Search Results for: blog why its not a bad to fail first grade

Developmental Milestones and When You Should Worry

Although we have a very extensive collection of articles already in the baby blog regarding infant development from newborns to 24 months, I still find that parents need reassurance regarding their child’s development. So what should you do when your child misses a milestone marker? Trust Your Instincts I have said it before, and I’ll keep saying it over and over and over again. Moms–we are born with good maternal instincts. Use them. If something seems off to you, go get it checked out. True, it’s probably nothing. If junior isn’t talking, he probably has a quite personality or if … Continue reading →

Balancing the Big Picture with the Daily Details

There is no getting around the fact that parenthood and family life is full of daily details—in fact, one could argue that when it comes to raising children it can seem like it is “all in the details.” BUT, being able to get away from the details and daily concerns once in a while and see the “big picture” can be a parent’s road to sanity… Does this really matter in the BIG PICTURE? If I don’t mop the kitchen floor today or correct my child every single time he has his elbows on the table during meal time is … Continue reading →

Retention- Whose Decision Is It?

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I am currently facing a torn issue in my class. I have a student that I feel does not need to move on to first grade. However, the parent is determined that the child will not repeat kindergarten. So who should make the ultimate decision? The child came to school lacking very important basic skills for building knowledge. He has made lots of progress but stills falls very short of being on level with the rest of my class. He has had intensive tutoring from the school in order to catch him up to where he is at the present … Continue reading →

Week in Review: December 5th through December 15th

Want to know what you’ve missed in the education blog in December? Since our regular education blogger, Kaye Siders has left, we have been filling in here and there. Here is the last of a three part series to review what has been done in the education blog since the beginning of November. If you haven’t had a chance to catch up–keep reading! Do you ever write your child’s teacher a note while you are rushing to get everything else ready for the day? Do you ever proof read your note to make sure it makes sense and is grammatically … Continue reading →

The Education Blog in Review Nov. 20-Dec. 5th

We start off with an update from Myra Turner regarding kindergartners receiving letter grades. It seems that research confirms what many parents commented on her original blog–letter grades for five year olds is simply unnecessary. Check here to read the first blog in this set. Next, we tackled a hot button issue in ethnically diverse schools, in Are English Language Only Laws Really Helpful? There are laws in various parts of the country that actually dictate that students are not allowed to speak their native tongue anywhere on school property. One student was even suspended for saying, “No hay problema!” … Continue reading →

The Education Blog in Review: Nov. 6 through Nov. 19

Since our great education blogger, Kaye Siders, left us at the end of October, the Education blog has been missing some reviews. The day before yesterday, I had written the first Education in review since the end of October. Make sure you check those out if you need to catch up! Thanks to Sherry Holetsky who told us about Edline in Does Your Child’s School Offer Edline? I didn’t know about it, and like she points out, it sounds like a great way to keep on top of your child’s progress. Myra Turner talked to us a little about Kindergartners … Continue reading →

The Education Blog in Review: October 29-November 6

I know, I know. . .this is a little post dated. Since our regular education blogger Kaye Siders has left, several of us from the Families.com community have been guest blogging sporadically here in Education. Consequently, the regularly posted “week in review” blogs that many of us are accustomed to seeing in various sections of the Families.com blogs were missing. But never fear! We’re working on getting you caught up in case you’ve missed some of the exciting blogs in education over the last several weeks. Did you read My Inner City Story? I started a series sharing some thoughts … Continue reading →

Why It’s Not Bad to Fail First Grade

Parents and kids hear the words ‘fail’, ‘retained’, or ‘held back’ and instant panic sets in. “Not my child!” I’ve even seen parents ‘bully’ their way to the principal’s office demanding reevaluation. For some reason, we as parents can’t get past the stigma of being left behind a grade. However, I am convinced that being held back in the early years is much more beneficial to the child than struggling through elementary school. A Developmental Process Maybe instead of saying a child is being retained we should say they are on a different learning curve. Truth be told things like … Continue reading →

Parenting Gone Wrong–An Answer for Kaye

For those of you who are just jumping in, you may want to take a moment and peruse the other blogs in this discussion between Kaye, one of our education bloggers, and I. I have listed them at the bottom of this blog. Kaye poses some good questions regarding home schooling. She has a neighbor, who it seems, may not be the next poster child for HSLDA. He doesn’t seem to know what he should at his age, he’s out when it seems he should be home schooling, and his behavior is less than ideal. Kaye wonders, like so many … Continue reading →