Wednesday, December 15, 2010

school's OUT, Home's IN- what a relief !

As-salaam alaikum wa-rahmatullahi wa-barakatuhu

Our family went to school for 10 years and we had been integrated into the system, breaking away did have its anxieties and a few withdrawal pains, bu
t this July as I watched as most families making a mad dash to uniform and stationary shops, I realized there were somethings I been relieved off now that the kids do not go to school and here they are: 
 - the mad dash to the always crowded uniform/ stationary/ shoe shops before the school year begins
 - fretting over a forgotten lunch box, school badge, note book when kids have left for school
 - being stressed all day over a forgotten homework copy only to have your child come home and cheerfully tell you that the teacher did not ask for it today
  rehearsing for a spelling test all week to find out that the test is postponed to the next week and sometimes canceled with a new list to practice for next week
 - reading homework!!! "read the chapter 5 times each of five days to be tested at the end of the week" (If the teacher has time/ remembers)
 - Dress up day: "why can't i be spiderman? all my friends will"
 - Notices that say: Please send a chart paper/ thermoboll sheet / a green snack / a white tee shirt/ a white orchid for TOMORROW's activity
 - Frantic calls to other parents to make sense of homework written in kid's diary
 - Stress to locate school books when a teacher has not returned a book but assigned homework in it - yes it happens!
 - Stress when the child's bench mate has accidentally taken your child's homework book home, guilt when your child has brought home someone else's book home
 - new concepts introduced 2 weeks before examinations
 - The whole month of stress just before examination week!
 - Trying to make your child complete all the review homework then making him practice those concepts he really needs to review
 - frantic calls to/ from parents/ teachers to verify if the school is closed the following day due to disturbances in the city
 - having to insist that my child must write his speech/ essay/ poem on his own because its his work and it doesn't matter if his friend's father/ mother/ aunty/ grandfather who is a doctor/ lawyer/college professor wrote it for him and he'll win the contest
 -teachers who think your child is strange because he doesn't draw faces on pictures/ likes to draw butchers and guns/ doesn't enjoy colouring/ wears shorts that cover his knees
 - PTMs where a subject teacher addresses your child by somebodyelse's name and then tells you about his progress (is she speaking about him or the child whose name she addressed him as?)
 - Holiday Home work!!!
 ALHUMDULILLAH what a relief!
Feel free to share your experiences too.

1 comment:

  1. Assalamu alaikum,

    I agree with all the points you mention. Homeschooling definitely is a relief - in fact, sometimes I even feel 'guilty' that things seem to be flowing too smooth or kids. :):):)

    Nice new design for your blog!!!

    Wassalam,
    Laila

    ReplyDelete