Parents and school involvement

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-17-2003
Parents and school involvement
2586
Thu, 08-23-2007 - 8:49am

My question stems from a personal experience. My middle child is starting kindergarten next week. I've become fairly close with one of my dd's friend's moms- this is her first child entering the school system. She WOH, I do not, plus I have experience with the school, so she's been calling me with questions and comments.

It started to go bad when she called to complain that the kindy orientation is during the day- when she is working. Then it led to complaints about the parents' read aloud program (when the kids are in library) and other opportunities for volunteerism in the school. I get that these things aren't convenient for her, but I'm getting annoyed with the complaining. How can the kids have an orientation at night when they go to school during the day? None of these events are mandatory for parents or kids. And plenty of activities are scheduled for evenings: Back to school night, the PTA picnic, etc.

She thinks because she can't participate, no one should be able to, apparently. Plenty of WOHP do show up for these things. I think she's being unrealistic if she thought she could put a couple of kids through school without ever taking a vacation day. Am I wrong? Am I missing something here?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 06-27-1998
Fri, 09-07-2007 - 4:12pm

Ah see driving is not a stress factor for me and as I said in another post, my kids current private school is actually quite close as in way less than a mile, lol...so it's much, much closer to me than the public school would be, although the public school is two blocks as well for the elementary school.

PumpkinAngel

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 09-07-2007 - 4:17pm

"...what if it just wasnt able to give your child the education you wanted, for one of them?"


I'd take measures other than switching schools.


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 09-07-2007 - 4:19pm

"I don't think more emphasis on social if it will cost some academically is a good plan."


I was thinking I would have been better off dropping down to somewhere in the top 10 percent rather than the top ten people in my high school class if it meant I somehow could have been less shy and more confident with a wider variety of people.


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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-15-2006
Fri, 09-07-2007 - 4:53pm

great post.....if we could afford it,all three would be in parochial school (we're considering keeping ds there) but private because i felt there was some better academic benefit there? absolutely not.




Edited 9/7/2007 4:59 pm ET by egd3blessed

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2007
Fri, 09-07-2007 - 5:00pm
this year we have exploded to a whopping 405 :)
Do you think one parent should SAH or WAH or WOH PT so they can spend a lot of time at their childrens' schools? come on, you know me better than that. how involved a parent wants to be in their kids school has NOTHING to do with their work status
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2007
Fri, 09-07-2007 - 5:07pm
see for me if i was only going 1 mile from my house, no matter which way i went i would end up in the middle of a corn field. :)
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-17-2007
Fri, 09-07-2007 - 5:17pm
how are you involved in your childrens school
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2000
Fri, 09-07-2007 - 5:29pm

For me, one mile doesn't even take me off my peninsula.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2005
Fri, 09-07-2007 - 6:24pm
While I am unable to be on any board or do things during the day (I might try one this year), I go to every PTA meeting to keep myself updated with what is going on with the school.
I am more involved in the day to day things with my daughter. Checking her homework,looking over what she did for the day, talking about her day.
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-15-2006
Fri, 09-07-2007 - 6:54pm
to what board capacity are you referring to? out of all of us committee chairs last year,one was a f/t wohm. good for you for going to meetings,too. ours always coincided with something (i.e. math night) to motivate lay parents to come. attendance was still always scarce....our new school's pto kick off is monday. it s/b interesting as it's a huge school with loads more involved parents,i've heard.

 

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