Wow, you all had a long book discussion going there. I can't say much in terms of book titles because over here, UK/US books are basically nonexistant, and I don't buy that many books myself. My parenting bookshelf is 65% German and 35% Danish.
But the other topic suggestions starting here are all excellent.
As topics, I could also offer "should kids be allowed on the Internet?" or similarly, "Should kids be allowed unmonitored computer use?"
@AarthiDevanathan @HedgeMage I grew up with a Mac (the original, not this modern Unixy stuff) and "solid educational software", hohum. C64 and their ilk were forbidden in my home.
@TorbenGundtofteBruun I think that in most cases "should you" topics set people up mentally to take sides, better to set up the title more neutrally so we can get a better debate/discussion going.
I think most of the proposed topics are great, here's a few more: paid childcare, benefits/cons of preschool, role of other caregivers vs parents, television, volunteering with kids, teaching financial sense, dealing with food allergies, bedtime routines, importance of non-child related activities for parents...
Although the two chat-event-related meta questions (1) (2) have not yet received very many answers, the chat room itself has been chock full of topic suggestions recently. It's a gold mine! I think we should save all those great suggestions as meta answers here.
Let's hear your suggestions for ...
<-- I replaced my mugshot with this. I grew tired of the faux (2) notification badge. This is what's on my workplace ID card. Not great (certainly not cabbey quality!) but at least it's decent.
Are childcare and preschool sufficiently different topics? They feel fundamentally different to me, but I think the questions are pretty much the same.
I'd say they should be addressed together, but they are definitely different topics.
If I had a venn diagram, they'd be heavily overlapped with "child care" being much much bigger than "preschool" but 70+ percent of "preeschool" being in "child care", and the rest overlapping with "schooling".
(not actually sure how to pull that off with circles unless "schooling" and "child care" overlap at some point, but we can mangle them into other shapes)
I agree, it's different. Preschool is a development stage; childcare is a place to put the kids while they're preschool-aged. Or I misunderstood your question/wording.
@TorbenGundtofteBruun Semantics :) My definitions: Child care is the act of someone else taking regular care of your child, the location could be a "child care", but it could also be a home. I meant preschool as a place that kids go as well. In the US, it's common for a preschool-aged child to go to a "school-like" setting for some set of hours for the express purpose of learning. Often both types of places are mashed together, but there are examples of learning only centers in the US.
@TorbenGundtofteBruun Agreed except that "preschool" in the US is also a specific type of institution (causing some overlap), and "child care" can be for children not preschool-aged.
Also "preschool" is defined in US federal law in a way that is a lot less school like than the common understanding of the word.
"preschool" --> proof that no English-speaker should be confused by operator overloading, we do it in our everyday speech
ah, thanks for the clarification. In this light, I think they would be different topics, at the very least because the legislations and expectations for each are different, but they also vary by country...
...and I guess both are again different from "kindergarten", right?
@TorbenGundtofteBruun Naturally :) Though in the US, kindergarten isn't something that parents usually choose, it's basically the "first" grade in the public school system. From my limited understanding though, German kindergarten and preschool are similar.
Private vs public schooling might be a good discussion topic.
@SteveJackson It's sort-of a choice, in that you don't go to jail for not sending your child, but first grade tends to assume they are coming from kindergarten.
@HedgeMage My school system has a strict cutoff date which happens to be the day before my son's birthday. We're not sure what to do, but if what you say is true, we might be able to just insert him into the first grade then at the "appropriate" time.
NCLB (No Child Left Behind) has made it much harder for schools to place children out of their age group, even when the difference is as little as a day... they don't want to face possible federal investigation or a huge civil suit by the parents of some kid who was not given the same "privilege" as your child.
Basically, what NCLB comes down to is that every time a school lets any one child do anything that every single child of that age (regardless of disability) isn't capable of, they face a crippling lawsuit and/or loss of federal funds they have come to be dependent on.
So, most schools will not bend the rule for your child, because doing so could end up being close-the-school-everyone's-fired expensive for them.
The good news is that charter schools, private schools, and in some states even magnet schools can freely place children in the grade level they really belong in.
This is a big part of why so many kids these days are misdiagnosed as ADD/ADHD/ASD -- being bored out of your skull in a dumbed down class is a symptom now.
3
(The other big part, of course, is money.)
Anyhow, probably more than you ever wanted to know.
@HedgeMage Along those lines...I'm generally pro public schooling for a number of reasons...in this case can the system be circumvented by putting him in another school for some time period and then transferring out? We haven't looked into this too much yet, we're more or less projecting based on his current learning level and my wife and I's enthusiasm for school.
@HedgeMage You are a fount of knowledge. Please do not hold back.
@HedgeMage My brothers were both diagnosed with ADHD, one definitely needed the help, the other was just bored and my mom was basically clubbed with the "put your kid on drugs or else" stick. The second brother is now looking to enlist in the military and his recruiter has encouraged him to lie on his paperwork because he's taken Adderal and that's a no-no. And this is in what's considered a pretty good school district.
@SteveJackson It's standard practice these days, and its extremely damaging.
If you transfer him out and back in, they can't legally put him back unless you sign off on it, though the pressure on you and your wife to do so may be very high.
Anyhow, @SteveJackson -- The school cannot demote a child a grade or retain them in the same grade without a parent signing off on it. So, if you get him started somewhere where he meets the deadline, then transfer him, they are stuck with him being in the grade he's in.
@HedgeMage Very interesting info. Thank you. It's something we're keeping an eye on, my son is 99% percentile on height and pretty bright, so we're wary of arbitrarily holding him back a year when he's already towering over kids twice his age. The oldest biggest kid in the class is going to have unique challenges in grade school I think.
Of course, he's only 2, it's hard to say where he'll end up.
@SteveJackson I'm an advocate of the less-than-mainstream opinion that children should be placed on intellectual, emotional, and academic factors only, NEVER physical ones, or social ones that are not WRT social awareness/maturity to handle the work.
I would never advocate that a child enter a curriculum that he's unprepared for. I'm working off the assumption that he will meet the academic requirements for any possible schooling option. The socialization aspects really are a key motivator for "gaming" the public school system.
@SteveJackson Thanks for the barrage of ideas! This is fantastic--I think we'll have enough chat event topics to keep us going for a good while. And of course during chat events we should encourage people to grow that list further.
@HedgeMage Oh wouldn't it be fantastic if that were the ruleset. So opposite of "NCLB" and yet not all that different: everyone gets their best matched opportunity.
Although the two chat-event-related meta questions (1) (2) have not yet received very many answers, the chat room itself has been chock full of topic suggestions recently. It's a gold mine! I think we should save all those great suggestions as meta answers here.
Let's hear your suggestions for ...
The Playground
The Playground