Quote: "Also, what do you make of the statistics that say that homeschooled children are academically above their peers? Despite not having 'experts' teach them, they are achieving at higher levels; I'm curious what you make of that."
I can tell you exactly why. Low salaries and ridiculously low qualification standards for teachers these days. You really should go online to the education school at your local university and look at the required courses for teachers these days.
I think this is the bottom line. I think teachers want to teach. They want to give that extra attention and find ways to encourage the children's minds to blossom, but the school systems shut them down. I've done some grant work for organizations that are trying to prevent teacher burnout. The fact that so many teachers go on year after year working so hard and accomplishing so much is a testament to their character and dedication. If our society truly valued teachers, paid them enough, funded their programs, and got out of their way, our schools could be outstanding.
My husband's cousin is a third grade teacher, and if she wants her kids to have paper, pencils, crayons, glue, etc., SHE HAS TO BUY THESE THINGS OUT OF HER OWN POCKET. She works in a poor school district. There shouldn't be any such thing as a poor school district.
I know a teacher that takes every prof dev course she can find over the summer, works her tail off during the school year getting activities set up each day, and is always trying to find new things to incorporate into her activities ... her annual budget from the school ... $100. One hundred dollars is all she has each year to pay for science and art supplies. And her salary, don't get me started there either. To top it all off, because she is at a small school, they routinely "press" their teachers into working concessions/gates at sporting events, or even assistant coaching, they have regular bus duty in the morning and afternoon, etc. ALL FOR NO EXTRA PAY!!!!! Now tell me someone who does this year after year after year doesn't love what they do.
However ... there is an increasing number of students who are becoming education majors because frankly it is by far the easiest major to complete in terms of required courses. And the easiest of all are the elementary school teachers who in some cases can completely bypass math and science courses. So the first teachers our young impressionable children see are those that either hate or just plain can't do science and math. And we wonder why there are so many math/science-ophobes out there. Hmmm.
"Recollect me darlin, raise me to your lips, two undernourished egos, four rotating hips"
Lillie, I agree with both you and Chrom re: teachers.
But I suppose it confuses me why you wondered in one breath how the parents are going to do certain subjects justice vs. the experts and then the next you are basically saying that well of course the homeschooled children outstrip the others--teacher qualifications are low.
See what I mean? The whole line of thinking confused me, as to which viewpoint we were talking about--teachers are experts or teachers are dimwits because the requirements are so low.
Not trying to be confrontational--I truly wasn't sure which way the convo was headed.
I didn't say-- or didn't intend to say-- that teachers' qualifications were low. I said that our society does not support teachers and enable them to be effective at their jobs.
When I went to school, I felt that my teachers were quite well-qualified with a couple of exceptions. (One high school teacher-- a nun-- thought Greenwich Village and Greenwich, England were the same place, so she would talk about the setting our clocks relative to the "time in Greenwich Village," which I presume is Miller Time... )
Chrome is more in touch with the current state of teacher education than I am. (edited to add: rereading my post, I see that in my enthusiasm, I did agree with him on that. Truly it's not something I know much about. I was lamenting the lack of financial and professional support that teachers get, not addressing the issue of qualifications.)
Our EC has been rock solid the last week and a half or so. Much of it has been my doing, which I am proud to report. So often I have this annoying tendency to sit around and wait for him to come to me--still resentment, I suppose, from all the years when he didn't. Almost as if I'm thinking that he's got to prove something to me.
Anyway, the EC is strong. The sex, however, wasn't really there. There were many late nights in which we stayed up talking--once til midnight!--and enjoying each other's company. Sex started to drop off the radar and yet the EC stayed strong. I was beginning to despair, thinking that we'll never get the sex and the EC at the same time..that we just can't get our act together. Then, a few days ago, we started flirting with each other. Even groping and kissing-- in broad daylight. It was so much fun. I was surprised that this took a big load off the She's Gotta Have It drill. I actually felt content that night in bed. Don't get me wrong, with me abstaining from mb, it wouldn't stay like this for long. But it was nice to share something sexual with him..to seem like we were on the same page for once..and then drift off peacefully to sleep.
Since then, I have been sure to deflect his blame-taking tendency (We should have ML more last week; it was my fault) and attempt to establish some peace and ease between us, along with flirting and touching and.........
We still have a problem with incorporating the EC and the hot sex but I'm thinking that if I can keep my mouth shut, most of this will resolve on its own. Actually, I doubt it resolves on its own but if my yap is shut, it allows H a chance to take action of his own, that is not defensive in nature. *That* seems to be where the progress happens for the both of us.
Time for story hour; gotta run!
P.S. Chromo, we took the D's to their first lesson of the new Extracurricular activities last night and it was splendid! H was, as usual, the only dad present but he loved it. Soooo cute. Thanks for the kick in the right direction.
I'm right behind you HP. Although EC with my W is barely breathing, it is showing signs of life. I'm just being patient with it, not demanding anything, keeping it light-hearted, but introducing an occasional R related comment that I am pretty sure are coming across in a non-threatening way (from her response). Only time will tell if momentum carries us to a better place, but hope is there.
Glad to hear the extracurricular stuff went well. I plan to be like MrHP, involved in my kid's stuff, since I enjoy a wide variety of activities anyway.
Keep up the good work HP. Maybe both of us will eventually be able to post on the success stories thread.
"Recollect me darlin, raise me to your lips, two undernourished egos, four rotating hips"
Nice to hear the report, Abstainypot! I don't get much time on the board these days, and it's been so active that I can't read everything, but I do check in on your sitch.
How have you managed to balance the fine line between "Don'tgiveachitness" and "Indifference?"
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