Schools These Days

Well, first let me say I love my children and I want them to be successful. But the school system in the area has initiated this program called "No Child Left Behind." Basically what it boils down to is that no matter how badly a child fails, they are still permitted to pass to the next grade.

If you ask me, this is a serious breach in trust. This permits teachers to be lazy, ignoring student needs and abilities. My daughter failed math horribly all year long. Some of it was from not doing homework, I'll admit it, but after a week of tutoring her in what should be basic sixth grade math skills, I'm ready to run back to the school board and throw another major fit.

Why? My daughter cannot multiply 126 x 45.

I don't know when this is learned in schools these days, but I learned how to do that in fifth grade. Its not that she doesn't know her multiplication tables. She does, and she remembers it better than I do! Lazy old mum uses a calculator these days. However, she doesn't understand the method of multiplying these two numbers on paper. It took me several attempts to understand why she could not get the correct answer. I finally had to sit down and walk her through the process step by step.

Now she understands it, and suddenly she's not so reluctant to do math.

My next task... getting my son to ENJOY reading!

He says it will never happen... hmmm. We shall see!