Quote:
Originally Posted by FrankRN
Ok, now that I have softened you all up with a picture of my darling daughter, who by the way has all of her teeth now, I guess I can go ahead and irritate the crap out of you.
I realize your posting out of frustration and what you believe are unreasonale expectations of a 1st grader. But now that my children are in middle and high school, I have come to appreciate all of the seemingly ridiculous projects I had to go through to get them to where they are now. I will say that I resented having to go through primary school for the second and third times. I often felt what was asked of the kids was out of control and almost impossible for them to accomplish on their own.
But now I have ended up with 6th and 10th graders who almost never have to ask me for help with their home work, My 10th grader is an A/B student and she does it with very little help from me (now). She goes to one of the top 5 high schools in Massachusetts and the expectations are very high. Some of the projects they have to do are quite advanced especially in math and science. Yet she does well on her own and balances her work load with a full schedule of sports.
When I became frustrated and complained about the workload they were getting, they told me to relax. It is not about being perfect, or getting it right, or even understanding the science. All of the kids were praised for whatever they brought in. All of the projects got proudly displayed. Grades are no given out in the primary grades.
What they wanted was to get the kids used to managing and completing a project. No one expects a 1st grader to fully understand what a hypothesis is or the science behind chalk melting. What is important is that they begin to understand that there are steps to follow and a certain way to approach a problem. And if they can get that, then high school chemistry and physics will be a breeze.
And I learned early on to put a smile on my face and make it fun because it is about my childs future ... it is already too late for me.
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OK, Frank- I hear what you're saying and I totally agree. What I tend to take exception to is when a child is forced onto a project like this one, and doesn't have any say in what they study. I think that sends the wrong message- at least let the child try to pick out a subject that interests them. Otherwise I fear that the project becomes all about the work and may foster a dislike of science (something very near and dear to my heart) in the child. I think it all becomes so much more meaningful if the child is involved from start to finish. That way they come up with the project and carry it out- no help from mom and dad. Who cares if there are graphs or if you actually answered the question properly? It is about the process, not the finished (perfect) project. Does that make sense? I haven't had my coffee, yet
And don't tell me there's a point to writing out 1000 numbers. That's busy work- and you know it
