Hmm. Maybe I’ve got my stories mixed up. Was it actually Antigone, or was it some other tragedy? Perhaps something like Prometheus Unbound? I really ought to track down a complete reading list and see if I can jog my memory. I know one of those plays was absolutely dreadful—it was probably from my earlier studies, so it likely wasn't Antigone after all.
Goodness, I feel like I'm getting old... 😁 I'll probably look into renewing my subscription next year once my daughter starts high school. 😂
Honestly, Antigone was such a drag. Thankfully, we had Satyricon and Aesop to actually save classical literature for us. It’s similar with the Divine Comedy—it felt like it was everything before "comedy" even became a thing, but I ended up reading the entire Decameron even though I only needed five stories. In my eyes, that really helped mend my opinion of Renaissance literature 😁 I agree. We didn't have to suffer through Cry and Fury; we were allowed to pick a stream-of-consciousness novel instead, and I think most of us went with Mrs. Dalloway 😉
As for Mrs. Dalloway for laundry, I can't even remember if we ever actually read it... generally speaking, all that old American literature was just so incredibly unreadable because nothing makes sense. I mean, I struggle to understand modern Americans half the time, let alone people from 500 years ago 😁
Back in Elementary School, my absolute worst nightmare was *Watch Out for the Senjak Hand*. It was just completely unreadable. That Smile-aga guy was just as much of a drag, though at least it was a short read, so you could power through it. Since it rhymes, it moves a bit faster, even if absolutely nothing stuck in my brain—it was such a tedious assignment.
And don't even get me started on those early Greek tragedies; they were pure, unadulterated boredom. 🙂 Like trying to get through the *Iliad* or the *Odyssey*, where you have to wade through five sentences of footnotes for every other word you actually read. Even certain passages from the *Bible* were a total slog (specifically the ones we were forced to read).
Generally speaking, I’ve actually finished pretty much everything on the required reading list, except for *Combray*. I didn't quite make it to the end of that one—I had about 20 pages left to go.
I’ve come to the conclusion that summer reading lists mostly just serve as a way to pick fights with your kids, usually by threatening them with punishments because they haven't finished their books yet ☕ Honestly, I think we’d see a lot fewer family arguments if these mandatory reading assignments didn't even exist 😁
rowdypanther12 said:isuse 😂 They're basically the people who sanitize bananas and oranges.
I mean, obviously they aren't going to read on a screen—you'll go blind from that. Just give them a Kindle and they'll read properly 😁
That’s 👍 Actually, my iPad was perfectly fine for reading too (and I still enjoy using mine even though I own a Kindle), provided you have the settings dialed in correctly. Plus, her highlighting was all over the place, jumping wildly between different quotes in the book, so she just started selecting and categorizing the key sentences while she read (stuff like character development and such) and then emailed the whole thing to herself at the end (or sent it to the printer if needed) so she could transcribe it into her notebook... honestly, it worked out great for her.
We’ve been doing some creative book reports lately. Last year, my daughter was tasked with filming a short movie based on her summer reading list. Honestly, she and her brother spent almost the entire afternoon just laughing and goofing around while they were filming, acting like total sillies! But, despite all the chaos, the final film turned out absolutely wonderful. I was actually quite impressed by how she structured the whole thing. It was definitely one of those rare moments where schoolwork felt less like a chore and more like genuine fun. 👍
Non-violent and strictly by the contract that nobody even knew existed until it was already signed 😂 I’d actually suggest they go ahead and peacefully sign an agreement to implement canon law instead of this nonsense secular system. They could just abolish divorce entirely if you were married in a church. Honestly, we've been harassed for decades by their version of "medical ethics"—all that talk about "life from conception" or those ridiculous stories about "babies in refrigerators" and similar nonsense that we simply don't care about.
And honestly, every time they push one of these absurdities, I find myself becoming an even more staunch anti-theist. It's just basic physics at this point—Newton's Third Law in action, nothing more...
redridge13 said:Since we’re already deep in the weeds talking about religious studies during class hours...
So, my kid doesn't take religion classes, and on the day all their religious friends have a block period for it, they told the non-religious kids that they aren't allowed to leave and just come back later for their regular lessons. Instead, they’re stuck sitting in the library?!
The school is right in the middle of the neighborhood—literally a ten-minute walk for everyone. These kids are in high school, and instead of being stuck in this ridiculous religious loophole, they could easily just head home, grab some lunch...
I'm honestly just waiting for the first parent-teacher meeting to blow a fuse... ☕
In our district last year, when everything was scheduled in blocks, they actually set the religion classes to just one hour specifically to avoid leaving such huge gaps in the schedule. If it is a block period, they usually schedule it first thing in the morning or at the very end of the day. Honestly, you should speak up—either ask them to break up the block, move it to the start or end of the day, or tell them you'll be sending an official note every single week stating that your child is leaving campus under your own responsibility. (It would be great if all the parents whose kids don't attend take this stance.) Once you submit that as a parent, they can't legally stop you.
As far as I know, there isn’t really a formal rule against it. However, if they actually make up more than half the class and start acting out in the hallways—you know, being loud, filming TikToks, tossing a ball around—the teacher might just "coincidentally" decide to shuffle the schedule so their class ends up being the very first or the very last period of the day. 😁The main thing is for you parents to stay on the same page and back them up. They have every right to have fun during their free time; it shouldn't be on you if the school decides to schedule those breaks in the middle of the day instead of at the end when they can just head home.
I don't know what else to say, but sometimes in the Middle East, only the old-school, unconventional methods actually get things done...
Jason Ortiz5 said:Honestly, having religious studies in public schools at all? That's just common sense being ignored.
I was actually going to say that having a lick of common sense is practically a crime in this crazy country—especially when you see that not even 30% of the students bother showing up to the class just to get it removed from their schedule (though I should mention my school isn't located in New York City).
As for how they handle the kids who skip religion class, as far as I know, there’s a directive stating the school has to find a way to ensure they aren't left unsupervised, at least for the younger grades. How that actually plays out is entirely up to the principal—it really just depends on their mood. But it isn't just about supervision; it's also a numbers game. The fewer students who opt out, the harder it is to find an alternative solution. At my kid's school, only about six to eight students don't attend, and in the lower grades, they usually stay with a teacher or hang out in the library. For the older kids, they have this lounge area in the school auditorium—sort of a "study hall" setup with a little pallet sofa, pillows, and chairs. They usually have a great time there; in fact, they often have to be told to quiet down by the religion teacher! The only real hiccup happened once when the principal caught them and scolded them for doing homework during that time, arguing they should be doing it at home (of course, they were really just using the opportunity to pool their resources, finish everything together, and then head home completely free of obligations 😁).
I’m not quite sure what the setup will look like for my son this year. He’s starting fifth grade, so he’ll likely be in the auditorium. Most of the boys tend to skip religion class, so if they start kicking a soccer ball around the auditorium, we might run into some trouble 🤔.
Larry Walker24 said:Whichever Government pushes this through, they're basically handing the next election to the opposition on a silver platter.
But honestly, how does that even tie back to the theory that they're unbreakable? There's a massive difference between simply wanting something to be true and actually having the capacity to make it happen.
If you look at the Department of Education guidelines, there isn't a specific rule laid out regarding the daily schedule, which means any interpretation of it is pretty much subjective rather than set in stone. You see similar ambiguity in the legal statutes for other election matters as well. Essentially, the hourly schedule just needs to comply with federal law, which states that for multi-grade levels, the maximum is six hours per day. Beyond that, schools have total autonomy to organize their day however they please—whether they want to use block scheduling or something else entirely. In my experience, some days actually end up being longer because if religious studies is on the calendar, those hours don't even count toward that limit.
As for The Contract, of course it can be terminated. We are a sovereign nation, after all, and we’ve entered into agreements with other entities, like the Holy See, which we can rescind whenever we see fit. Naturally, there's a process involved; if things get complicated, there are plenty of international arbitration courts designed specifically for disputes between nations. You just take it to court, much like a divorce settlement.
Just because something is mentioned in the agreement with the Holy See doesn't mean it actually carries any weight right now. They only count things that are strictly mandatory, you know? And religious studies just isn't one of those, nor will it ever be.
So, I’ve heard there are some schools where they switch up the shifts—you know, having certain classes like foreign languages during the first or last period instead. But honestly, I don't really want to get sidetracked by scheduling logistics; I want to focus strictly on the weekly credit hour requirements. Look, let’s be clear about the law: according to Section 51, the daily instruction time for mandatory subjects in an elementary or middle school is capped at a maximum of 4 to 6 hours. Period. So, I just don't see how religious education—which is entirely elective—could possibly have any bearing on reducing the required hours for core mandatory subjects. It's like saying we're cutting back on math because we added an elective. It doesn't add up!
Maybe the statute was worded differently in the past, but looking at it now, increasing or decreasing the number of elective hours simply has no impact on the maximum number of mandatory subject hours allowed per week. At least, that's my reading of the text. I just don't see the connection being made here.
Honestly, it’s just unpredictable in my district too. I don't quite follow the logic of cutting back on religious studies—which isn't even mandatory, and my kids don't attend anyway—just to pad out the mandatory subjects. If we want to increase the core curriculum without touching the electives like computer science or foreign languages, the only real lever left is increasing the total number of instructional hours for required classes. And that inevitably leads us straight toward full-day schooling.
Besides, sooner or later, they're going to implement it. The rate at which school staff numbers are dropping is nowhere near as fast as the decline in student enrollment. A lot of schools are becoming one-way or half-empty, so this seems like a straightforward way for the state to maintain employment levels even as student populations shrink. In the big cities where they actually have overcrowding issues, they'll probably just build more facilities or expand existing ones. Because our overcrowded, two-way schools in NYC are basically a rare exception to the national trend...
Honestly, I’m not quite sure what part of this is getting under your skin. To me, it’s actually kind of funny—as long as religion classes aren't mandatory, my kids will end up having way more time for other subjects because their religious studies schedule will be exactly zero hours a week. Whether they offer one, two, or three hours of instruction per week doesn't really matter to us, since we have the choice to opt out entirely. And that's exactly what we do. I don't see how I lose anything in this scenario; if anything, I say go right ahead!
And look, it doesn't make any sense to argue that cutting down on religious education hours is a way to squeeze in more biology, for instance, if the school district only counts mandatory courses toward the maximum daily credit limit. The only real way to increase instructional time for specific subjects would be to raise the total number of required hours per day—essentially moving toward a full-day school model.
Besides, at our local private academy, they only have it once a week. My kids actually get more than enough, and sometimes even feels like a bit much.😂
Well, look, I honestly think the only real fix is the one thing everyone seems to be avoiding—switching to full-day schooling. It would just expand the daily block of hours available. Personally, I don’t quite wrap my head around why they’d limit the mandatory hours based on whether a subject is categorized as an elective; it feels like those hours should still count toward their total load, right? My kids don't even bother with electives, except for my son, who is absolutely obsessed with computer science. For them, having a one-hour gap twice a week (or letting them sleep in a bit later, which they actually got lucky enough to experience once this year!) isn't some huge issue at all.
For periods 5 and 6, they alternate between science and geography. It’s basically 1.5 hours each, so one week you're looking at 2 hours of science and an hour of geography, and the following week it just flips. By periods 7 and 8, things actually pick up a bit because they have biology, chemistry, and physics all scheduled for 2 hours a week, which honestly feels pretty reasonable.
Before the pandemic hit, her schedule had one week dedicated to technical studies and the following week focused on art. Basically, she’d only see those teachers once every two weeks. But since she also had that Monday/Friday block, any time a holiday rolled around, they’d skip an entire session, meaning she wouldn't see them for a whole month. For instance, if there was a long weekend like Easter, art class gets canceled, then PE happens, then the holiday break hits—and suddenly she hasn't seen her art teacher in four weeks. 😁
Honestly, thank goodness the technical block wasn't on Fridays... (it's a good thing, too, because with the technical stuff, they have to cover theory and sit for actual exams, whereas with art, they're mostly just sketching or putting together a quick presentation).
rowdypanther12 said:I'm running a little behind—if my mom starts at 7:00, did she get caught up yesterday? Or maybe since 5:00?
My little one is starting to eat at 8:00 now, but she was definitely feeling those hunger pangs as early as 5:00. So, you’re probably looking at a 5:00 start for yours too. As for my son, he hit that stage at 3:00, and now he’s moved up to 5:00.