I have previously posted about how Amita was enrolled in a Montessori preschool. We really enjoyed the school and were happy with her being there while we were settling in our house. I am sorry to report that there was a teacher change in January and something that was positive became negative.
Let me start off by saying that Ridhwi and I evaluated where we were regarding homeschooling over Christmas and decided that we were ready to take Amita out of school and begin seriously working on homeschooling after this academic year was over. We thought we would keep Amita in school until the end of the year so she could have some consistency. We had moved her around so much that we didn't want to change anything for her if we didn't have to. While we loved the school itself, there were things we didn't like but were willing to put up with them as long as Amita was happy and learning.
Here were the things we did not like:
1. The lack of sleep for both kids. I would have to get the kids up before they were ready in order to get them out the door on time. They were both sleepy and crabby throughout the day because of it.
2. The lack of breakfast. Amita can easily take an hour to eat breakfast. As I mentioned in point number one, she was already getting up earlier than she was ready for so I couldn't get her up an hour earlier on top of that for breakfast. Because of this, she would eat her breakfast in the car during the 25 minute commute to school and she often went to school without eating anything because she was sleepy. They gave a snack within the first hour so I didn't worry too much about it, but I still was not happy about it.
3. The lack of freedom in our schedule. With Ridhwi's work schedule, it is imperative that we schedule family time when we can. It is especially important for the kids to get quality time with him since they don't see him at all on his working weeks. Amita's schooling limited our ability to do this quite a bit.
4. A crazy-insane schedule for a two and three year-old. We were running around driving Amita to school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We had Toddler Time at the YMCA on Tuesday mornings and Music and Movement class at the Y on Thursday mornings. On Saturdays we have been going to the library for the different learning activities they host. Every single morning we were out and running around. I hated that the kids did not have time for free play or adequate rest, and that I had to choose between school and some other learning experiences (especially for Ashima who was not in school).
5. Sickness. Amita was constantly sick this winter, much more than anyone else in the house.
We were willing to work around these things so Amita could have some consistency, but then Amita's previous teacher (who was awesome) was moved to another classroom. The new teacher, "Ms. Smith", was not as effective of a teacher. The first day I took Amita in the classroom after Christmas Ms. Smith did not introduce herself to me. In fact, it was two days before I knew who she was (I thought she was a teacher helper) and a week before I knew her name (Amita told me). I feel it was a bad first impression - Ms. Smith should have introduced herself to the parents and maybe have written a letter about herself so we could get to know her a bit and begin a relationship - especially considering she came in the middle of the year. There were also some behavior problems and lack of proper supervision that began after Christmas. Ms. Smith was a first-year teacher. I myself have been a first year teacher and I was willing to give her a couple of weeks to settle and get her classroom management figured out. There were eight 3 year-old kids in the class, after all, and I could understand that she needed to her to classroom flow down to a routine. Four times that Ridhwi or I went to get Amita from school she was in the hallway by herself. The classroom door was open, but still, this was unacceptable. A three year-old should not be unattended. Then the behavior problems started. There was a kid in the class, "James", who has been a behavior problem the whole year. Amita had told me several times about how James would get in trouble and be in time out, or about other things James had done that were just plain bad. She never did those things herself, she just told me about them. I wasn't too concerned because it was obvious the previous teacher had James under control. Then one day after the teacher change I was reading to Amita and asked if she could give me a kiss - and she spit on me. No joke. My sweet, loving, and kind daughter spit on me, and not in a silly way - it was deliberate and mean spirited. I immediately picked her up and was on en route to time out when Amita bit me. Hard. My kids have never bitten each other so I was surprised and incredibly upset. After the drama was over, I sat her on my lap and we had a serious discussion about what was going on. I explained that what she did was very wrong and bad and how it hurt Mommy. I asked where she learned spitting and biting and she said point blank that she learned it from James at school. It became obvious to me that Ms. Smith did not have the class under control. When combined with the other things we did not like about the school situation in general and the fact that we were planning to discontinue school anyway, we decided that enough was enough.The next day I went to the front office and put in a two week notice for her last day.
Let me also say this. If a daycare situation was our only option, I might have been willing to put up with these things and discuss the problems with the teacher and come up with a plan so they did not affect Amita or our home life. After all, she would have had a new teacher and class in August. I understand that teachers can only control so much in a classroom setting and that kids have to learn from difficult people throughout their lives but this is not our only option and Amita does not need to learn these lessons right now. We were already planning on pulling her from the school, this just helped us decide to move up the timeline.
I've been planning my curricula for a while now and I am finally ready. I'm going to post the things I'm doing for both kids in detail in a further post. We are going to begin next week and I am really excited for this to happen. I've been planning and deciding for a year now, and we are ready to begin.
Let's do this.
Let me start off by saying that Ridhwi and I evaluated where we were regarding homeschooling over Christmas and decided that we were ready to take Amita out of school and begin seriously working on homeschooling after this academic year was over. We thought we would keep Amita in school until the end of the year so she could have some consistency. We had moved her around so much that we didn't want to change anything for her if we didn't have to. While we loved the school itself, there were things we didn't like but were willing to put up with them as long as Amita was happy and learning.
Here were the things we did not like:
1. The lack of sleep for both kids. I would have to get the kids up before they were ready in order to get them out the door on time. They were both sleepy and crabby throughout the day because of it.
2. The lack of breakfast. Amita can easily take an hour to eat breakfast. As I mentioned in point number one, she was already getting up earlier than she was ready for so I couldn't get her up an hour earlier on top of that for breakfast. Because of this, she would eat her breakfast in the car during the 25 minute commute to school and she often went to school without eating anything because she was sleepy. They gave a snack within the first hour so I didn't worry too much about it, but I still was not happy about it.
3. The lack of freedom in our schedule. With Ridhwi's work schedule, it is imperative that we schedule family time when we can. It is especially important for the kids to get quality time with him since they don't see him at all on his working weeks. Amita's schooling limited our ability to do this quite a bit.
4. A crazy-insane schedule for a two and three year-old. We were running around driving Amita to school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We had Toddler Time at the YMCA on Tuesday mornings and Music and Movement class at the Y on Thursday mornings. On Saturdays we have been going to the library for the different learning activities they host. Every single morning we were out and running around. I hated that the kids did not have time for free play or adequate rest, and that I had to choose between school and some other learning experiences (especially for Ashima who was not in school).
5. Sickness. Amita was constantly sick this winter, much more than anyone else in the house.
We were willing to work around these things so Amita could have some consistency, but then Amita's previous teacher (who was awesome) was moved to another classroom. The new teacher, "Ms. Smith", was not as effective of a teacher. The first day I took Amita in the classroom after Christmas Ms. Smith did not introduce herself to me. In fact, it was two days before I knew who she was (I thought she was a teacher helper) and a week before I knew her name (Amita told me). I feel it was a bad first impression - Ms. Smith should have introduced herself to the parents and maybe have written a letter about herself so we could get to know her a bit and begin a relationship - especially considering she came in the middle of the year. There were also some behavior problems and lack of proper supervision that began after Christmas. Ms. Smith was a first-year teacher. I myself have been a first year teacher and I was willing to give her a couple of weeks to settle and get her classroom management figured out. There were eight 3 year-old kids in the class, after all, and I could understand that she needed to her to classroom flow down to a routine. Four times that Ridhwi or I went to get Amita from school she was in the hallway by herself. The classroom door was open, but still, this was unacceptable. A three year-old should not be unattended. Then the behavior problems started. There was a kid in the class, "James", who has been a behavior problem the whole year. Amita had told me several times about how James would get in trouble and be in time out, or about other things James had done that were just plain bad. She never did those things herself, she just told me about them. I wasn't too concerned because it was obvious the previous teacher had James under control. Then one day after the teacher change I was reading to Amita and asked if she could give me a kiss - and she spit on me. No joke. My sweet, loving, and kind daughter spit on me, and not in a silly way - it was deliberate and mean spirited. I immediately picked her up and was on en route to time out when Amita bit me. Hard. My kids have never bitten each other so I was surprised and incredibly upset. After the drama was over, I sat her on my lap and we had a serious discussion about what was going on. I explained that what she did was very wrong and bad and how it hurt Mommy. I asked where she learned spitting and biting and she said point blank that she learned it from James at school. It became obvious to me that Ms. Smith did not have the class under control. When combined with the other things we did not like about the school situation in general and the fact that we were planning to discontinue school anyway, we decided that enough was enough.The next day I went to the front office and put in a two week notice for her last day.
Let me also say this. If a daycare situation was our only option, I might have been willing to put up with these things and discuss the problems with the teacher and come up with a plan so they did not affect Amita or our home life. After all, she would have had a new teacher and class in August. I understand that teachers can only control so much in a classroom setting and that kids have to learn from difficult people throughout their lives but this is not our only option and Amita does not need to learn these lessons right now. We were already planning on pulling her from the school, this just helped us decide to move up the timeline.
I've been planning my curricula for a while now and I am finally ready. I'm going to post the things I'm doing for both kids in detail in a further post. We are going to begin next week and I am really excited for this to happen. I've been planning and deciding for a year now, and we are ready to begin.
Let's do this.
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