I have school troubles. Not my school. The girls' schools.
In case I haven't outlined this, let me do so now. Carolyn goes to the local elementary school. It's considered "bad" in this district, which is another way of saying both poor and black children attend. We had a pretty good experience there last year but aren't thrilled. Carolyn seems to be doing very well in her reading and math, so we don't worry about it too much.
Penny, on the other hand, was accepted to the Illinois State U. lab school. This is a public school run by the university, so it has lots of extra perks. Extra teachers. Extra money. Extra involved parents (you need to apply to be accepted, which weeds out a bunch of lazy bones right off the bat).
So Penny, my extra talkative preschooler, is attending this school with like nine teachers, access to an iPad and a pool. Not only is she the most popular kid in school, she shares her day with us pretty much minute by minute. In addition, she has very open teachers who blog once a week, send tons of information home, take pictures of the kids and make books for the parents to look through and generally have an open door policy. Penny is doing great and we are very happy there.
On the other hand is Carolyn. I have NO IDEA what school is like for her. She shares nothing. She doesn't talk about her friends. She can't remember what she had for lunch. Nothing. Her teacher shares very, very little. She doesn't blog or send home updates. I get a spelling list at the beginning of the week and that's pretty much it. Carolyn and I struggled all week to talk about her science lesson, which we finally figured out tonight.
So I did something very unlike me and I e-mailed her teacher. I just told her my concern that Carolyn was having problems, maybe socially, adjusting to school this year. She's really doing great at the reading and writing, so I figured it must be social.
And that's pretty much where I stand. Because I haven't heard back from her. And I still have no idea what's going on with Carolyn. Penny, (again) on the other hand, is doing great, according to the parent-teacher conference I had with her teacher today. Of course.
So, our family is indeed undertaking a very interesting experiment of what happens when one kid goes to a shitty school and the other one goes to an awesome school. Not exactly what I had in mind initially.
3 comments:
This sounds like a really really tough situation. I'm sorry you have to deal with this. I'm sure everything will turn out all right with Carolyn. I remember you saying before that's she's never been very communicative about her day with you guys, so maybe nothing in particular is wrong right now? Is there any chance she could attend the uni lab school next year? But really, you guys will work something out and everything will turn out OK for Carolyn, I'm sure of it.
It'll be fine, it's just frustrating. Worst part is that I can't even attend parent-teacher conferences because of clinicals. Steve will have to deal with it. I was just venting.
When Julia was that age, I was working on my teaching certificate so I asked if I could come in and observe her classroom for an hour or so... perhaps you or (most probably) Steve could do that at Carolyn's school. They won't say no... they can't. She'll forget you are there if you sit in the back inconspicuously.
Also, kids develop at different rates. As long as you are aware of her moods, abilities, and all that, you have nothing to worry about.
By the way, I ended up pulling Julia out of that school a few months after the observation... long story...
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