"OK, it sounds like you are interested in having them master the school curriculum rather than enrich their education through other means such as travel."
Ideally, we'd do both, but since I don't get 10 or 12 weeks off each summer and 5 or 6 weeks off for winter break, and neither does DH, we are much more restricted in our ability to travel for enrichment, versus traveling to see family or for pure recreational purposes.
"Official" achievement is the foundation. Enrichment, aka living life pursuing your leisure activities of choice such as theater, is the cherry on top.
I'm about 99% sure you get more time off than I do and have the means to travel way more than I do and yet thisis something that's a priority for me -- we don't go far and we don't go extravegently but the freedom trail in boston, author's ridge at the cemetary in Concord- the Alcott house, the mayflower, the free concerts in the park, the free theater, the street theater of boston- it's all within a 2 hour drive and there's so much to do with a kid that doesn't involved luggage and a plane ticket that accomplishes exactly what we're talking about.
Yes, I agree with your assessment of what goes on in many U.S. schools. I think far too many children are falling through the cracks because of the burden placed on parents to monitor their children's progress.
Swedish schools are very different. School is compulsory up to grade 9 (although over 90% of all students attend 3 more years of gymnasium). No grades of any kind are handed out from K-7, as the entire point of the bi-annual assessments is to determine whether a child is meeting the grade-appropriate goals or not for each required subject. Whether or not a child accomplishes everything exactly on time is not so critical (hence grades are rather meaningless); the assessments are mainly designed to ensure that gaps in knowledge are clear so that they can be addressed at some point (generally sooner rather than later). It is the responsibility of the school to ensure that every child has a proper grasp of the required set of knowledge by the end of 9th grade.
Grades are given out in 8th and 9th grade. The main purpose of grades in those years is to prepare the kids for eventual tracking in Gymnasium (which starts when kids are 16). The grades, along with the 9th grade national exams, help determine which Gymnasium a child may attend (Gymnasia are required to cover a core set of subjects, but otherwise can vary tremendously in emphasis, ranging from a focus on athletics, to marine biology, sailing, flying, mathematics, sciences, languages, business etc.).
It took me a while to really comprehend the system, but all-in-all I think it works well for the majority.
We have done that and brought it to the teacher's attention, because he wasn't asking questions in class...one doesn't need to sit with a child on a daily basis, in order to know that.
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"OK, it sounds like you are interested in having them master the school curriculum rather than enrich their education through other means such as travel."
Ideally, we'd do both, but since I don't get 10 or 12 weeks off each summer and 5 or 6 weeks off for winter break, and neither does DH, we are much more restricted in our ability to travel for enrichment, versus traveling to see family or for pure recreational purposes.
Exactly, both of my kids know how to take notes and review.
PumpkinAngel
"Official" achievement is the foundation. Enrichment, aka living life pursuing your leisure activities of choice such as theater, is the cherry on top.
So, he's not being taught properly so that he understands it,
PumpkinAngel
I'm about 99% sure you get more time off than I do and have the means to travel way more than I do and yet thisis something that's a priority for me -- we don't go far and we don't go extravegently but the freedom trail in boston, author's ridge at the cemetary in Concord- the Alcott house, the mayflower, the free concerts in the park, the free theater, the street theater of boston- it's all within a 2 hour drive and there's so much to do with a kid that doesn't involved luggage and a plane ticket that accomplishes exactly what we're talking about.
Yes, I agree with your assessment of what goes on in many U.S. schools. I think far too many children are falling through the cracks because of the burden placed on parents to monitor their children's progress.
Swedish schools are very different. School is compulsory up to grade 9 (although over 90% of all students attend 3 more years of gymnasium). No grades of any kind are handed out from K-7, as the entire point of the bi-annual assessments is to determine whether a child is meeting the grade-appropriate goals or not for each required subject. Whether or not a child accomplishes everything exactly on time is not so critical (hence grades are rather meaningless); the assessments are mainly designed to ensure that gaps in knowledge are clear so that they can be addressed at some point (generally sooner rather than later). It is the responsibility of the school to ensure that every child has a proper grasp of the required set of knowledge by the end of 9th grade.
Grades are given out in 8th and 9th grade. The main purpose of grades in those years is to prepare the kids for eventual tracking in Gymnasium (which starts when kids are 16). The grades, along with the 9th grade national exams, help determine which Gymnasium a child may attend (Gymnasia are required to cover a core set of subjects, but otherwise can vary tremendously in emphasis, ranging from a focus on athletics, to marine biology, sailing, flying, mathematics, sciences, languages, business etc.).
It took me a while to really comprehend the system, but all-in-all I think it works well for the majority.
achievement has to be 'official' for it to count?
We have done that and brought it to the teacher's attention, because he wasn't asking questions in class...one doesn't need to sit with a child on a daily basis, in order to know that.
PumpkinAngel
But then you can complain that the teacher isn't doing his or her job, and your kid doesn't cover the material, or you can step up and do it yourself.
Yes, time management and focus....my older does best in school when he doesn't have a lot of unstructured time, he does his homework everywhere, lol.
PumpkinAngel
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