How Boring Does School Have To Be?

"School is boring," said Lovebug as I woke him this morning. He rubbed his eyes relunctantly, not wanting to get going and start his day. He rolled his eyes as his younger brother told me all the reasons that he does like school. 

It's not that I didn't expect to have this conversation with him at some point. I found school pretty boring too, sometimes. But not in first grade. 

But apparently he's bored during math because he's not allowed to go ahead on the worksheets - they do them TOGETHER. Every time. So I tried to point out the stuff he does like - recess, lunch, art, PE, computers. I asked if he got to read at school because he likes reading. His reply was, "Sometimes. But I don't really like reading." 

Fifteen minutes later he was eagerly reading his Lego Club magazine. 

When I went into Ironflower's room, she continued the conversation. "I just don't like math. I get so bored because we do the worksheets all together too. Though I do like Minute Math, because then I can go at my own pace." 

Having talked to a few other mothers on the playground recently, I have found out that this is a common frustration among the parents. There are a lot of teachers at the school who won't differentiate instruction. And this is a highly ranked school. That's what's so depressing. 

Actually, infuriating. 

It's not about my kids being held back in some way, exactly. I'm sure they will get through their grade level curricula just fine. They're smart, but it's not like I think they'd be doing trigonometry if allowed to go at their own pace. And it's not about them being bored, exactly. Learning to cope with boredom is one of the reasons I send them to public school in the first place. 

It's that differentiated instruction is what good teachers do.** It's that public educators in a well-funded school shouldn't tell parents of kids who aren't doing well to just hire a tutor, as has happened at my kids' school. It's that smart kids who love to learn shouldn't be bored during math and reading. It's that having the whole class doing worksheets together is INEFFECTIVE. 

I'll bring it up at conferences next week, but I don't think I get any farther than all the other former teacher parents who have brought it up before. 

People have suggested that I teach them at home on top of what they're doing at school. I thought about it. And then Ironflower figured out multiplication while they were playing play dough over the weekend. 

I think that I'm just going to encourage them to play together more.

But now I'm wondering if this is common. Does this happen at your child's school? That worksheets are done as a class? And that there are no reading or math groups? No wonder more and more people are homeschooling. 

**Here is a HUGE discussion of differentiated instruction. 

Our Camping Adventure (Sort Of)

It's not that I don't enjoy the outdoors, it's that I don't enjoy going to the bathroom in the outdoors. That's my excuse for avoiding camping for the first 41 years of my life.

Well, there was also that time at Girl Scout Camp, where we stayed in a cabin, but it was wet and drippy and clique-y and scary. Plus, years of 1980's horror movie viewings assured me that the serial killer would go after me first in a camping situation. And there always seemed to be a camping situation in those movies.

But mostly, it was the bathroom issue.

Hot Guy assured me that we would stay in place with a bathroom building. But if I have to walk more than 10 feet? And share it with other people? Almost as bad as no bathroom at all. But Ironflower REALLY wanted to go camping.

And then Lovebug REALLY wanted to go camping.

And Hot Guy has been wanting to go camping for years, because he used to be really into camping.

Then our friend Scott  gave us a whole bunch of lovely camping gear.

So we went to a campground in Harriman State Park. Which, according to the website, is half an hour from our house.*

Things started off auspiciously.

 Our campsite. Pretty, huh?

View from my camp chair. Hot Guy and kids doing campy set up stuff. 

I only had to help a little bit with set up. Which was good, because one of my other prejudices against camping was that, well, it seems like a lot of work. But Hot Guy enjoys that work, so it all worked out. He and the kids even got a great fire going.

Then the thunderstorm came. Now, we knew there were supposed to be some random thunderstorms and Hot Guy had already put the rain thingy over the tent. So we sent the kids into the tent, finished cooking our hot dogs and hamburgers, and ate inside the tent. 

That part wasn't so bad. The kids were so happy that we weren't forcing vegetables on them that they were pretty cheerful. Especially since the rain thing worked so well. Also, we let them play with electronic devices after dinner. That's always popular. 

Finally the rain stopped and the big kids came out to make s'mores. HugMonkey refused to leave the tent as soon as the storm started, but he did consent to standing in the opening to eat a s'mores. Lovebug decided he didn't like the dark, or the wet, or something, and also returned to the tent. Ironflower, for all her desire for camping, did not want to go to the bathroom building. So I showed her how girls can pee outside, but that necessitated a clothing change which turned into a decision to stay in the tent. 

When it started raining again, Hot Guy and I also gave up. After trying to let the kids tell ghost stories which all seemed to revolve around poop, we all went to sleep. I figured the rain would stop soon, as we weren't supposed to get torrents of rain or anything. Naturally I was totally wrong. I woke up a few hours later because there was water dripping on my face. 

I slid closer to Hot Guy and watched as Ironflower also woke up. She seemed to be okay, just awake. Then Lovebug burst into tears. He was soaking wet. Our rain thingy had failed and the tent was leaking. It was pouring rain, so we knew it would only get worse. So we put on our wet shoes (they had been piled near a leaky spot) and ran for the car. 

We got home at 3:30 in the morning. We were back at the site by 11am, cleaning up our sodden tent. Hot Guy and I were too exhausted to contemplate doing the activities we'd planned for Saturday and the kids were too tired to protest. 

But we're going to try again. We'll be a bit more prepared next time. And we'll put a tarp over the rain thingy, just in case. 

And then I get a vacation in hotel. 

*The website lied, BTW. It also gave us bad directions (which I had actually copied accurately). Fortunately a nice man took pity on us and gave us good directions. The campground is an hour from our house. The ladies in the camping office were impressed that it only took us a few tries to get there. 

Update

I am so proud of Lovebug and Ironflower. While we've had some behavior issues, they have been nothing but sweet with their baby brother. They talk to him, give hugs and kisses and try to soothe him when he's upset. Ironflower sings him a lullaby and Lovebug finds him a "babytoy" whenever he cries. I think their misbehavior has more to do with last week's schedule upheaval and the fact that mommy has been pretty useless for the last few weeks than any jealousy. Fills me with motherly pride and motherly guilt at the same time.

Especially because I have become even more useless. I overdid it as soon as I arrived home on Saturday so now Hot Guy has forbidden me to get off the couch except to pee or get the baby from the cradle swing (how I LOVE the cradle swing). Though with all the eating Baby Z does, it's not like I'd be getting up much anyway. This is the only one of my children who actually started gaining weight back in the hospital. He loves to eat - I swear I've already caught him smiling at the boob.

Much as I love this newborn phase and watching Ironflower and Lovebug embrace their roles as big siblings, I am truly looking forward to feeling normal again and to being back to a real routine. I don't know when exactly that will be, but I'm already daydreaming about it.