At this school, you didn’t complain to the higher ups. I had heard such during the years H was on the school board. When younger S was in 7th grade, I gently tried to express concerns to the principal. Normally, if a kid complained, I’d try to take the teacher’s side. And if it was really dumb, I’d say “their classroom, their rules. Suck it up. Next year you can move on.” But the school had been shrinking, and now you would have the same teachers from 5-8th grade. This issue was in its 2nd year and would also affect the class the next year.
After my complaint? All the teachers and principal started bullying my kid, embarrassing him whenever they could in front of everyone, accusing him of things he didn’t do, etc. Before I complained, he was their star student of the grade, and had been since kindergarten. It got so bad, he had stomach issues every day and we pulled him out a year early and put him in the public school.
11 years of goodwill at that school down the drain forever…
And now back to talk about the cute grandkids, of which I may hopefully have someday!
That is truly tragic! Kind of affirms on some of the snooty schools with mean-ness and other things.
My friends sent their 3 kids to the across town school with high tuition and supposedly high standards instead of our Catholic school (the mother’s dad was also a Catholic Deacon, and her parents couldn’t understand why they went to so much trouble for that school). It turns out their oldest son was not only bullied, but he was physically assaulted (one would say ‘beat up’) - and the school refunded all 3 kids’ tuition for that entire year – they were truly worried about a lawsuit.
After the kids were in Catholic school a while, they parents told me that putting their kids in that school was the stupidest thing they ever did.
Ok grandparents…we sold a piece of furniture in our family room. When the new owner came to pick it up…there was a large opened pack of poster board under it. I guess I must have gotten tired of running out the night before some project and just bought a whole pack…some was used.
@thumper1 -ah poster board! One of the only pieces of parenting advice I have given D is to buy a large pack of poster board the minute GD starts kindergarten. Because I can guarantee, you will find out at 9PM that you need a sheet of poster board the next morning.
@VaBluebird hopefully your GD will get in for her Oral Challenge and will pass with flying colors; many clinics only do one in the morning and one after lunch, so appointments are usually limited. As I worked insurance/front office for an allergy clinic for many years, I am familiar with FPIES.
On a different note, I was curious about kids reading cursive. Not that I think my GD is brilliant, I know she is ; but she is able to read cursive. GD will be 6 the end of June and in kindergarten. While reading tonight, the book we were reading had a couple of sentences in the illustration in cursive. Usually during bedtime reading, her parents or I will read with her. Depending on her mood, the adult reads everything, or we alternate pages; as she is reading at I believe a 2nd grade level, so we are reading chapter books. She them reads in bed independently for a while. This child loves books, and would almost rather read than do anything else.
My daughter doesn’t think it is anything special that she read the cursive without missing a beat. For those that know, how easy/hard is it to read cursive without being expose to it prior?
Guiltily raising my hand to being a parent who helped kids with their school projects. They did them all themselves, but with supplies and (too many?) suggestions for the end project. My husband joked that I made an A on all their artsy projects.
I was in middle school when I figured out that it was, for me, easier for projects to look good than to be good. Led to my career in the arts.
Now as grandma, I’m the crafty one with preschool GD. We make age-appropriate gifts for family each holiday. I’m happy to have this special connection with her.
I helped D in 2nd grade with one art project to make a pompom chick with yarn and a mosaic with egg shells. She had been ill for a prolonged period and the teacher wanted her to use one strand of yarn and take all the membrane off the egg shells. It would have taken forever so I took over. I did it quickly and she could continue recuperating.
I didn’t help my kids with other things. They were fiercely independent. My BIL used to do all his son’s projects for him at least through middle school. I’m unsure if he did the HS projects. In college in NM, he’s on his own.
I didn’t help with projects, but I kept an extremely impressive collection of project aids (I frequented Arts & Scraps). The neighborhood kids would come over to work on projects because they knew I’d have stuff to inspire them. I keep a cupboard and two bins full of craft supplies for GD, who loves making things.
I don’t think it is impossible if the cursive is perfect Palmer penmanship cursive. Most letters are pretty close (A, C, M, N P O). The letters that are a little different she probably guesses, like if the word is crib, the ‘r’ is a little different but she could pick up the c i b, it just sort of runs together. Still, I’m sure she’s a smart cookie.
If she could read MY cursive? Impressive! I sent a birthday card to a friend of my daughter’s and of course wrote in cursive. Then I thought about it and this friend probably doesn’t read cursive (30 years old, no one at that school could read or write cursive and their penmanship was horrible). My kids do read and write cursive (catholic school).
There was a commercial years ago, I think for Walgreen’s, of a parent rushing out to get poster board and markers at 9 pm. I always thought it was funny.
My kids did their own Pilgrim Village, covering little milk cartons with popsicle sticks. Rebecca’s had houses with mitered corners; I think she had help and her grandfather had a woodworking shop.
My sister has made a point that her grandkids will all learn cursive - appalled when many schools didn’t deem it necessary but later there was encouragement that it is a basic and useful skill when some schools have come back with including it. Four of her grandchildren are home-schooled with some kind of arrangement where the public-school overseer meets with the parent at their home. At one time, in early elementary, the kids did some activities at their local public school. My sister is especially close to the oldest (sister and granddaughter are both the oldest girl in the family) and they are ‘pen pals’ even though they only live an hour apart. Sister was certified to teach K-8 and also master’s in library science, she was public and school librarian for many years.
I have not heard of any Catholic schools dropping cursive. DDs learned cursive and Gkids will learn cursive.
One thing I am seeing with grandkids’ Catholic school (it is small with overall pupil enrollment, but it is 4K - HS) in the lowest grades (my observations are with Gkids’ grades), there is a striving for doing excellent work - and done in a good way, for individual student’s abilities. GD1 tests very high on the testing they participate in, and she reads at a high level; she loves drawing/coloring so has good fine motor skills (so does neat work). When I was there, she got graded down in first grade (to a 90) on a very short paper because of her printed letters (the other two elements were 100). I pointed out to DD1 that GS1 (who now is in kindergarten) needs to be doing more of printed letter writing (and encourage more coloring for fine motor skills) because he has a way to go with printing letters for first grade standards. He is still doing stick figure drawings, but he gets math great - so can praise him on one area and have the work to improve in the other. When I was there for the month recently (helping for spring break and baby #5 arrival/helping out), I made sure he colored his pictures for assignments doing a good job - they had math assignments to color in certain things for example. Attention to detail.
I think some of it is doing one’s best work. Their school assignments are simple and age-appropriate, don’t take long to do, but it just has the home reinforcement/praise on doing good work at school and on assignments (going over graded papers that come home). Their school does operate at a higher level (what they have in kindergarten is elsewhere at first grade). At the end of kindergarten last year GD1 was reading at 2.9 with accelerated reader. GS1 is at 1.6 with accelerated reader and we are happy he is gaining the phonetic work and is progressing fine - I just long to be there to spend more time especially with GS1 and GS2 (they both have some speech articulation/speech morphology, and it doesn’t hurt to do the extra I can do with them). With their family dynamics, grandparent assistance is welcome to help especially after school with older kids now (and in sports too for older two) and both parents working FT with 5 kids.
At my nephew’s Catholic school, he only had to write in cursive for third grade and then they didn’t have to anymore. He cannot write in cursive. His handwriting is awful. He’s the same age as my two who have beautiful penmanship but went to a different grade school with much stricter rules.
The claim to fame of his Catholic school is that Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch attended as did Spelling Bee pronouncer Jacques Bailly. I’m sure they both learned cursive.
In some ways I am not surprised that the upper grades did not have cursive done (or encouraged) after 3rd grade. DDs I know did have cursive stuff written out in later classes. This is something I will ask DD1 about with her kids’ school (she knows parents with kids in more advanced grades). ‘You don’t use it you lose it’ is my thinking.
My mother (born 1933, raised in Switzerland where everyone had to use their right hand with printing and writing) was appalled that our Catholic school allowed me to print/write with my left hand. I have beautiful penmanship and get compliments on it. My younger brother is a leftie, and mom was fine for him being left-handed (the two of us kids out of the 5). The only thing I do have to be cautious with is slow-drying ink – so I sometimes have to lay a paper down to not smear the previous line and have my hand off the paper with some of the writing. DD1 is left-handed while DD2 is right-handed (DD1 is almost exclusive with scissor and most things like using a knife but does take pride that she can start an IV with her right hand, and she was highly skilled in piano). GS2 is left-handed; not sure yet with GD2 and GD3. Will see how GS2 does in 4K in the fall and how he will do with his fine motor skill development there. The teachers at their school are wonderful and the G-kids are excited about their school.
DDs in their careers use computers for communication and their work output (DD2 use of computer design programs with architectural engineering). Their signatures are legible. With their use of phone for lists and other uses of electronics rarely write anything, although DD1 does keep paper list of grocery/family items needed before she does online order/goes shopping or send her DH to the store.
Little Miss Mess turned 2, and her cousin aka our pandemic baby turned 5!
LMM is currently obsessed with cars and buses, so I gave her a toy bus that plays various tunes. Thinking she will play with it and leave it alone after a day. OMG. Her mom says LMM does not want to go to bed without the dang bus!
I think the parents got the bus issue covered! This kid is SO much into vehicles! My husband made a mistake putting her in the driver seat of his old truck. It was impossible to get her out without a struggle! “Dada twuck!”’ (Grandpa is “Dada” since the family uses a different name for dad). On a local toddler playground, all she wants to do is ride in the little car someone “donated” to the playground. Forget about other things! At this rate, she is going to be a Danica Patrick
Her cousin the pandemic baby is the next Sir David. Zero interest in any vehicles, but he knows so much about animals, including some obscure ones, and their habitats. His older sister is a future judge.
Just kidding, of course. I wanted to be a tractor driver when I was two. Although my sister did become a “dog doctor” as she said she would when she was 5.
; but she is able to read cursive. GD will be 6 the end of June and in kindergarten. While reading tonight, the book we were reading had a couple of sentences in the illustration in cursive. Usually during bedtime reading, her parents or I will read with her. Depending on her mood, the adult reads everything, or we alternate pages; as she is reading at I believe a 2nd grade level, so we are reading chapter books. She them reads in bed independently for a while. This child loves books, and would almost rather read than do anything else.