November 23, 2005

Heart break,


When one becomes a mom/dad or parent, they learn from that day on, they will do anything to protect the new person they love. When one of my kids is sick, I would do anything to take away the pain. I try to ease how they feel by making them laugh even for a second so they can forget how awful they feel.

Friday Lucas was sick, he got sick at a restaurant right before we ever got our food... I actually had to buy him new clothes before we got home, let's just say it wasn't a pretty sight but boy was he proud of his new clothing. LOL! We had a slow weekend monitering him back to health.

Monday evening Zoe got sick... Sadly for her it is all emotion related that makes her sick. We've been having a really tough time with her being in 1st grade this year. The lessons, the homeworks, the extra work the teacher gives them too, the demands of the teacher that we just don't believe in. Mostly, we are hating the teacher, it's tough to encourage Zoe when we understand why she's not to keen on going to school. My heart aches so much that all these feelings have made my daughter sick, she is very strong to hold her own in class though.

Both our kids have a very strong belief in what is fair, like respecting the rules, listening to teachers and whatnot. They will both get really hurt if a friend cheats, doesn't listen or just disturbs. Zoe's teacher also screams at the kids in class and has warned them of physical consequences if one didn't listen. ARGH!!!

How can I encourage my daughter in learning how to read when I know she is afraid to not meet her teacher's demands the next day in class!? The kids are not even learning the basis (to me) of how to read. So I try my best to help her out but since I am trying to have her understand reading instead of just learning the words by heart it's not easy. There are so many learn-to-read programs in english, sadly in french materials are lacking.

I'm meeting the teacher in 3 weeks and it will be hard for me not to bite my tongue and keep my views about her attitude and teaching to myself. How dare I judge a teacher on her work. How dare she make my kid hate school though... Tough job being a parent somedays, luckily both kids are great support to each other. You should see how Lucas was keeping Zoe laughing after she got sick or the other day when Zoe followed Lucas around the house carrying a bucket "just in case". LOL!

If you have a second today, I would really appreciate if you could take the time to think of us. I am loosing this battle and Zoe is missing her 2nd day of school. She look terrorised at the idea of going back, sadly I was supposed to start a new job today but that's been put on hold (not by my choice). Having her change teachers or school is just not a possibility at this time either. :(

Posted by Jo at November 23, 2005 08:18 AM
Comments
Have you looked into after school programs? When my son had trouble in first grade due he was placed in Title 1. It is an in-school program that gives additional help and one on one attention. If she could get one on one attention she might enjoy reading more even if she doesn't like school right now. Otherwise, I would just tell her how you feel about the teacher (on her level of course) and the coursework and what you expect from her. If I disagreed with the TEachers expectations, I have told my son (he is in third grade now) what I expect from him. So long as he knows that he is not disappointing me, it is easier to get through the problems we can't control. I hope that helps some, I know it can be tough to have a teacher you don't care for. BTW, your kids are both adorable. Posted by: Mindy at November 23, 2005 02:44 PM
Good luck, Jo. I don't have any wise advice to offer you, but I do know that children who are so obviously and deeply loved by their parents will be able to cope with an awful lot -- of course, you'd rather they didn't have to cope with any of it! Posted by: Aven at November 23, 2005 03:56 PM
you better dare question this teacher. Ok.. this is coming from a teacher.. we are people not gods! ok.. This teacher is not the end all be all know it all person that teachers tend to be elevated to. This teacher has a SERIOUS problem with classroom management if she resorts to yelling and threats of physical punishment (which here is illegal) So do dare to question, do dare to bring it up if not with the teacher with the principal If your child is having this much trouble then others are too. DARE!!! Posted by: Denise at November 23, 2005 04:00 PM
I second what Denise says...dare to question. Teachers aren't perfect, and just like in any profession, there are good workers and bad workers. Also talk to the directeur because if it's gone so far that Zoe hates to go to school, it's something the directeur should know about. Is Zoe's school using the "Raconte-moi les sons" program for learning to read? It's a very good one, and I can give you the book information if you want something in French that really gets a kid knowing how to sound out just about any word. My kid has attention problems and she still seems to be able to use this program to sound out words, and French isn't even her first language...so this program might help. It's not about word memorization, it's about learning the sounds of letters and letter combinations. Works really well. Let me know, and hang in there... Posted by: Lee Ann at November 23, 2005 04:11 PM