t be doing any math this year?
Luckily, a fellow-mom offered to let me borrow her workbook to make copies. But seriously, what the hell? This is just one issue. I’ve had issues regarding safety in the past where I’ve found Ashlyn wandering beyond the gate before I pulled up to pick her up. Not to mention the many folders we have to keep track of every day (daily folder, Apple book folder, homework collection folder, Friday communicator folder, and “I Can Read” folder) that gets lost on a weekly basis. I’ve scolded Ashlyn countless times about her forgetfulness and lack of attention. But now I know it’s not all her. I’m not happy with Ashlyn’s teacher and I’m not quite sure what I should do. I have a friend who’s a teacher and another friend who’s a principal tell me that I need to complain to the school. I’m hesitant because I fear that Ashlyn would suffer the repercussions for the remainder of the school year. And what parent wants to do that to their kid? *Argh!*
I don’t remember kindergarten being so complicated. Ashlyn and I spent two hours today completing the homework packet (probably wouldn’t have taken so long if Ashlyn didn’t insist on coloring Larry Lion in a rainbow of colors). I find Ashlyn’s homework kinda hard for kindergarten. Aside from practicing letter writing, phonemic awareness, cutting/pasting, and math, they have reasoning pages that are not so easy. Today’s, for example, totally stumped me:
He runs after me on his two legs.
He likes to go swimming with me.
A ___ is a good pet because it eats bugs.
What is ____?
After bugging Aric at work with this, he came up with “monkey” as the answer. What do you think? Help us if you can.
Sorry I haven’t been updating much. The kids occupy ALL of my time. I thought the older they got, the easier they would become….and they are easier to an extent, but now I find myself busier than ever.
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:05 pm
I think it might be a duck.
http://kiddyhouse.com/Farm/ducks.html
Let me know how it goes~
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:08 pm
____ is a duck!
peg: yeah, i thought so too….but the furry part got me.
January 23rd, 2007 at 8:24 pm
thanks for posting when you can! that’s what a lot of my friends tell me–it gets easier and busier all at the same time! and, yeah, they’re pushing kids so hard so early. have a ph.d from caltech friend who says the work is too hard for his daughter! i’m still seriously considering doing an independent study(homeschool)/part-time class with naomi. we’ll see. that reasoning riddle stumps me, too! i don’t know if monkeys like to swim or if they really run on two legs (i guess a chimp might), but i don’t have a better answer. i’ll let you know if i think of one.
peg: as ideal as it is, i know i don’t have the patience to homeschool. i can teach everyone else’s kids but my own. for ashlyn, she seems to take directions better from others than me. sad, huh?
January 23rd, 2007 at 9:07 pm
Thanks for sharing your updates, I miss you.
……a small chick?
January 23rd, 2007 at 10:00 pm
That’s a ridiculous riddle. I think it’s suppose to be for an adult, other I guess you could technically write whatever the hell you want. AND BESIDES that, I didn’t know that Kindergartners are suppose to already know how to spell out words??!! Darrell and I can’t come up with anything. We’re stumped, most furry animals use four legs.
AND it doesn’t make sense that a teacher wouldn’t notice that Ashlyn has not been doing math homework. The teacher should have noticed ages ago and should have mentined it. Have you thought about volunteering one day a week at her school? My sister did that it was easier for her to keep track of what Collin was doing in school. THAT and making sure he was making the right choices. (ie hanging out with the smart kids and not learning from the bratty ones) ALSO, if you volunteer, you get a better idea of which teachers are good. That way when Ashlyn gets into 1st grade, you can make sure she has the teacher you want her to have. That’s what my sis has been doing. SHEESH it’s tough being a mom.
peg: because i still have summer at home (and no babysitter readily on hand), volunteering for ashlyn’s class is difficult. i’ve volunteered twice (both times, aric took a half-day to stay home with summer), and it was nice to see the teacher in action and the curriculum for the day. no doubt, all the kids love the teacher…but from my observation, she doesn’t seem to “connect” much with the parents. she’s aloof and doesn’t seem aware about things that concern parents. thanks for your comments, evain! miss you and darrell.
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Peg- call me tomorrow or let’s get the kids to the park so we can talk. I am having issues with cade’s teacher as well and as soon as we get the Gate scores, we are going to try to switch him out of her class. TUSD sucks.
you have to talk to the principal. If the teacher changes her treatment to Ashlyn in a negative way, you report that as well. It will be her job and her butt on the line. If she is dumb enough to treat your kid differently because of the math book thing (etc etc) she should not be there in the first place. kwim? doesn’t it suck when you go from a GREAT private school environment to these crappy tustin public schools? Blue ribbons and distinguished school awards my as…….
January 23rd, 2007 at 11:59 pm
Oh and if you ever want to volunteer for like an hour (our school does it in hour increments) dude, daniel and i will walk on over and watch summer for you!:razz:
peg: thanks, kimi!!! you help us out so much and we still owe you guys dinner. i’ll be calling you soon!
January 24th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Oh wow… what kind of riddle is that?! Good lord… hurts my brain. That is weird why the teacher never commented about the lost math pages. The teacher doesn’t sound like she’s doing her job. Geez!
January 24th, 2007 at 10:49 am
Peg- I asked my mom’s board (and they are hilarious!) but the only two realistic and G rated answers they came up with are brother or duckling.
Can you let me know the answer because you have about 60 women dying to know (and some are Phd and have no clue!)
peg: hehehe, i’ll let you know when we get the homework back.
January 24th, 2007 at 11:38 am
I’m gonna guess duckling, even though I don’t think they make good pets because ducks smell so bad
Sorry about your conversation with Ashlyn’s teacher
But I wouldn’t be too quick to complain to the principal. Maybe she was just having a bad day? Teachers are human too. I would try asking her about it again.
peg: i agree about complaining to the principal. i understand she has 31 other students to tend to (which was why i tried not to be too upset whenever i found ashlyn past the gate when picking her up), and i just found out that the homework packets are graded by volunteers (which was probably why no one noticed that math was amiss).
January 24th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Hey Peg, We also think it’s a duck. WTF??? I can’t believe Ashyln’s teacher is so clueless!
You should complain to the Principal. I believe the office will keep any complaints anonymous. (you would think)That is just totally unacceptable and I personally would not stand for it!!
They definitely raised the standards for Kindergarten since we attended.
(No more naps and playtime, that’s for sure) Matthew is basically learning the same thing as Ashlyn except for the riddle portion.
Call me and we can swap stories!!
January 26th, 2007 at 8:25 am
STRAIGHT to the principal’s office/email.
I am having a problem with Honor picking up the not quite FLUENT EnGLISH accent from his English teacher!~
First half of the day is completely cantonese and the second half- a supposed “English Teacher” takes over- but now I am spending my time BREAKING him of his Fob Accent and pronunciations- ie: His classmate’s name is Jasmine- TWO syllables- he’s pronouncing it- Jas-a-mine. I was wondering WTH until I heard his teacher saying it- ARRGH but yeah after I emailed the Principal- he was so on board= because he noticed the teacher’s lacking english skills as well. Get to the top- you can always ask that it be done anonymously. Good Luck! So frustrating!
peg: ashlyn also went to a fobby preschool, and all her classmates called her Ash-a-lyn. HAHAHA!