Wow, a whole week since I last sat down to write. It doesn't seem that long. I drive around town and put many miles on my van taking my children places. Half the time, I'm alone and this gives me lots of "think" time. I've started writing my blogs in my head as I'm driving and when I get home and have the demands of motherhood in front of me, blogging gets put on the back burner as it feels like I've already written it. When 11pm rolls around, I'm too tired to type out my thoughts.
I was pretty much exhausted after my trip to SC. Tuesday saw me taking a wonderful and much needed 3 hour nap during the day. It wasn't until Wednesday that I really felt human again.
The Singer made us all proud with her 1st place finish in the 200m freestyle race on Thursday. Her 400m freestyle relay team also placed first. Her 200m time was 7 seconds faster than at the previous meet and an all time best. It was awesome! Maybe I need to start calling her the Swimmer.
The Singer is planning on going to Homecoming. We spent hours shopping for a dress this weekend (so did every other teen-age girl in Tampa). We actually had to wait in line for a dressing room! Ugh. We found a number of "okay" dresses and felt that this one dress was perfect, if only in a different size. Nope, they didn't have that size. We hit Dilliards, JC Penneys, Ross, Macy's and even strolled through Saks. I knew the dresses would be expensive, but didn't realize the cheapest would be $400. And, neither the Singer nor I thought their dresses were very attractive. We came home empty handed. We're heading off again next Saturday morning and I told her we will come home with something, if only an "okay" dress.
I was reading Newsweek the other day (the September 11, 2006 issue) and was saddened, and appalled, and shocked, and in a state of disbelief over the article about 1st grade. I have voiced my opinion before about my thoughts on kindergarten. Kindergarten should be a time of exploration and acclamation. Most children are not wired to learn to read in Kindergarten, yet that has become our goal of Kindergarten. Now 1st graders are being tested on their skills (and surprise, surprise) they're falling short of these unreasonable expectations. Kindergarten and 1st grade are critical years for students. The best teachers should be teaching this age. These teachers should be making more money. These 2 years lay the foundation of the student's view of school AND learning. We've now created a system where few students will finish 1st grade believing learning is fun. And most of the students will believe school is an uphill, often losing battle. When a child's brain is not developmentally able to grasp all the abstract notions needed to read, and when that child is then told they SHOULD be able to read, what other conclusion can the child come to than that he/she is a failure. Sooner is not better. There is no empirical evidence that reading at a younger age brings any kind of lasting benefit. Earliest readers are not necessarily the best high school or college students, and don't earn more money statistically than late readers. But we do know that if a child repeatedly fails, the child will give up, and in fact become a failure. So why are we doing this? Because Johnny can't read in high school. Starting earlier doesn't make Johnny a better reader. Let kids be kids. Learning to read at the end of 1st grade, or taking Algebra 1 in high school (as opposed to 7th grade, as is being pushed in many schools) does not indicate intelligence or future success. Sooner is not better. Elementary school children should have recess, everyday, and for the youngest, twice a day. Why? Because children need to move around. Because they need time to create their own games with their friends, or collect rocks and compare them, or watch the ants at the anthill scurry around, or just to breathe the air, or time to digest what they have learned and have a break from performing for the teacher. When you go to your doctor, do you ask "When did you learn how to read?" "Did you take all advanced courses in high school?" You don't really care. You care if they are competent and caring. Sooner is not better.
Let your kids go outside and play today.
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