Posts by Richard Perez3

Word on the street at our school is they’ve officially decided the books are just gonna sit in the library.
Got a parent-teacher meeting tomorrow, so I better bring my A-game and act like I actually have it together.
Yesterday, the whole group got handed their books, and anyone not signed up for religion class was supposed to just pull them out and leave them on the bench.
Pretty sure there's only three of us left.

Our school’s after-school program runs until third grade, which includes kindergarten. I'm working until 5, my husband's done by 3, and honestly, damn it, I really thought we could actually make the most of that schedule while we had the chance.

I mean, schools usually have some kind of meal program or something 🤔
But yeah, if you’re just looking at the raw cost of daycare, I guess that makes sense. For me, the local municipal center runs about $450. It used to be closer to $600.

Look, you can quit, but you haven't. 😁

That’s basically the price of admission. It's what it costs you.

I mean, you could skip out on paying for daycare too, but we all know you're still cutting that check. 😁

What do you mean you don't have to? If you're footing the bill, you better be doing the math. 😬

So we've got income census 😁 plus sports and computer science.

Nah, nah, nah. You totally misread me because I worded that like an idiot. 😵

I wasn't talking about the yearly total, I meant the monthly total. 😁

So, we're looking at 950 a month, which puts it at 10,800 for the year.

Man, if I were in a private club right now... :nesvijest:

I’m feeling the exact same way.
Though, honestly, it feels like things might actually get a little easier here.
Our daycare setup ended up costing us a massive $317 all last year, and then just those few months this year hit us with 800... give me a break, school has to be more affordable than that. 😁

Yeah, sure, you pay for a meal or whatever, but it shouldn't be so much that it absolutely kills you.

Michelle Nelson4 said:I have to respectfully disagree here. I have a son, and he’ll be turning six and a half in two years, so for us, delaying school isn't even a consideration. It's just not on the table.
If that were some kind of universal rule, I suppose every guy out there would be pushing his start date back by a full year just to stay ahead of the curve. It’s funny how those things work, isn't it? If everyone followed that logic, the whole timeline would just shift entirely.

Yeah, honestly, I think starting earlier is better.
My kid was born right near that cutoff date—he was a May baby, and since they have to be in by April 1st, the school actually asked if I wanted to request an early enrollment because he’s right on the edge. They thought it might be good for him to get in now...but nah, no thanks. With him being 7 now, he’s totally ready to go. A year ago? Man, he was basically just a little puddle of mush. 😬

Sorry, but I honestly can't imagine a more brainless answer than that.

Way to go, 👍

So, he's just doing it for the kicks. Well, why didn't you say so right off the bat?

Henry Cox78 said:That’s exactly what people like you want, isn't it? Let's be real—it's not just about religious studies being a thorn in your side. All this talk about "discrimination" and other sappy nonsense is just a smokescreen for your own intolerance toward faith. Honestly, everyone should have religious education classes so people can actually learn how to love and tolerate one another. That's the only way we'll thrive as a society.👍

You’re back at it with the "that's what you want" line. Seriously, give it a rest. It's getting old.

I’m asking you again:

What makes it better regarding space?
What makes it better regarding time?

So, what makes it better specifically when it comes to space?
And how does it actually help with the timing?

If we're following that logic, then old cathedrals shouldn't even be allowed in the mix.
Why don't we just shut them all down? 🤔

You still haven't actually answered her question.

Why can't religious studies classes just be held inside church buildings?

Half the people following this thread are waiting on an answer. Give us a straight response instead of passing the buck with that whole "so you're saying we should..." routine.

devilgirl has been rethinking her whole moderation style and she’s done with those kinds of stunts. From here on out, expect the debates to stay just as heated as they've always been.

Lawrence Torres56 said:The thing is, at least in my opinion, even a kid who's performing below average wouldn't have such a hard time if someone just took a little extra time to reach them... but when you're looking at a classroom setting where the teacher spends half the period just trying to settle down the troublemakers, isn't it obvious they don't have the luxury of giving every single kid that individual attention? On top of that, you've got kids starting first grade who can barely read a sentence or recognize letters, making it nearly impossible for them to grasp what they've just read—which means they never even realize they actually *do* know the material...

And honestly, I highly doubt any parent of one of those more "energetic" kids would ever agree to having their child pulled out into a separate class filled with nothing but kids like that... plus, does the Department of Education even have the budget to take a fourth-grade class of 25 students and split it into ten different small groups of 10? Not a chance.

So, who the hell are you going to turn to?... because let's be real, nobody cares more about whether your kid is happy and feeling successful than you do...😉

Tanita, your exact words were actually:

it's our mistake as parents, thinking someone else should handle everything regarding school instead of us doing it ourselves...

Someone else should handle EVERYTHING regarding school, rather than us doing it ourselves

I don't get why we even bother with school if I personally have to handle everything about it.

You can't compare learning to walk, washing your hands, or getting dressed to actual schooling.

What's the point of school if a parent has to (to use your words) handle everything about it themselves.

And hey, the fact that the teacher is busy dealing with brats and doesn't have time to explain things one-on-one... sorry, I've got nothing for you there. At my job, nobody does my work for me at home just because I'm too slammed with other tasks.

See the dilemma?

Edit. Okay, fine, I'm totally splitting hairs here over that word "everything" and being extra for no reason (honestly, idk what's gotten into me 😁 lately), so maybe that's not fair of me.

All I mean is, obviously we'll help where we think it's necessary (even though, personally, the absolute worst part of my life was having my dad grill me with math problems every single weekend from 5th to 7th grade and it did zero good for me), but I don't exactly consider myself capable of "teaching" anyone. If I did, I'd be a teacher (like my mom was for 35 long years). But I just don't have the knack for it—I might have the will, but without the skill, I'd probably just cause more damage (my own self-assessment). So, logically, as a parent, helping might mean paying for a tutor or something similar, but me sitting down to teach elementary school curriculum just because the teacher is busy managing unruly kids? Give me a break. 😁

Lawrence Torres56 said:So seriously, stop taking everything you read online to heart and just wait until your little one actually starts school, then you'll see firsthand that it's really not that big of a deal 😁 ...you're stressing out for no reason and just building up this huge mental image in your head that has absolutely nothing to do with reality...
The whole homework situation when they start school isn't even more intense or difficult than what you're already doing with them now...
While they're busy scribbling through their assignments, you can easily whip up lunch, fold laundry, and all that... once they're done, glancing over their work isn't any harder than looking at a drawing your kid made for you today....and as for studying, you can totally turn that into a game while you're getting other things done; there isn't an overwhelming amount of material and it's not nearly as scary as it sounds, plus most of it is stuff your kid probably already knows, you might just need to frame it a slightly different way so they grasp it, you know... like... asking them what they did outside today, or talking about personal hygiene... like, what do we need to do to stay clean and tidy? Just let them tell you, and if they miss something, fill in the gaps... plenty of them struggle with breaking words down into syllables....if you ask them to do it, they act like they've never heard of it, but if you have them sing the word, they can do it perfectly....is it really that hard? Just tell them to sing it the same way... see? Problem solved....as for addition and subtraction, just tell them to imagine they're counting pieces of candy or dollars, and don't sweat it, they'll pick it up faster than you think....and reading assignments, how do you get them interested? I don't know, maybe when they want a cookie, some pancakes, or whatever, say, "Okay... I'll make that for you, but while I'm working, you read this book to me..." and trust me, they will read...

There are tons of tricks to get them motivated to learn and how to help them, anyway, most of them actually *want* to do it, especially in first grade... they all love it when they know something and get a little shout-out from their teacher...
Plus, from the very beginning, you're building those habits and encouraging them to learn, which is going to benefit both you and them down the road....
The key is just staying consistent, like spending a little time every day after school reviewing what they learned that day... and honestly, you'll never have a problem...

And, frankly, speaking as a parent (not that anyone take this the wrong way), I really don't get how first grade and studying is such a struggle for some parents...
I mean, since the moment they were born, we've been dedicated to them... if we had enough time to feed them every four hours and spend that much time changing diapers, how can we suddenly claim we don't have time for learning now? We taught these kids how to talk, walk, and wash their hands... all of that took time and we found it....now, all of a sudden, we just don't have it?😲

Listen, for the stuff mentioned above, there wasn't some big school system—it was just us.

But where schools actually exist, who the hell am I supposed to be for them?

Plus, if the public school curriculum is designed so that any average kid can pass, yet your average kid is already struggling... I mean, how are they even teaching this "average" curriculum if the average parent has to work a full-time job just so their average kid can get through an average program?

Lawrence Torres56 said:Look, the whole point of having grades in first grade should be to nudge kids toward learning, which shouldn't be an issue for anyone—kids or parents alike.
And hey, if we think our kid is doing "well enough," isn't that just our own subjective opinion? It probably doesn't have anything to do with reality and everything to do with—forgive my bluntness—our own insecurities... instead of dwelling on those, maybe we as parents should focus more on the actual kids, especially during this first year where the foundation for everything else is being laid down...

By the way, personally, I don't believe there's such a thing as a kid who "can't do school"; I think there are just kids who haven't been taught certain concepts in a way that actually clicks for them... which, unfortunately, brings us back to the mistake many parents make, assuming someone else is solely responsible for all the heavy lifting while we just sit back.

As a parent of a first grader myself, my one major gripe with elementary school is just how long the days are. Twenty-three hours of school a week is way too much for kids this age; their attention span is basically tapped out after three or four hours tops.

So... maybe tell your friend that when her kid gets home, she should sit down and actually go through everything they did in class that day... once she does that, she might just realize exactly what I'm getting at. 😁

Yeah, exactly. 😕

We aren't doing homeschooling, so thanks a lot for thinking someone else is gonna step in and do the heavy lifting. 🤷

I’ve got my doubts. Actually, I’m pretty sure about it.

I have no clue how you think people are actually gonna pay a company like that.