Teach Your Children Well

I'm incredibly indebted to you, the amazingly warm blogosphere, for lifting me up and carrying me into another day and not making me feel bad for not wanting to apologize but rather fling my middle finger high in the air towards the direction of Philadelphia (not anywhere near these folks, of course).

I'm happy to report that I have found a babysitter. And the power of pinot grigio and a warm bath. Thank you thank you thank you.

With Quinlan (like many of her bloggy peers) possibly starting germ central preschool next month and a shit-ton of bloggers with kids starting kindergarten, I figured it might be appropo to talk about school from the flip side -- that is, from the mouths of teachers.

I'll be talking about everything from mentally and physically preparing your kids for school, to what teachers would really like parents to know about their job tonight on my radio podcast from 9-10pm EST tonight.

I'm so pleased that Lara David, blogger and high-school teacher turned pre-school teacher extraordinaire, and author and one of my favorite dads and guests Robert Wilder will be joining me to discuss everything you wanted (or didn't want to know) about school plus Robert's new book "Tales from the Teacher's Lounge."

Click here to listen live or if you're able to call in (646) 915-8634, I'd love to hear from you. And please leave a comment or email me a question, and you'll be entered to win a copy of Robert's book.

And if you don't want to miss a show, make sure to subscribe via iTunes (Motherhood Uncensored) and sign up for my podcast feed.

Comments

[heatherw]

Listened to the podcast. What a timely topic! Thank you for including the teacher's perspective. I used to teach, and I wrote about those experiences on http://losingmyfaculties.wordpress.com/
I hope you'll check it out.

ps - you are a trooper with those inlaws from hell. I agree with several of the posters who mentioned your husband needs to remind his parents (and himself) that his responsibility is to you and your kids - not his parents.

[Melissa]

You found a babysitter!
YIPPEE!!
Go girl!

Make sure to get your break once
or twice a week now, for your sanity alone.

[Kara (Fear and Loathing in Stepford)]

Great topic and great show (I'm listening now). I'm a K-12 educator so this is a topic of much interest! Maybe I''ll call in...

[Paige]

Sitters and wine always help, K.

Alllllways.

Hang in there and keep on sipping,
P

[BOSSY]

Yup, the good old Pinot...

[Motherofbun]

I need to listen to this one. I want to ask a question. (I blogged about this yesterday... Here's some background... Volunteered in my child's classroom and saw for myself how an open classroom environment functions. And all I have to say to the teacher who keeps complaining of my son's lack of focus is "No SHIT!" I couldn't concentrate with so much noise and activity from the other rooms. And all of the crap on the walls.... Geez.)

So my question is this: Why is the concept of open classrooms still employed in this day and age. (My son's school is not more than 15 years old.) What are the supposed benefits? ANd how are kids with sensory issues for ADD supposed to deal with the multitude of distractions?

[kim]

This sounds great!! My kids aren't quite old enough (2 and 5 months) but I've been thinking about school. My kindergarten teacher just died (she was 98 and taught every kid in my family, though we range in age from 56 to 41!) and it has made me think back to those elementary school times.

I'd love to know what parents can do to support teachers. What do they need most?

[Joel]

I've often wondered why more teachers don't blog about what happens in their classes. It seems much easier than sending home papers. We had a Kindergarten teacher for our oldest daughter that had a web cam in the room.It was great. I was always afraid that I'd check in on it one day and I'd see something I'd rather not! Fortunately, that never happened. She was a great teacher.

[amy]

I want to know how long to wait after sending a note in to the teacher with your child, for a response. Is no news good news? Do I send another note? I know their time is precious, and I don't want to annoy them at drop-off/pick-up...

[PunditMom]

Sounds like a great show. Hang in there -- the babysitter will help -- along with the Pinot, of course. xo

[mothergoosemouse]

I want that book. My oldest and dearest friend teaches elementary school (in the same building where she and I went to school, with some of the same teachers!). Not only are her stories hilarious, but she has really given me good insight into the teacher's point of view.

[Nancy]

Ooh, this is a good topic, and I have a question (which I'll provide here in case I don't get to tune in tonight). Mimi's teacher is very good about sending weekly newsletters home with info on what they are doing in class. What I'm wondering is, how much ongoing feedback do teachers like to get in response? With the prevalence of e-mail it would be easy to shoot her a note every week or so and just say, "Hey, Mimi has liked learning x or y" or just to give her a heads up if something's going on with Mimi at home -- but I don't want to overwhelm her. It just seems like a different world from when I was a kid and most of the communications between parent and teacher were in conferences or notes. But I want her to know she has my absolute support and partnership in getting Mimi through school.

(p.s., it may be different for me than some parents because I work and so I don't see the teacher at pickup/dropoff time.)