Chapter VIII: Parents, help!

Parents need to be teachers. It has become my motto when I visited my son's school today.

My son, TJ, is in Mrs. Windell's first grade class at Oaks Elementary (all fictional names). In our state (of Washington), the ratio for this age group is 1:20. Mrs. Windell has gone over by four. It is a full class but she is able to handle it very well. She has given me children to privately tutor while she teaches the rest of the class. It seems to me that that these children have some difficulties catching up with the class.

I do have to give Mrs. Windell credit for allowing everyone become successful learners. 24 children is alot. I think the children that I tutored seem to have study habit-problems. These children that I tutored caught on really quick with the assignment when I helped them, which was reading and writing.

I could only assume one thing: they're not getting any or enough study time at home. Both parents probably have full time jobs and/or come from separate households. Or, perhaps, the parents completely depend on their child's teacher to do all the teaching. When these children come to school, they're left behind the rest of the class. Which, sadly, is hard on Mrs. Windell as she's unable to give one on one at any given time. I can't say it enough: she has 24 children! And PLUS -- she's working on a curriculum which is organized by the state to which she needs to apply to every child by the end of the year. Every child is expected to meet those guidelines before proceeding to the next grade level. This is the No Child Left Behind Act, folks. Unless they're inside the classrooms, many people don't understand the pressure that is put inside our classroom thanks to the Act.

Some of us, like myself, have worked around these difficult educational pressures which is surrounding my children. My children are on a set routine -- a routine that they carry and set in me by my parents during my schooling years -- I have never experienced children that aren't given enough study time. So, seeing this first hand is a completely new and learning experience for me.

Our home routine is like this: when my children come home from school, they have a little snack; once they're done, they can do their homework and get it out of the way and watch t.v., OR they can watch t.v. now and do homework later after supper. They always pick the latter, which is fine by me.


The children are in school and using their brains for 6.5 hours. You're talking about ACTIVE brain activity. When they come home, they're exhausted and so are their brains. It's kind of like: when you come home from work, do you want to continue working or would you rather rest? You're home in your comfort zone.

My children are allowed some free time for a couple of hours before hitting the books again. I think, in my totally and honest opinion, explains why they're successful in school (they're all getting high marks). Marin is a different story. She's in the Running Start program and has online courses. She goes to her high school for an hour everyday for math; the rest of her courses are online at the college. Because of her unusual routine, she makes adjustments. She takes advantage of an empty and quiet house -- when the little ones are in school -- and completes her studying then. She, too, is doing academically well in her studies.


I'm not saying that this is the only way to help children succeed in school. I highly doubt that there is only one way to do it. I'm pretty sure that parents, whose children are doing great in school both academically and socially, have their own way or influence of contributing to their children's successes. But there are children, like the ones in Mrs. Windell's class that probably need more parental involvement. If parents become more involved with their children's academic learning and aid their social development, then teachers, like Mrs. Windell and Mrs. Dearly, will not have to feel like they have to do all the work. We are in the No Child Left Behind age. Our teachers are trying very hard to meet today's nation's and state's academic standards. (Pre-certification) Teachers, like myself, will have to carry on this responsibility so EVERY child in our classroom can succeed. Parents, on the other hand, can not depend on teachers alone to do this job.

There has to be some way to help these children. If they fail, so will our nation. What good is that to our children's future when they feel like they've failed? Take some time -- even if it's in some small way -- to help a child learn. This will give him/her the confidence to become independent and successful learners.

While I was tutoring the children inside my son's classroom, I heard Mrs. Windell call my son's name over my shoulder. It was his turn to read his written story to the class by using a light projector. I glanced up and my heart practically swelled. He wrote a full page story within minutes describing his story in detail, with pictures and minimal spelling errors. This has come as a complete surprise to me, because TJ dreads writing at home. I am not being biased here, but at a teacher's point of view (mine), this was the best work compared to his classmates'. And I got to see it first hand.