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Blog Entry 5 of 5 The No Spin Mom
I wanted a place where parents could share information that they know is correct,without the spin. Parents today are faced with alot of different problems.Working,raising children,dealing with schools,(don't get me started),scheduling parenting and working.A place also where stay at home moms ( like me) can share their views,(yes we do have brains)and help each other and working parents whether they be single moms or dads or 2 parent working households. We all have a stake in the way our children are raised,the way the schools are teaching or not teaching,what's going on in our neighborhoods,what is important for your city,county,state and country. Let's stop tuning out and tuning in to what we want for our children's future.What we want for our families,our friends,our neighborhoods and ourselves. Parenting can be the most rewarding,frustrating,scariest,hardest and blessed thing that has ever happened to parents today. We face more challenges than our parents and their parents before them. I taught Preschool for 15 years and was a nanny for 3 before deciding to start my family.I waited until my husband and I could afford for me to stay home and raise them.I have been married for 25 years this May and with my husband for 29 years.I have 2 children one in 2nd grade and one in 5th.What I want out of life is to raise two great girls into strong women.I have taken care of children all my life.That is what I was put on this earth to do.I have done it well.Children are the best.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~TheNoSpinMom

When are parents going to WAKE UP!
Contributed by: Tracey Fanning   on 2/21/2008

I am a child advocate. I have been teaching and taking care of children all my adult life. It started simply enough in a work study program in high school. I went to school half a day and spent the rest volunteering. I was never sure what I was going to do when I graduated,until I was assigned to volunteer in a kindergarten class. Then I knew what I wanted to do. Not be a school teacher, but be a preschool teacher. Even back then I saw kids not getting the foundation to get them ready for "real school". That's when I decided I would give as many children as I could that solid foundation to start school with the knowledge and confidence they needed to really learn. I ended up opening my own preschool and a before and after school program. I tutored children in elementary school.

Now fast forward to today. I have two children of my own. They are both high achievers. They both were reading before they went into kindergarten. They both were passed the kindergarten level before entering school. As were all my former preschool students. I taught every one of them to read and they were fully prepared to begin their school careers. When I moved out here I was a nanny before starting my own family and taught their first son to read before he entered kindergarten. The other one was younger and I was working with him towards reading. They called me up later when the second son started kindergarten and then went on to 1st grade and wasn't reading very well and asked me how to get him reading at the level he was supposed to be. Both children were in a private $8,000 per child per year school, and they are calling me to ask how to get their younger one to read better? I guess money doesn't always buy you the best education.

Now we get down to why kids are struggling today to read,learn and the majority of what I see volunteering in the schools,are behind their grade levels.There are a few reasons I think why.These are my opinions based on years of teaching children and now raising 2 very bright students.That's their jobs.To be students and learn.They are well behaved,well mannered and know their parents will not accept anything less.They have parents that make sure they are learning at their level,not the school level.They have parents that make school #1 priority in our home.

Our #2 priority is keeping our home a learning enviroment, having fun, going places, reading, having sleepovers for their friends, having a safe place to live, sitting down to dinner together every evening and having a mother who stays at home and is totally tuned in to what is going on.I volunteer at their schools ,I fight the administators and I will fight to get my kids educated on their level.Not every household can have a stay at home parent.I know that. My mother was a single mother with 4 kids. Most of my preschool children had a single mother or two parents working.This is not what this is about.I have respect for parents.

This is where we may have differences.When I say parents,I mean an adult in a childs life that has the influence over that child.Everything you say or don't say, everything you do or don't do, everytime your there or not there,affects your child.If you want them to grow up and be successful,you have to WAKE UP!
The schools are not educating your children.Straight 'A's" mean nothing if the curriculum is not challenging.I'm telling you for sure,the elementary school curriculum is horrible.You can't blame the teacher's.You can blame the administration.They tell every teacher what to teach,how to teach it,when to teach it and the same curriculum is a one size fits all education.So this means if your child is ahead ,if you do not demand and I do mean DEMAND the school up the curriculum,you are letting them dumb them down.If you have a child that is behind then you are never going to get them up to grade level unless you step in to teach them yourselves at home.If you have a mediocre student,they will fit right in with the schools curriculum,because that is what is taught, stay within the lines.
If your child is behind in kindergarten,they will be passed onto 1st grade behind,if they start 1st grade behind very few will catch up,they will then be passed to 2nd grade behind and so on and so on.This is how the system works.Teach the box ,hope some learn it,dumb down the one's that are ahead and pass the one's that are behind.Praise the one's who have managed to " stay within the lines"
Parents are not parenting in these critical years.The foundation is in preschool or elementary.If the foundation is not strong and parents are just sending their children to school and hoping they are learning and not really seeing what is going on,you are doomed to have failing children, frustrated and not tuned in because their parents aren't tuned in.

Be your child's advocate!I hear from parents all the time about their children not learning and they won't stand up for their children.Stop complaining and start demanding that your child be educated no matter what level they are on!
I told a bunch of parent's that had children in my daughter's kindergarten class that their children needed help over the summer.I told them they didn't hit the lottery when their kid got this particularly horrible kindergarten teacher. Who has had many,many,many complaints over at least a 10 year period. Their kids were all behind.I even offered to give them some materials and free tutoring to bring them up to where they are supposed to be.They all said that's okay they'll catch up. The same parents have stopped me and have asked me what do I do my child is so far behind and is still not reading? Their child is now in 2nd grade. I tell them take it up with the administration and don't take no for an answer.

I really have no sympathy when you tell someone their child is going to be behind and struggling,offer them help and then they complain when the school is not teaching their children.

I have one question for those parents.

Where were you when the foundation was supposed to be built? Remember you are the parent, you are your child's advocate. Don't wait until they get to middle school and then see there is a problem.

Like I said , WAKE UP! Take back our schools!


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Showing 1 of 1 comments
Submitted By: Lynn Carlsen
posted on 6/15/2008 @ 11:02:34 AM
Rated Blog Entry
Kudos for you!
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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Tracey Fanning

Thornton , CO

Tracey Fanning has posted 5 blog entries and 18 comments since joining on 11/29/2005. Tracey Fanning 's average blog rating is 5.
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