bore me to tears

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bigotry, education, Humanism, inspirational, marriage equality, politics, religion, school, separation of church and state, world of children | 10 Comments

10 Responses

1. on November 21, 2009 at 6:25 am Nance Confer

   Smart boy. And I liked how his Dad just sat there and smiled.

   Nance

   
   
2. on November 21, 2009 at 6:38 am JJ

   He reminds me of Elliot in ET!

   
   
3. on November 21, 2009 at 8:07 am Michelle

   This story annoys me. Why is this headline news?? My best friend and I refused to stand or say the pledge anymore our sophomore year of high school. Our teacher made a stink. Our peers called us commies. We reiterated our rights…everybody calmed down and life went on as usual. My daughter doesn’t even *know* the pledge! So she doesn’t say it for that reason as well as the fact that she refuses to say “one nation under god” anyways. People do this all the time. This poor kid is being used as a propaganda tool by the media.

   btw Lynn…dd woke up on Thursday and declared that she absolutely would not go back to school anymore! I persuaded her to go and talk to her teacher about her grievances, which she did, and when I picked her up she said she would stay. I was disappointed. But then again on Friday she woke up and declared she wouldn’t go back again. I told her to go and spend the day really thinking about whether or not it should be her last day cause if she quit they’d never let her back. When I picked her up she had cleared out her cubby and her backpack was full. I called her dad and he is totally catastrophizing the whole thing. They are going to talk about it more tonight. I think he’s hoping to make her give in and I’m hoping that she’ll become dramatic and he will relent. :P She’s just like me though…when she’s set her mind to something it’s hard to change it.

   
   
4. on November 21, 2009 at 5:30 pm Lynn

   E.T. – a movie about a boy who discovers the meaning of true friendship in a malevolent world of grown-ups.

   
   
5. on November 21, 2009 at 5:53 pm Lynn

   Michelle:

   This poor kid is being used as a propaganda tool by the media.

   Perhaps, but, imho, the joke is on the adults because they look like complete fools in comparison to this thoughtful child. I think it’s a great story – and news – because fairness is the first instinct of a child, who has actually thought about the pledge that he has been asked to memorize and recite. Using a 10-year-old’s logic, he has rejected the snide rhetoric of flag-pledging “grown-ups” who actively and enthusiastically deny rights to fellow citizens.

   
   
6. on November 21, 2009 at 5:58 pm Lynn

   Hi Michelle,

   I’m curious why your daughter doesn’t want to go to school – but I don’t want to pry if you don’t want to talk about it. I remember that she seemed to like school, at first.

   
   
7. on November 21, 2009 at 8:29 pm Michelle

   It has slowly become annoying to her. She’s tired of all the girl-drama. She’s upset that when she takes the test on a unit and gets 7 out of 10 instead of the required 8 out of 10 correct, she has to start the entire unit over again instead of just retesting the final. She’s tired of being given new material that she has never been exposed to and told, when she asks to be shown how to do it “You’ll figure it out.” She’s tired of having to stay in on her breaks and spending hours on the weekend to do homework at a school that told us that they “don’t believe” in it. She can’t stand the English teacher who is always condescending and seems to expect her to be writing at a high school level. She’s fed up and had enough. It’s not fun anymore. I think she gave it a real chance (4 months is fair) and she should be able to choose for it to be done.

   
   
8. on November 22, 2009 at 11:11 am Lynn

   This is a charter school, right? If her dad insists on school, maybe there’s a public school that would be a better fit. (Is that you screaming, “No F’ing Way!,” hundreds of miles from here?? :D) My daughter’s ps is not assigning difficult work (she has already done much of what she is given to do); but her school shares your daughter’s condescending teachers problem, as I’ve been blogging…. oh, never mind. Try to get Dad on-board with hs’ing. Or, does strong-mindedness run on his side, too. :)

   
   
9. on November 23, 2009 at 8:54 am Michelle

   Well…many hours were spent talking with her dad last weekend. He has a lot of fears but we beat him down. :p I actually don’t understand his resistance. He agrees with me on all the major points: kids learn at their own pace and in their own way, we don’t want sheep for kids, we should honor her choices, she’s not likely to turn into her older brother…but he’s got it in his head that she’s some special case or something. He has no interest in pushing her younger brother into school…his inconsistency complicated his arguments. He left last night worried and defeated. I was up half the night worrying about whether or not it’s the right choice. And how to tell those nice people that she’s not coming back. I don’t think they’ll be very happy since she was on the waiting list so long and they tried very hard to make sure we understood their methodology. Ultimately it just wasn’t a good fit for her. And you are correct…you *did* hear me scream “No fucking way!” all the way over there! :P

   On the one hand, I’m feeling happy that all my birds are back in the nest… on the other hand, I see that I really need to step up my game with her to meet her needs.

   
   
10. on November 23, 2009 at 10:38 am Lynn

    Michelle:

    I see that I really need to step up my game with her to meet her needs.

    Just a thought: Recently, when I resurrected my (secular homeschooling resources) website (antsavvy.com), I began the process of updating information. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, just in the time since I began hs’ing, there are so many more very interesting educational tools. My site just hints at them right now, but I hope to put more time into finding them in the future.

    Good luck :)