Here we are halfway through the school year and my kids are struggling. I knew they were struggling a little but I wasn’t aware of how bad it had become until report cards came home.
So, we have set up a schedule of working on math, reading, spelling and printing with my grade 2 daughter (not prescribed homework, all lessons cooked up by us) and printing and counting with my SK (Kindergarten for those not in the great white north) son. We are trying to keep it to 30 minutes every second night for the little guy and 30 minutes every night for my daughter.
Here’s my beef: why am I having to teach my kids this? My daughter cannot subtract (we’re talking anything with a number higher than 5 when the class has done everything up to 19-x). How do things like this happen?
With my son, I understand. We have been well aware of his limitations physically and he has tics which are causing the counting problem. We knew we were going to be here sooner or later.
But with my daughter, they spend so much time in art, gym and music (or doing fun activities that are supposed to help with reading, writing and math but don’t) that she isn’t getting the basics. Heck, when she brings home her schoolwork, nothing is spelled correctly (even simple words she should know since they have been on spelling tests) and no one corrects anything.
I work full time and it gets my goat that I am spending a good chunk of my free time (that was previously used for crazy things like sleeping) putting together lesson plans.
I get that teachers don’t have 30 minutes a day to spend with each student but what if she didn’t have smart parents who could do this? She will just keep getting further behind.
Okay, that was more ranty than I intended. What I really want to know is if other parents of primary kids find themselves augmenting their children’s education? If so, what are you doing? Is it helping (or did it help)?