So I realized this week that I never blogged about meeting with my "family"!!!
It was an absolute GREAT experience!!!! The family Kerri and I met was the family of a little girl in our kindergarten class. The mother was our point of contact and she was the sweetest lady ever! She had a very busy schedule, yet she made time to meet with us twice. Once at their home, and once at the mall. One of the most interesting things we learned from talking with her is the differences between some private and public schools. This year was the first year she sent her children to public schools, before they had gone to a private church school. She said that her son (2nd grade) had made the transition easily, but she was a little worried about her daughter (kindergarten). Her daughter had been getting in trouble a bit in class and her reasoning behind it was that she thought her daughter was bored. She told us that the things they were doing in public school kindergarten was what she had already done as a 3 year old at the private school. She had a third child who was 2 I believe and she said that she thought his homework was harder than her daughters who was in kindergarten. I know that the public school vs. private school is an on going and never ending issue. I know that there are perks and downfalls to each, yet it was definitely interesting to hear what she had to say from the mothers perspective!
Being inside the family's home really was an eye opening experinence for me. You learn SO MUCH about a child when you can step inside their world, even if only for an hour or so. It would be great to be able to do home visits with each child in your class! I know that is not liking to happen though so hopefully I can build good enough relationships with all families so that I can get a sense of what their home life might be like. Understanding the child's home life is a vitual part of understanding the child as a whole.
Laura,
ReplyDeleteI completely understand where this mother is coming from with her private school/public school delimma. I currently am an assistant teacher at a private school that I love, but I teach pre-K and a lot of what I teach in my classroom is very similar to my Kindergarten public school field. I think a lot of this has to do with private schooled children begin school earlier than the public schooled students and therefore they get a head start. I think it is a tough battle when you are a parent to decide which way to go but I know for my teaching, I only want to teach publically.