Language Arts and Math Only in School??

[Tortuga Mama]

I've posted in the past about sort of "homeschooling" in addition to public school. Just curious how much others are doing of this. As my dd goes up in school (now in gr 2), the heavy emphasis on test scores seems she gets mainly language arts and math and the small amount of science, art, music, history she did get is gone and must be done by dh and I outside of school. I realize this changes in gr 4, but how can they possibly fit in all those things they never had time for in the first four years, and still have them ready to tackle middle school subject matter? Homeschooling is not an option for us at this time and we are already politically active in trying to help reverse the No Child Left Standing legislation - just curious how others deal with this issue.

[USAmma]

I just put my dd in school today after homeschooling her for 2 years. I really enjoyed homeschooling but felt that in many ways it was time for a change. Her school seems pretty good but homeschooling has been a part of our lives for so long that it will continue in some form or another. Doing 10 minutes of math with dh has been their "thing" for a long time. Snuggling in bed with me for bedtime stories, plus some reading practice, stories from history, poems, that's all still going to happen. I also like to know what she did all day so we will continue the practice of either a story narration that I write down, or she will write a few sentences about what she did that day and color a picture about it. We enjoy camping, where the girls learn a lot about nature, more then they could learn in a classroom. After our last camping trip she dug out a book about trees and we read it together.

I am not doing this to push my dd in any way, but homeschooling and learning has been a major part of our bonding and sharing together. I am not going to let go of that. I went to school all the way through and my father used to read to me from the classics at night. In the summers he would teach me math and other things so I would do better in school the next year. It also taught me how to teach myself using books, a skill that I found useful in college.

[boongirl]

I am not sure where you are writing about, but in WA state public schools, curriculum is tied to standardized tests. And, standardized tests cover the following areas:
Reading
Writing
Mathematics
Social Studies
Science
Arts
Health/Fitness

If your state's test do not cover a subject, it stands to reason they won't teach it in detail. As these things vary by state, you should probably ask these questions of the school principal. This person is the best equipped to answer for you.

[melissa17s]

Start questioning the teacher and the administrators about the curriculum. Some of the changes may be monitary, such as cutting specials like art, music, and pe. Ask if this is a symptom of NCLB or why they would otherwise only stress 2 subjects for 2nd graders. Most states have standards for what a student should be learning in each subject. Ask the school where you can get this information for your state, and then ask them what is going on, if they are not meeting these standards in the subjects not being taught. Also, start talking to other parents... get them invovled in questioning and searching out answers and alternatives.

[Tortuga Mama]

I'm writing about CA - there are explicit standards for each grade, and I've looked at them closely. This is what I'm concerned about. I've talked to principal/teachers, they understand the concern and actually share it, but their hands are tied by the NCLB requirement that they post certain test scores (my dd is in a lang immersion program and there are a large portion of english lang learners and it reflects in test scores since tests are in english). when i look at the standards, it seems impossible to catch up in science, art, etc. when they are formally taught in 4th grade (this is when testing for these subjects happens in CA). I think it is symptomatic of the public school system here and being in a school whose test scores aren't reflecting all learning going on. With one poster, agreed on the continuance of "homescooling" certain subjects and with us it is the same, a connection, a part of our life (science experiments, learning games, reading, making plays and poems, nature hikes and camping) and we will continue, just how do you deal with the fact that most of these kids aren't getting all of this at home and what will this mean when they start in 4th grade to teach them? more and more parents are starting to mobilize, particularly against the NCLB reqs and what it is doing to public education.

[Thalia the Muse]

I really hope that NCLB dies a quick death, because I agree that it contorts the curriculum away from learning and toward coaching on how to pass a particular standardized test. And yeah, it hits poor school districts much harder -- we're in a good school district and they can be reasonably sure that test scores will be fine without too much drilling, but it must just be killing the L.A. Unified system.