I'm an unschooler at heart, but my kids all go to a pretty traditional school full time. There are a lot of reasons for this, but there it is.
One of the things I dislike about traditional schooling - a selfish thing - is that my kids' teachers can sometimes make me feel about three inches tall. That happened today.
ANd I hate homework. Have I mentioned that I HATE HOMEWORK?
Thanks goodness summer is almost here.
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I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.
About Me
Blogs I Like to Read
- Amy's Very Cool Homeschooling Family
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- Blogging Baby
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2006
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May
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13 comments:
ugh! I hate the self righteous attitude school officials can sometimes take. For me it is most recently the kids' school principal. Her letter to me regarding a question I had about my son's special ed transportation issue only incited my righteous indignation. She most certainly didn't want to stir that up. She will soon discover why.
I agree, thank goodness school is almost out for summer.
Hang in there!
Hear hear! We are unschoolers (my daughter is a born unschooler and pretty much convinced me of the rightness of it). I totally agree that homework shouldn't be a part of a child's life. They already have to spend all that time in school, then they have to go home and do more schoolwork? It seems pretty outrageous to me, but then I'm a homeschool mom.
Seems like there's a lot of longing in your posts lately. I hope you're able to find the balance you crave.
Seems like there's a lot of longing in your posts lately. I hope you're able to find the balance you crave.
I long for more unhurried time at home with my children. More time to garden and bake cookies and sit on the porch with them. More time to spend with them together with my side of the family. I work too many hours but there's no way to cut back (and I do love my job and it offers a lot of flexibility for a demanding, fulltime job). a half-time or 65% time schedule would be perfect.
Katie, I am curious when you began to hate homework. Did you start when we had at least 2 hours every night at Webb, or did it develop later as a mom? I am a new mom, and I guess I have always thought 2 hours a night or so was normal. Now I wonder.
I did the bare minimum of homework at Webb ;-) I was an accomplished slacker who somehow managed to maintain a B average most of the time.
I began to REALLY hate homework when my first child went to school and began bringing home stuff he was supposed to do at night that ate into our family time together and kept him from playing or reading or being read to.
A resouding "I HEAR YOU" on all fronts. I also hate homework and now that I have two in school I really hate it!! I also long for abetter balance of work/home life. My happy medium would be part time, but my company would not hear of it. I hate feeling so rushed in the evenings and feeling like there is no time for really enjoying our time together. UGH! I on the other hand despise my job so it only makes things worse. Good luck!
this post could have been written by me (sp. the unschooler self vs the tradicional school my children go to). at least at my children's school there is no homework. ok, it's just a 3 to 9 yo school (pre-school and primary school), but still...
if I were you I'd cut on their after-school activities, or at least choose some more conveniently located. My children are much younger than yours (6, 4 and 1) but the older two just do swimming and that's what they'll be doing til they're 10 or 11, I guess.
I'm your fan from Lisbon, Portugal!
Marta
Marta-
I'd love to find a way to make our days shorter, but because I work 'til 6pm and then have to drive 25 miles to the other side of town and then 25 miles back to our house, there's really no way to do it. The afterschool activities are between 3 and 6, while I am at work anyway, so no impact there. What WOUDL help would be if I could find a reliable part time nanny to bring them home whne they are done rather than me having to add an extra 60-90 minutes to our day when I leave work at 6pm by having to go so far and then bring them home. Right now, their grandparents handle the afterschool shift, which I REALLy appreciate, but they live way far from me....
It's a dilemma, to be sure.
:-)
Consider yourself lucky to have grandparents whom live nearby!Be happy that you have an education and can find a job to support your children and your lifestyle.Stop whining.It is a fact of life that you have to work hard.Your children will be thankful for the time spent with their grandparents.Make the most of time together; it is not the quanity of time but the quality.Stop whining or make changes to put an end to your un-happy situation.
Huh?
I can be very grateful for all that I have and STILL WANT MORE TIME WITH MY KIDS.
Sheesh.
PS: I disagree that it's only "quality time" that counts. Quantity matters A LOT. Kids need to spend plenty of time with their mothers and fathers. Mothers and fathers need to spend plenty of time with their children. And sometimes UNquality time together - like just sitting around, is the best time of all.
Katie,
I totally hear you on this one. My 5 year old is in full day kindergarten AND comes home with what should be 15 minutes of homework, but what ends up being 45 minutes of cajoling, bribing, threatening, etc. There have been several assignments I decided we as a family are not participating in. I know this won't be possible once he reaches higher grades, but I think spending 45 minutes playing Monopoly Jr. teaches a lot more than a worksheet can.
Dear anonymous.
This is Katie's blog she gets to whine if she wants! However, nothing she wrote indicates she neither is ungrateful for her good fortune, education or job nor is she a whiner.
I think her dilemma is universal for full time working parents who have to commute.
In addition, parents always feel best and so do kids when there is plenty of unhurried unscheduled time together. "Quality time" is a bullshit invention from the media. There is no such thing and "quality" time for kids. Parents and kids feel best when they are in each other's company...
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