Well, school hasn’t been as bad as I thought it would be. 5 year old is enjoying himself immensely. I don’t have to coax him to wake up and get ready and he’s always keen to do his homework (can you believe it – they make even grade 1 kids do homework!)
I notice he is much more keen on trying to write – I had trouble getting him to write anything while homeschooling. I think being around other children, watching them and with some gentle encouragement from his teacher he is taking that step of at least TRYING. 5 year old, like me is so afraid of failing that he figures it’s just easier not to try at all.
He seems to be a lot more responsible too. I’m not sure if this is because of schooling or whether he would have progressed anyway. I don’t have to remind him to help make his bed or take the towel to the bathroom or to do his reading. Along with that, he has settled down quite a lot in class. The first two weeks he was in trouble often for not sitting still. It’s difficult for him to sit still for any length of time (please no comments that he has ADD or ADHD). He listens better when he’s moving around so I hope his learning hasn’t been sacrificed for the benefit of the teacher.
I don’t mean to sound too negative as I can see some definite positives about traditional schooling. I still have some reservations though. 5 year old has heard a few “bad” words – swearing and one word which I would classify as a racist term though others would disagree. You spend 5 years instilling good habits and kindness and teaching them how to be polite and use only good words and all that into your child and when you put them into school they’re at the mercy of what OTHER parents have taught THEIR kids. The worst part? He’s learnt these words from a Muslim friend.
Another thing about school – those silly rules. I can understand the rule about not running on the walkways, the rules about eating lunch before being able to play but I overheard one teacher telling her children the rule about walking and talking. Guess what? The kids aren’t allowed to walk and talk. “When we’re walking, we’re not talking,” she says in her sweet baby voice. I ask you oh intelligent readers of my blog WHY CAN’T YOU WALK AND TALK? You can accidentally slip on your tongue? I mean – where else in the world do you have such silly made-up rules? I have been trying very hard to think of instances in normal, everyday life that a person might not be able to walk and talk simultaneously and have come up with NOTHING bar a funeral procession and how many of those do we attend?
5 year old class has library day on Thursday where the children borrow ONE book. It’s supposedly to encourage the joy of reading but he can’t actually borrow any book he wants. Proving once again he is the child of nerd parents, 5 year old wanted to borrow a 101 science experiments for little children book and well, he was told in no uncertain terms that that sort of book is NOT a reading book. Huh? So every Friday we return his proper “reading” book (after I’ve read it to him of course!) and borrow our favourite science book. Librarian if you ever come across this blog, please understand that all books are reading books and if you want to encourage children to enjoy books and enjoy reading…let them borrow WHATEVER THEY WANT.
Another rule I hate is the tucking the shirt in rule. Ok..its looks better and we all want to look neat and all but my boy looks sooo adorable with his shirt sticking out 
We have parent-teacher interviews in a couple of weeks. I’ll let you all know how a formerly homeschooled (albeit for a year and even then only for preschool) child fairs in the traditional schooling environment.
Okay, a little defence for the teachers, since I’m both a homeschooler and a teacher (which qualifies me to choose sides as I please…hehehehe). There is a fairly good reason for not talking while walking. It disturbs the other classes as a rowdy bunch walks past. Obviously not a rule you’ll find in many other places. But where else do you try to contain 30 little bodies that are just itching to do anything other than sit at a day all day. Myself, as a teacher, I issued it more as a challenge than a rule. “Let see if we can walk from A to B so quietly that no one even knows we are walking past. And there’s bonus rewards for us as a class if a passer-by comments on how quiet we are.” Consequently we crept wherever we needed to go. We even managed an invite to another grade’s medieval presentation because we were sitting so quietly watching from a distance.
Tracey
Oh yeah..doh! I forgot about that. Thanks, Tracey
Alhamdulillah that he’s doing well. I think you are going about it the right way by trying to make up any deficiencies of the school. You know your child has an advanced interest in science so you work with him on that. and perhaps you should let the teacher know so that she has a sure-fire way to get something of another subject in his head by referring to examples in science.
Thanks for the update. I remember that library rule…grrr..
The point you made about being around other kids to spur your son into trying things, is a good one. It just doesn’t cut it when I or any other adult tries to motivate Zehra by showing or explaining. But I’ve noticed that when she is among a group of kids doing some activity, then she is much more eager.
I’ve practically given up specifically writing activities as she seems to see it as a real chore (she does do some writing when filling in her maths workbook for example). And when she plays she does do a bit of writing but that’s it.
I totally feel for you. Although I’m still homeschooling I often wish (almost every day) and have frequently discussed with other friends (both hs’ing and not) that I/we wish there was such thing as part time school. Then the kids could have the benefits of some school but also have more time at home with family and more family control over some of what they’re learning. There are situations in which kids have a personality interaction with the mother that makes it harder for them to learn from the mother. They take more liberties with us because we’re the mother. They are lazier and less compliant, somehow. When they’re with a non-family person they have to behave more formally and seriously I guess? Anyway, I wish there was part-time school!