School started....

School started for two of mine on Wednesday, Mr 6 Almost 7 was very happy to return but a bit confused about the whole not being a Prep anymore. He knows he is in a different room with a different teacher but has not quite grasped the idea that he is now a Grade one boy. He has an older teacher who whilst firm handed will give him all the help he needs as she is of the "old school" of teachers who have many tricks up their sleeves. She also has a background in cued articulation which is one of the visual cues used by his speech pathologist in his speech therapy. He will retain his aide from last year for which I am very grateful as it turns out she was very, very happy and helpful in the session she had together with Mr 6 Almost 7 and his s/p last year. The cued articulation will go a long way towards helping him increase his sound repertoire and word annunciation. The down side being it is a 4/1 teacher split, he has teacher "W" 4 days a week and teacher "T"on Tuesdays. Teacher "T" is the teacher I swore would never teach any child of mine again after Miss 9 had her in Grade one. She is computer illiterate,yells at the children A LOT and has done so in front of parents, and generally lax in her approach to teaching but, hey, that's just my opinion and a few twenty or so other parents. What would I and three others who are qualified to teach know anyway???? So that is the trade off so to speak, "T" is there in Tuesdays but, WAIT his s/p now works Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and as Mr 4 has kindergarten AM Tuesdays, it allows plenty of time for a round trip to Woodend for speech whilst Mr 4 has kinder. SO that means he has her for maybe an hour in the morning, he returns for lunch and if he has Japanese in the PM,( which he is being withdrawn from...why try and learn another language when your own is a mystery to you) we'll be lucky that she only has a few hours to muck up everyone elses work with him:).

Miss 9 started with the teacher of her dreams, "M". Miss 9 has always had nice teachers apart from the horrendous 6 months in Gr 1 with "T". Teachers who care and are innovative, teachers who are true leaders and encourage all children of all capabilities. I know "M" from outside of the school environment and whilst young, she has the grit to teach senior classes but with the compassion that is also required at such a level. She is approachable and friendly but often seeks me out to chat about our mutual interest and teaching in general. Miss 9 has been told that she needs to study more and not just cruise, she is capable of may things but chooses her subjects for excelling in and cruises by the others when she could excel. As a parents, we always believe our children are good at something. As a parent I see this in all my children, as an educator; I can see so much potential within her it astounds me. A perceptiveness that is beyond her years, empathy which is boundless, an ability to create in word, paint and cardboard any myriad of worlds, images and lifeforms.
Whilst I am not a fan of over parenting, the education system today relies too heavily on completion of the syllabus rather than the associated outcomes of spelling,comprehension,logic, grammar, sentence structure, letter formation, basic combined math problems, etc. Much of the learning of these skills fall on the parents, I get tired of the "parent information nights" where they tell you to "encourage your child to add up items from the shopping or play spelling games at the dinner table" all under the guise of involving you in their learning.....NO, it so you can teach your child the basic things the school is not spending time teaching them. Yes, they learn spelling in literacy but there is o subject on the syllabus titled "spelling" or "punctuation" or "everyday math skills". This is where our schools are failing our children, this is why I fought for an aide for Mr 6 Almost 7, because the system as it was would fail him( as it does many children across the board) because it is poised for syllabus completion not student comprehension.
Mr 4 has started kindergarten, he had an hour on Wednesday and an hour and a half (without mum) today by next Thursday he will be on a full schedule. He is very confident with kinder as he spent a lot of time at Mr 6 Almost 7's kinder in 2005 so he is very familiar with the content, the toys, the activities and the format of the program. I had a hour to myself today, a precious glimpse of the times to come and a smack in the head reminder that time is marching on and my babies are growing up.