Category: Parenting

  • Learning to Write

    So, day two of full online kindergarten classes didn’t go any better today as compared to yesterday. In fact it was a little worse.

    Our online teacher is making the best of a bad situation, and she is dedicated to the students and, as far as I have seen in the past five days, she is taking all of the kid’s mental well being very seriously. It has been a morning video chat, and then an assignment asking the kids to draw themselves. Then we had a second video chat about emotions and expressing how we feel. A lunch break with another assignment to watch a video of a person reading a book and asking the kids to draw their favorite part of the story. On the final chat of the day, the teacher wanted all the kids to show their drawing to the class, and then try writing a word or a sentence that can describe the picture each drew. The teacher was very clear that each kid should try writing a sentences, or word, or even a squiggle. She was clearly trying to see where each of the kids was at when it comes to writing words, language, and phonic sounds. That’s when we came off the wheels at our house.

    My daughter got very nervouse, then really embarassed that she couldn’t write out a sentence. Since we were down to the last 15 minutes of the day, and I could see that this was making her very upset, that I sent a text to the teacher that we had to leave, and I shut off the chat.

    This had been building all day.

    This is a big change for all of us, and making sure all the kids know and learn how to express themselves is very important, and our teacher is doing a very good job with that. My kid-o had a very clear expectation in her mind that as a kindergartener she thought that she would be learning, everyday. And with five days of drawing pictures, she was getting confused as to why she wasn’t learning. She kept saying that to me all day, “I want to learn. When will we learn?” Then when she was asked to do something, she ran right into the wall of not knowing how to do it.

    This is my fault, and I know it.

    I spent all Summer with her working on teaching her how to read. We worked throguh two different series of first reader books, and she is picking out words she recognizes in other books, newspapers, and even on tv. But as I learned today, learning to read is not the same as learning to write.

    We spent the next hour working on letters, and writing simple words, and just trying to make her feel confident in learning about writing.

    I’ve got a lot of learning to do myself.

  • Time to Write? What Was I Thinking?

    Oh, silly me. I thought that once school started, even with doing remote classes from home, that I would be able to get things accomplished. Yesterday just kicked my ass, and today was no better. And we haven’t even started the full day schedule yet.

    What I expected was that I would be able to get two hours to write, but it is looking more and more that I’m only going to get a hour during the day. This means that I will need to make some tough choices.

    I can’t do it all, but I have to find a way to do most of it.

    Now, I need to start prepping dinner…

  • First Day of School

    Here we are t the first day of school in New York City!

    Look, I know that this is not ideal for anyone, and the teachers at our school are doing their best, and from what I have seen today, they are taking it seriously, and, from my kid’s reaction, they are making it fun.

    We have opted to do the remote learning from home, and supporting the kid in all of this, is one of my primary jobs as “stay at home dad.” I was hoping that we would get a schedule today, so I could at least start planning what our days are going to be like. Sadly, schedules are still being created, being made available later today, and that is disappointing. But I keep trying to remind myself that these teachers are doing their best with a really bad hand. They showed up, and are committed to make the best out of this.

    I like our school, staff and teachers, and for all of this to work, I know I have to be more involved, and be supportive of the school. This issues I am have are policy really, which is coming from the DOE, mayor, and the governor, and not the teachers and staff that I am interacting with. I have to remind myself of that.

    When I walk about NYC, it seems like every neighborhood has one old school that between built between 1890 to 1920. These schools are red bricked, some built in a Dutch Revival style, detailed, and dominating the block they are on. To me, they look like temples to public education, which says to me says that there was a time in this City when public education was taken seriously; something to be shown off, and honored.

    I have many friends that are teachers, all of this country, and for something that is so vital for a strong and equatable nation, why do we scorn public education? How did we get to a place where paying for something that has a benefit for everyone become a bad thing?

    I will go on the record and say, raise my taxes to pay teachers, staff and administrators what they are worth. And I will also go on the record to say that we, the public, have to get involved, vote in school board elections, show up to events, and push for policies that improve our communities.

    If we don’t, then no one’s education will be guaranteed.

  • Balancing Writing and Parenting:A Conversation with Playwright Isaac Rathbone

    Here is an interview with my friend, Isaac Rathbone, who is a playwright and screenwriter, conducted by Boomerang Theatre Artistic Director Tim Errickson. Their discussion is about the balance of writing and parenting.

  • Reading Challenge for Fall

    The one thing that I am really sucking at right now is reading books. I mean, I do read, but with everything going on, I have not been consistent. And what I am reading right now is the news, and news related publications. I used to read before I would go to bed, but now, I’m exhausted and overwhelmed at the end of the day, and I just zone out with stupid TV, and fall asleep.

    I know that is no excuse, as reading needs to be a habit. Or at least that’s what I tell the kid. Yeah, I’ve turned into a “Do what I say, not what I do” parent.

    Then the other day, a writer friend posted that she was going to use the Fall to immerse herself in the work of a writer that she should have read, but for whatever reason never got around to. I thought that was a very intriguing challenge, being that there are so many great writers that, for whatever reason, I never get around to as well. The first name that popped into my head was John Cheever. I know a good deal about Cheever, but I have never read a word of him, not even a short story.

    I think for my mental well being, I have to have a goal attached to my actions, no matter what the action. This will be the Fall of John Cheever. I want to see how much of his work I can read. It’s like I am trying to make 2020 the year of accomplishing. It just might be the only control I can exude over my life right now.