We have been so blessed that Ma-lak and Rea have had the teachers that they have. Mrs. Corwin and Mrs. McDaniel are absolutely perfect fits for our children, and I can't imagine anyone else teaching Ni'ke and Ya'shar when they get there!
I always love this time of year, we get to check out their classrooms and projects they've been working on and see how they've progressed in such a short amount of time! It's amazing to me how kids can absorb soooo much and how impressionable they are in ALL areas of their lives.
Rea's doing great, reading at a second grade level as she heads into first grade! We hope to keep up the momentum with her this summer and I plan on stocking up on some fun series for her that I used to read as a kid, The Box Car Children and the Baby Sitters Club! Hoping to get to Borders or Barnes and Noble this weekend! Anybody have any other good suggestions for books or where to get good deals? We might have to dust off the library card, too, now that I think of it... :)
Ma-lak did great this year, too, but tends to get a little bored once he's already learned something. If he learns it once, he's good, so if the teacher is spending time reviewing or going over it with kids who are struggling, then he's daydreaming and goofing off and doesn't do his work. I know that there are budget cuts in all the schools EVERYwhere, and it's becoming a pretty serious situation. Our districts here are for sure in for a rough school year this coming fall as many of the teachers who are retiring or leaving will not be replaced. So the class sizes are going up to 30-33 in some situations instead of the standard 20, and some of the grade levels are being combined to accommodate the cuts (1st and 2nd grades combined, etc...)
Teachers, you are amazing and we love you and our family prays for you daily!!
Having said that, as a parent, you tend to start to worry about how this is going to affect your children and their learning environments - more stressors in an already under-performing school doesn't seem to add up. There are more programs to aid the struggling ones than there are to continually challenge the ones who are doing well, and so goes the perpetual "teaching to the middle" saga. I'm equal parts sympathetic and frustrated. The talents of the gifted are leveraged towards the needs of the underachieving, and while it's nothing personal against the teaching abilities of the staff at ALL, it's just an infuriating flaw in the system!!!!
I have no easy solutions, and therefore I can't criticize, only observe and watch and pray and offer my help in the classrooms whenever I can. Ma-lak definitely has so much more to learn and he'll do well wherever he is, but right now we're just trying to figure out where the best place is for him to keep going in the right direction. If I weren't working, I'd home school in a heartbeat, but that or private school is out of the question right now. So, we'll just wait and see...
One thing for sure, these children are excited about summer break!!! Only 2 more weeks from today and I get them all to myself for 3 months!! Can't wait!!!
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