The boys went to school with a friend for the last 30 minutes of the school day yesterday. They attended with a mother who was assigned to go in and help with the "reading group," so they could all be together to go to the pumpkin patch after school. It was their first time ever to appear in public school while in session. Here is the report, as it was given to me last night at 10 p.m.:
"Writing the 'thank you' letter as I had planned didn't work," Trinidad told me. He'd brought a writing project to keep himself busy as the other kids read; he doesn't yet enjoy reading.
"The kids kept coming up and saying, 'Wow! you wrote that? That's really good! You write so good!' ...And I kind of liked it, but I couldn't concentrate, and there were more and more kids coming up, so I finally just put it away."
"There were Magic Tree House books," said Sam.
"Yeah, but the teacher wouldn't let Sam read any of them," Trinidad said. "She said she could tell by looking at him that he was not old enough to be reading those."
Sam has read several of the Magic Treehouse chapter books to himself. They are his favorite series. He reads aloud to us from Narnia, and even "sneaks" Harry Potter, because "now that [he] can read, [I] can't stop [him]." He's not quite five and a half, still smallish and chubby cheeked.
"So, what happened then?" I asked.
"Well, A-- tricked the teacher by reading only half of the Dr. Suess book and having Sam read the rest to her. She took it to the teacher and said she'd finished it. M-- saw that, thought it was a great idea, and had Sam read his for him, too. Then J-- and A --....."
I got the picture.
"A-- tells me they write every day," said Trinidad.
"What do you think of that?" I asked.
"I feel sad," he said. "Because they don't like to do it. I'd rather Unschool," he said.
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12 years ago
2 comments:
Hey sweetie,
This is an important little snippet showing how the public school system SLOWS down learning. The problem with catering to thirty kids at a time, let alone the grade system is that the system tends to make everyone at the same place, let alone the same interests.
Thanks for not schooling. I want to grow old in Trin's world, not M's world. (although M is pretty cool)
you all are the best,
hugs,
me
That's kinda poignent. Wow.
Thank you for takin' such good care, for takin' so much time, for allowing them the autonomy to grow.
They are some cool, aren't they?
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