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Friday, September 19, 2008

There's a new sheriff in town.

Every Kindergarten class has one.

One child who won't follow the rules, or pay attention to the teacher or cries whenever he doesn't get his way.

It's Kindergarten so it's bound to happen.

But Peter's class has FOUR of these kids who can't (or won't) listen and follow the rules.

And of course, these four kids are ruining it for the other 19 kids who are just trying to learn to read and write and do a little arithmetic.

Peter comes home every day with tales of Timmy who tells the teacher he hates her and doesn't have to listen to her.

Or tales of Sam who screams and cries all day long.

I thought perhaps Peter was exaggerating just a little. But sadly, no. His assessment appears to be right on the mark.

Last Friday, I had lunch with Peter and witnessed little Sam in action.

He screamed as soon as he sat down at the lunch table and screamed through the entire 25 minute lunch period.

The. Entire. Time.

The teacher couldn't get him to stop. The assistant couldn't get him to stop. Two other teachers tried to get him to stop.

Finally the principal was called. She came into the cafeteria and picked him up and carried him out.

He was still crying when she hauled him away.

For the last couple of weeks, Peter will say things like "I hate school!" and "Mommy? Will you home school me?"

Home school you? Kid. That's my Plan C - right after public school doesn't work out and we realize we can't out afford private school.

Home school is not in the plan two weeks into Kindergarten. (And darn those neighbor kids who are filling his mind with sleeping late and having Mommy as the teacher!)

After lots of fretting and hand wringing, I have realized that Peter's dissatisfaction with school has nothing to do with the screamers and the whiners in his class.

His pleas for Home School and No School come when it is time to go in for bath and bed while it is still daylight and when it is time to wake up while it is still dark. The rest of the time, dare I say it, he seems satisfied with school.

But I'm still worried about the quality of his education. Because even the best teacher can't teach when she is spending 80% of her time taking bananas away from 4 unruly and disrespectful kids.

So against my better judgement, when I was at lunch with Peter today, I asked the teacher if there was anything I could do to help her out.

Seems like not only did I volunteer to listen to the kids read, I am now Room Mom.

Timmy and Sam better watch out.

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21 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow...thats something! :) i would hope u will continue to encourage him to go to a 'real school' so he learns to see and get smart bout such weird ppl & prepares him for life ahead!!

good luck to u as room-mom!
-Keyomi

Heather said...

Too funny! They should do something about them. Its not fair to the other children. Keep us up to date on that, Room Mom!

Mari said...

Oh Boy - can't wait to hear how this turns out. You show them!

Happy Valley Mom said...

Good for you for being proactive!

Most people say they want to help but don't follow through.

Jaina said...

I'm sure she's incredibly grateful for your assistance. Good for you!

Donna @ Way More Homemade said...

Good for you. Teachers of all aged kids need valuable parent volunteers like yourself, but Kindergarten ESPECIALLY. They are still young and many have not been taught independence from mommy. And if I may step on my soapbox for an ever-so-brief moment... it is our obligation as the parent and as the one who is ultimately responsible for educating our children to be ever so involved at their school and with the teacher to whom we have given the authority to teach our child. And it is so unfortunate that public school teachers have their hands so tied that enforcing discipline is sometimes not possible.

OK - stepping down now. Sorry to hijack like that.

jennwa said...

I too worry , but since we have the 2 smartest kids in class, I think they will do fine. At least that is what I tell myself because I am not homeschooling.

Tina said...

You never know, you may really be able to help these kids settle down...a little 'mommy' action in the room could do them some good.

Not everyone is called to homeschool...it's my plan C also!

Leanne said...

Um. Home school? That's my plan Z, as in it's NEVER gonna happen 'cuase my kids and I would kill each other. Yep, we would.

Carol said...

Congrats on your new assignment.

I would have volunteered too if it meant giving the other kids in the class a better chance with their education.

Those other kids sound like a handful.

Homeschool? I wish I had the capacity to do it. But I just have that gene missing. We would all end up thoroughly miserable.

Lisa said...

I have fears of that. My last year in the classroom I had the student to beat all others. Spencer. HE. WAS. HORRIBLE. Ended up in the psych ward as the self-contained BD classroom in our district couldn't handle him. He was that bad. But I had him on my own for an entire year with not a one helper. Can you still sense my bitterness? Anyway, my point being that I was a darn good teacher, but he was an amazingly large distraction & did take away from what we were able to accomplish. I hope that Danny, Joey & the rest of the monkeys get under control very, very soon...for Peter & his teacher's sake!

4funboys said...

ohhhhh... is my son in your class too???

Those kids really shouldn't be able to ruin the day for all the other kids... but it happens every day across America.

I teach 1st grade... my Principal just go hired my the Pentagon2 weeks ago to go Japan to teach English to military kids. SHE has NOT discipline issues...

why???

because they go straight to the superior officer to deal with the issue! The SO calls in the parents and lets them know, it's THE PARENT's job (what a novel concept)to make sure their kids are doing well in school... or else!

Can you imagine.

So I'm assuming... if you were in the Military in Japan... instead of you doing lunch with your kid... it would be the 4 parents with kids that are crying or unruly!
Maybe that's why their scores are in the top 1% in the WORLD... they get the benefit of teaching without interruption-- to kids who want to make sure their parent's boss does't assign them bathroom duties for 20 hours a day (or whatever it is they do)...

GOSHHHHHHHH- who I would love that senario!!!

Rebekah said...

You Go, Girl! Straighten those boys out

Caleb didn't have a class like this but he used to cry every Sunday night and Monday morning. Every now and then he still gets a little sad on Sunday nights- even though he absolutely loves school

I like the comment from 4funboys. Those parents should be called in to deal with their child

Gloria said...

I am looking forward to hearing the rest of this story, i.e., if you can settle these kids down. Our teachers have been stripped of any authority to handle children like this. In bygone days, these kids would be hauled out of the classroom never to return until they could behave. At the very least the parents should come and sit with their kids, as mentioned by 4funboys. It should be the parents responsibility--but it seems like responsibility is a lost concept in our world today.

I'm afraid I'd be real tempted to try the home schooling route--at least take a good long hard look at it and talk to those who do it, to see if maybe I could handle it. With four disruptive kids in the classroom I can't see how any little child could have any kind of quality education.

My prayers are with you for your success.

Warm Regards!

Laural Out Loud said...

Good luck with your new role as room mom! It was awesome of you to volunteer, and hopefully it'll give in an "in" to helping sqash the Joey problem.

Debbie said...

Pat yourself on the back for jumping in when your child needs you. And give the teacher a little more time - two weeks is a short time to get a kid who has probably never heard the word "no" to listen. It's worked for me.

Momisodes said...

Good for you for being so proactive! I hope things settle down with those kids soon.

Cynthia said...

Go room Mom!

My First Kitchen said...

Room Mom, huh? That's awesome. I can hear the hesitation in your voice. Can't wait to hear how that goes.

Caffeine Court said...

My daughter just started kindergarten and thankfully I'm class mom so I can scope out the class and find out who the troublemakers are! (Let's hope my daughter isn't one of them!)

BlondeMomBlog (Jamie) said...

Ha! Go Room Mom GO!

Actually I've heard that you really get in good with the teacher if you're Room Mom so relish the POWAH! ;)