Blog Fodder Motherlode

Zee is going to kindergarten in the fall. He could not be more excited, asking me nearly every day, "How many days till I go to school?" He was sorely disappointed to discover that kindergarten starts a full week after the "big" kids start school.

Zee is very ready for school, having missed the age-five-deadline by a few weeks last year. And he's grown so much in just the last five weeks of preschool at BYU. So, I am excited for him. I have very few concerns--he'll be fine.

(My biggest concern is a little embarrassing: Zee is very clever. He already can read simple books, so obviously he knows all his letters (upper and lower case) and numbers. He likes rhyming, and he can do some simple math (including, bizarrely, some multiplication). So I'm a little worried he'll be bored, and act up.) (And, socially, he has a lot to learn--when to talk, when to NOT talk, taking turns, etc.)

But that's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm here to talk about the purely glorious experiences that will provide blog fodder for weeks to come: school policies, procedures, and parents. It's going to be great!

I picked up a "family handbook" yesterday at registration. The first thing I noticed about it was on the cover: "Please read with your child twenty minutes every day!!!" I thought, "They want me to read this handbook to my child every day? For twenty minutes? What??" Then my brain caught up with me, and I realized they were talking about regular reading, not handbook reading. Reading comprehension fail for me!

Inside the handbook is a section about "At Home Reading":

It is imperative that every student at [our school] read at least 20 minutes five nights a week. We will provide K-3rd grade students with a book that is on their independent reading level Monday through Thursday. It is extremely important that this book be read by the student and return to school the next day...THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT HOMEWORK YOUR CHILD HAS EACH NIGHT.

Whoa. I'm all about reading (uh...DUH!), but I don't remember having homework in kindergarten or first grade. And they are going to send a book home with my son every weeknight? Oookay, that seems like a fair amount of work (and time?) for the teachers, checking out and checking in books at the beginning and end of every class. And the kindergarteners are only in school 2.5 hours a day as it is.

(Don't worry, I intend to have Zee read his book every day. But I also want to read to him, because occasionally he gets bored with the "Bob met Sam" plotlines of the books he can read by himself.)

And this tidbit from the handbook is a bummer, too: "[Utah regulations] prohibit the serving of homemade treats to children at school." (This is referring to birthday and party treats, not their school lunches.) My mom used to make the awesomest all-day suckers for us to take to school for parties and birthdays. Or homemade cookies, or chocolates, etc. With peanut and wheat allergies, I understand the reasons, but it is a shame.

Don't get me wrong--it's not easy having to follow all of the federal rules, state regulations, and district expectations. I get that, and I'm not blaming the school's administrators. And we are a Title I school, which means many of our students are disadvantaged in some way. I have donated, and intend to continue to donate, to our school. I'm excited to see Zee and his friends succeed.

But I also reserve the right to mock policies, procedures, and myself. The parent.