Random Thoughts on Education from a Mom in the Trenches

• M is learning firsthand the truth all conscientious students learn in modern US classrooms: groupwork sucks.  She's been muttering about it a lot since she reached junior high and she's had major assignments to complete with a group.  I feel her pain.  As a student who did well and cared about my grades, I too often had to do all the work on a project because my fellow students didn't care (and they knew I would pull the weight because I did).  It usually means last minute marathons because you wait and wait and wait for the others to do their part and they don't.  Yes, some teachers delude themselves into believing the group projects teach "real life skills" and "collaboration."  I've even heard them sing the praises of how pairing hardworking students with less-motivated ones helps the slower students "learn more."  What a crock.  Lazy teaching, in my book.  Less projects to grade, less to worry about with your "slower" students since they seem to be making the grade. . . . I can't tell you how often I had to do the work of three or four myself.  Poor M.  The only thing she is learning is how the people who are willing to work in our society have to make up for the lazy ones.  I guess that is a life skill.  There are certainly a lot of people trying to make it a way of life in this country.

• Which brings us to the vast majority of under 30 Democrats voting for Bernie Sanders in Iowa.  Honestly, this is a prime example of failure in our education, in my opinion.  Socialism has never worked anywhere ever.  Not long term.  Even the countries that make the best possible go at it (like Sweden, people love to hold up Scandinavia) have cultures vastly different than ours and still they are stagnating.  Maybe we should make all our high school students memorize the statement "There's no such thing as a free lunch."  Somebody always has to pay the piper.  You want free health care?  You want free college education?  Somebody is going to have to foot the bill, and eventually those somebodies get tired of doing it for you.  And often it turns out YOU are the one who has to pay the piper, only you get screwed over extra hard. 

• After a year and a half of braining myself against the wall, I can finally understand first grade common core math.  I guess it is possible.  Sometimes I even understand B's fourth grade math.  I'm starting to get a glimmer of what it was meant to be, and why it might just work.  But oh man, the implementation of this was horrible and rocky and nightmarish.  Of course, just when I figure it out, they'll switch to something new in time for S probably. 

• Homework is of the devil.  Really.  My oldest and my youngest spend hours on it-- yes, the first grader spends HOURS on homework.  (B and J have lighter loads except for occasional projects.)  My seven year old needs time to play, while he still wants to do something besides stare at a screen.  Yet they give him a lot of work staring at a screen.  *sigh*

• Learning is still the most fun when it's something you're interested in.  The internet is an amazing tool for this.  The other day the kids and I watched drone video footage of the cliff erosion in Pacifica, CA.  It led us to looking at pictures of sinkholes around the world.  Which led us to discussing toxins in soil.  Leading us to watching a video about boiling mercury.  Our endpoint was this video here:

My kids were fascinated.  Especially K, who is right at the insatiably curious about the world age.  If I had the energy and temperament for home schooling, I would spend our time doing a lot of this kind of investigating and exploring and learning enthusiastically. 

Alas, I am not cut out to be a homeschool mom.  I can barely manage teaching J & B piano.  So we will continue on with our slogging through the public education system (albeit in a well-rated charter school), trying the best we can and I'll do my best to keep their love of learning from being completely smothered. So far I think we are doing pretty well under the circumstances, but time will tell I guess.