Peg’s Journal

Thank you for all the comments/help on yesterday’s post. We won’t know the correct answer to the reasoning riddle (if there is one) until Friday.

Ironically, after yesterday’s rant about Ashlyn’s teacher, she came up to me to inform me that Ashlyn was not focusing on today’s classwork. Ooooh, I wonder if the teacher reads this?!
I was soooooo pleased that Miss M finally approached me and said something. I feel better now knowing that she acknowledges Ashlyn’s deficiency. That simple gesture pretty much wipes the slate clean with me. Yes, I’m soft. It doesn’t take much to get on my good side. I don’t think I have high expectations from a teacher, but I do expect to be informed if my child’s behavior or academic progress needs attention. Up until today, I’ve not heard a peep from Miss M….instead, I’ve received a few calls from concerned moms that noticed when volunteering.

Ashlyn is a really smart kid. And it kills me to know that she chooses to socialize rather than do assignments. At home, we’ve been working on helping her maintain focus and teach her the importance of listening, following instructions, school, classwork, and homework. Together we came up with an incentive chart (above). If she collects enough stickers, she can choose something fun to do over the weekend (ie…movie theater, Chuck E Cheese, bowling, Disneyland, Kids Museum, etc..). So far, we’ve noticed that it’s working…of course, today’s lack of focus in class costed her the Star Party tonight (Astronomy Night at school).

Anyhow, we just completed the assignment that she didn’t finish in class…and again, I’m tripping over the complexity of kindergarten work. Venn Diagram on a book they learned in class. I must be an idiot, because at this rate, Ashlyn will be passing me up by 5th grade.

Tags: school

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:

I have a soft, furry ___.
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.

Tags: kiddies, school