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Kids hate school - help

Kids hate school - help

Old Sep 2nd 2008, 5:20 pm
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Default Kids hate school - help

Sorry that my first post is to moan - but, hey, I'm British! and living in Katy Texas for 3 weeks, which is 3 weeks too long.

We moved here from the Middle East, so the family is used to being expats, going to international schools, etc, but both my kids have got through the first week of public school and absolutely hate it. They hate not having any breaktime at all, especially my son who is only 11 (what is that about? everyone knows that you learn better if you have breaks in between lessons to give your brain time to process information), they hate only having 5 minutes in between lessons to get from one side of a huge campus to the other carrying piles of heavy textbooks, they hate not being able to talk to people and make friends because there is no social time built into the school day. Getting up at 6am for school at 7.30 is a killer too, as is only having 30 minutes for lunch. None of the classrooms have windows and no time at all is spent outside (yes I know it is Houston and hot, but a little fresh air and light would be nice).

I just don't know what to do, my husband loves it here but we three hate it. I know we haven't given it enough time but everything feels so foreign and our 'honeymoon' period only lasted about 2 days, thought it was supposed to be about 2 months, LOL. We can't afford the British School - does anyone know of any nice private schools round Katy where the kids are encouraged to make friends instead of spending every hour striving for high grades? My two aren't stupid but they are getting so depressed with the piles of homework after spending all day cooped up in classrooms, I don't want us to spend years just living for the weeekend.
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 7:04 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

I think you may find that grades are all that count, especially in a private school. In a lot of private schools, the teachers are going to be all about pushing the kids to study harder and learn more, in order to give the kids an advantage getting into a top university.

FWIW, my lunch break in school was only 30 minutes, and everyone else I knew in other schools had the same amount. We were not allowed off school grounds during the day because the school can be held responsible for us if we got injured. To socialize, we were encouraged to participate in sports and clubs that met after school - not much time was given for socializing during the school day.

Granted, this was 14 years ago, so it may have somewhat changed, and may be different in different regions of the US. Hope you can get some help on private schools in that area. Wish I could be of more help to you.
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 7:11 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Originally Posted by sunflwrgrl13
In a lot of private schools, the teachers are going to be all about pushing the kids to study harder and learn more, in order to give the kids an advantage getting into a top university.
Make bonuses, keep administrators off their back and have good looking stats more like it. 2 and 3 apply to public schools as well.
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 7:24 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Originally Posted by wombat27
Sorry that my first post is to moan - but, hey, I'm British! and living in Katy Texas for 3 weeks, which is 3 weeks too long.

We moved here from the Middle East, so the family is used to being expats, going to international schools, etc, but both my kids have got through the first week of public school and absolutely hate it. They hate not having any breaktime at all, especially my son who is only 11 (what is that about? everyone knows that you learn better if you have breaks in between lessons to give your brain time to process information), they hate only having 5 minutes in between lessons to get from one side of a huge campus to the other carrying piles of heavy textbooks, they hate not being able to talk to people and make friends because there is no social time built into the school day. Getting up at 6am for school at 7.30 is a killer too, as is only having 30 minutes for lunch. None of the classrooms have windows and no time at all is spent outside (yes I know it is Houston and hot, but a little fresh air and light would be nice).

I just don't know what to do, my husband loves it here but we three hate it. I know we haven't given it enough time but everything feels so foreign and our 'honeymoon' period only lasted about 2 days, thought it was supposed to be about 2 months, LOL. We can't afford the British School - does anyone know of any nice private schools round Katy where the kids are encouraged to make friends instead of spending every hour striving for high grades? My two aren't stupid but they are getting so depressed with the piles of homework after spending all day cooped up in classrooms, I don't want us to spend years just living for the weeekend.
Well if it's any consolation, when we moved here from the UK my daughter found it hard to adjust to the "more work-orientated" school day. But she did adjust in the end. She's learnt to eat her lunch in half the time, and swap gossip in 5 minute bursts!

The lack of light thing though. Hmmm, that I would find a problem too. It's amazing what people get used to, isn't it? Are all the schools in the district the same? I would be tempted to look at the other (non-private) schools in the district before forking out a bunch on a private one. Around here, you can send to a different school as long as it falls under the same district. (Although you have to provide transport yourself.) Maybe not all the schools are quite so dark and over-whelming.

Hang in there, give it a tad more time. Things may change for the better. Good luck.
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 7:24 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Originally Posted by wombat27
Sorry that my first post is to moan - but, hey, I'm British! and living in Katy Texas for 3 weeks, which is 3 weeks too long.

We moved here from the Middle East, so the family is used to being expats, going to international schools, etc, but both my kids have got through the first week of public school and absolutely hate it. They hate not having any breaktime at all, especially my son who is only 11 (what is that about? everyone knows that you learn better if you have breaks in between lessons to give your brain time to process information), they hate only having 5 minutes in between lessons to get from one side of a huge campus to the other carrying piles of heavy textbooks, they hate not being able to talk to people and make friends because there is no social time built into the school day. Getting up at 6am for school at 7.30 is a killer too, as is only having 30 minutes for lunch. None of the classrooms have windows and no time at all is spent outside (yes I know it is Houston and hot, but a little fresh air and light would be nice).
I just don't know what to do, my husband loves it here but we three hate it. I know we haven't given it enough time but everything feels so foreign and our 'honeymoon' period only lasted about 2 days, thought it was supposed to be about 2 months, LOL. We can't afford the British School - does anyone know of any nice private schools round Katy where the kids are encouraged to make friends instead of spending every hour striving for high grades? My two aren't stupid but they are getting so depressed with the piles of homework after spending all day cooped up in classrooms, I don't want us to spend years just living for the weeekend.


Sorry I can't help, I goggled "Schools for kids who like it easy and fun in Houston" and came up with squat.
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 7:32 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Originally Posted by another bloody yank
Sorry I can't help, I goggled "Schools for kids who like it easy and fun in Houston" and came up with squat.
I don't want us to spend years just living for the weeekend.

Sadly I think your last line sums up America for the vast majority of working adults. I guess if you are going to stay here, better the kids are pavlov conditioned accordingly.

I hope you can find some normality somewhere in Texas.
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 7:38 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Their day sounds very similar to my childrens day.

My youngest was 10 when we moved here 3 years ago and she was used to two playtimes and an hour for lunch. Here she had a very quick recess and it was all about playing sports...not her kind of thing. She has got used to it though.

My two eldest went straight into high school...7am bus They nearly died as they were used to leaving the house at 8.30 for a 9am start.
Watching all the high schoolers on the neighbourhood come stumbling out just in time for the bus is like watching a scene from a zombie film

They get tons of home work, even the youngest in middle school ,but they have got used to it and my 17 year old seems way ahead of her old UK friends.
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 7:48 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Originally Posted by wombat27
We can't afford the British School - does anyone know of any nice private schools round Katy where the kids are encouraged to make friends instead of spending every hour striving for high grades?
I agree with the other posters. You are very unlikely to find a school like that. In part because of the No Child Left Behind Act, public schools are under tremendous pressure to have students improve their test scores, hence the emphasis on homework. Private high schools compete amongst themselves for bragging rights wrt college placement (e.g. "Send your child to Foobar Academy; 95% of graduates get into the college of their choice").
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 7:53 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Just thought of something...are there any Steiner schools here?
They might be more what you are looking for.

What about home schooling?
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 8:01 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

I don't know if you are in a top ranked school district but if that is the case, that can be a problem for some parents. In the San Francisco south bay, many parents struggle to get their children into the Cupertino school district which are considered by many to be the best schools in the state. Once that is accomplished, they then bitterly complain about the excessive competiveness of the programs and children in the schools.
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 8:25 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Originally Posted by Kali-forniarrr
I don't want us to spend years just living for the weeekend.

Sadly I think your last line sums up America for the vast majority of working adults. I guess if you are going to stay here, better the kids are pavlov conditioned accordingly.

I hope you can find some normality somewhere in Texas.
I was thinking the same thing! But to be honest...that's how it was back home too! When I was in school, we did get an hour lunch and a 15-20 break in the morning (I think), but it was still a quick five minute dash between classes the rest of the time. It was the same when I started working too - here in the states and back home. Some schools are different though, so check out the others in the area and see if you can find something more suitable!
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 8:26 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Thanks to you all, very interesting and helpful replies apart from:

Originally Posted by another bloody yank
Sorry I can't help, I goggled "Schools for kids who like it easy and fun in Houston" and came up with squat.
That's a really nice reply to someone's first post, maybe one of the reasons I am not happy in your lovely country. What is wrong with wanting children to not be worked into the ground every hour of the school day? They are quite happy to work hard, they are just used to having a break every now and then during the day to recharge their batteries, and they are not getting it here. If your school system is so wonderful why is your economy so incredibly successful? Could it be because your schools are obsessed with standardised testing/grades at the expense of developing social skills? And both my children can spell google and wouldn't use such an unpleasant word as squat.
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 9:01 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Originally Posted by wombat27
That's a really nice reply to someone's first post, maybe one of the reasons I am not happy in your lovely country.
That is about as nice as he gets. You're lucky Ray, Octang Frye, or one of the others that primarily add humour to the forum have yet to reply. It'll take a while to understand them.
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 9:23 pm
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Default Re: Kids hate school - help

Sorry to hear your kids are having a hard time adjusting.

We moved over to Dallas a couple of months ago and my 10 year old son just started in 5th Grade last week (public school). He's not found it too bad and seems to have settled in really well (touch wood, early days and all that ).

Some things are not too different from his school in the uk - he was at an independent school there and had to move from classroom to classroom quickly between lessons. In the UK, due to a quirk of being the first pick up on his bus, he also had to leave home about the same time as we do now - although school starts earlier instead of time on the bus.

Homework again is not so much of an issue - he's used to a decent amount of prep so no shocks there either.

I asked him today about how he feels about the recess time and he says he's fine with it - one thing he said was that he runs about as much as possible during the outside break so he's glad to get back into the cool building (but then he's 10, so I don't know if that's suitable advice for your kids ).
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Old Sep 2nd 2008, 10:26 pm
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Unhappy Re: Kids hate school - help

I've just remembered that when my son joined the school football/soccer team we had to cut short our annual Summer home-leave holidays in the UK every year he was on the team; the boys all had to turn up for training at the school sports field in the mornings a few weeks before the new school year started. :curse:

One year he only had 19 minutes for lunch as his classroom was at the other end of the school. There wasn't even time to queue up and buy lunch so he had to take a packed lunch every day. No wonder I see so many adverts on TV for heartburn as it seems that Americans are conditioned to eating food as quickly as possible as they had to do it in their schooldays....

(OK so this is going O/T but one of the first things I observed when I moved to the States was that people don't linger over a meal when dining out; it's gobble it up ASAP and leave! No one seems to take a minute or two to digest their meals over here).
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