Category: Education

Little Bookworm had a spelling test on Halloween based on a list of holiday inspired words. To that end, among other words, the list had the words “ghoulish,” “ghastly,” “glowing,” “spooky” and, to my surprise, “florescent.” “Interesting,” I thought, “that the teacher should include in this ghoulish list a fairly

I bet you remember your fourth grade class play.  I remember mine.  I was a string bean, and I got to say a few lines about the importance of Sun, Wind and Water (all played by classmates of mine) in keeping me green and growing.  Each class got up on

Since I’ve been grumbling non-stop about issues connected with my kids’ new career as public school students, I think it’s only fair to say that I came away impressed after the parent-teacher conference with my son’s teacher. The teacher seemed to understand my son pretty well — his strengths and

More from the public school front. My daughter today told me that, during P.E., she got a special commendation for the fact that she didn’t care if she won at kickball or not. Apparently the modern notion of good sportsmanship is no sportsmanship at all. I went ballistic. I told

The other day, I asked if I was unreasonable to find it inappropriate for a curriculum-driven teacher to take classroom time to go hiking. It occurred to me after asking the question that, in relying on my child’s take on events, I could be doing the teacher a disservice. The

Am I right to be irked that my daughter’s public school teachers have missed three days of school to go on a charity walk? Charity is fine, but I feel that this is being done at my child’s expense. After all, we’re talking about a professional demographic that enjoys three

I’ve been griping about my and my children’s transition to a very high-rated public school. I still think my gripes are legitimate but even I, who am the whiney kind, recognize that it could be a whole heck of a lot worse. A friend of mine who works in a

I don’t know what they’re doing in public school, but it’s not teaching.  Every single bit of homework my children bring home means a minimum of an hour’s worth of homeschooling for me.  They know nothing and they’re not being taught anything.  Grumble, gripe, grrrrrrr!  I’m pretty damn sure my

One of the things that strikes me about public school is how self-referential it’s been so far. I know this is early days yet, and the school is doing this in the name of getting the kids to know each other. Still, it’s amazing how all of the projects are

My daughter spent the last two years with her nose cheerfully buried in a book.  She read with abandon, anything and everything.  She polished off short kids books in an hour or two, and read Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in a wild Saturday frenzy.  And she was

The elementary school is running a survey so that the kids can identify their interests.  It’s a fine idea but, because I’m very picky, I’ve immediately honed in on a couple of problems.  Problem number one is that, in the cover letter, one paragraph boasts three grammatical errors, ranging from