Need an Advice for My Sons Education.

20 minutes is a good amount of time for 6 year olds for homework. I teach 1st grade and my students have 10-15 minutes of reading/night plus a review activity for about 15 minutes. So, altogether, homework is about 30 minutes at the most. Some students, depending on their ability, finish much faster, while others might take a lot longer.

As a teacher of 19 years, both public and private (and currently teaching in Northern Nevada), I can tell you that there are great public schools out there, anywhere, just as there are some very awful private schools. Public or private is NOT the determining factor; how each school educates its children is. The most important thing, however, is how involved YOU are willing to be in your child's education. I can't tell you how many parents walk in to a school with a preconceived notion as to good or bad and don't even take the time to get to know what's working and what isn't. Worse, they don't take the time to find out what works/doesn't work for their children.

Curriculum for Nevada schools is posted online. Good luck getting curriculum from private schools. At every private school I've taught at, curriculum is loosely organized and dependent on the teacher. Still you can ask, so you can hold the school accountable to their published curriculum.

Nevada has a ever-expanding network of public charter schools. Charter schools act like private schools, but are publicly funded, so they're free. With any school, make sure the school is accredited or your child's units (particularly in high school) won't transfer.

The best thing you can do for your child to be successful in school is to give him a love of reading. Have him read anything and everything that appeals to him. As far as additional work, just google something like "science worksheets for 1st grade" and you'll find a gazillion links. Pick a site that you like and run with it.

As for your question do all states follow the same curriculum, the answer is a resounding no. Each state dictates what it's children should learn and, in some cases, counties add more.

Feel free to google nevada school report card and look up the Nevada public school you're interested in. It has all sorts of great information from demographics to whether or not the school made AYP (annual yearly progress as dictated by the federal government). However, be sure to read the fine print. You could have a school doing excellent work, but not make AYP because one subpopulation (such as special education students) did not meet AYP requirements. Thus, a handful of children can doom the school to being labeled a "failure." You can decide if that's fair or not for yourself.

I have never regretted my decision to leave California and put my sons in Nevada schools. They have received excellent educations to date (I have an 11th grader and a 7th grader). I have met and worked with extremely talented teachers all over the state of Nevada. I've also seen some awful ones in action. Please consider measuring individual schools on their merit, rather than believing what you hear in the media. You may be surprised to learn that a gem of a school is right around the corner from your house.

Good luck.

Encourage him to read about anything he's interested in. One of my kids likes to read manuals and non fiction, another prefers biographies, etc... He can learn anything by reading about it, so make a weekly trip to the library and let him spend some time choosing books to take out, you should too! Model that behavior for him!
Help him learn about historical figures, philosophers (did you know Descartes was a famous philosopher AND mathematician?), politicians, people who made a difference. Historical fiction is a great way to learn about the world, too. Or maybe he likes science fiction and wants to build the next generation of spaceships!
Take what he is learning at school and build on it, if he has a section on food, read up on the food pyramid and plan your meals together. If he's learning addition and subtraction, take a walk with him and count things together.
Children already WANT to learn, so all you have to do is fuel that fire :)

Perhaps others can advise you per a curriculum, but even just reading is great. Instilling a love of reading is great for life!! Get him then to talk about what he read, what he liked or learned.

School's can't begin to fulfill all the needs and it does take attentive parenting to make a difference. Exposing our kids to lots of different experiences is very enriching.- Hope you have a great school year.

The National Education Association recommends no more than 20 minutes of homework per night for grades k - 2. As do most education experts. The schools that score the highest internationally (like Finland) give no more than 1/2 hour of homework per night in high school. There is no correlation between increased amounts of homework and performance in school. In fact , the studies have shown just the opposite. Your desire to add additional curriculum for you son, may simply overload and stress him out and decrease his desire to learn. Reading to him and encouraging a love of reading is the most effective way of increasing his educational development. Likewise, enjoyable/educational boardgames are wonderful for a growing mind. Talk to his teachers about getting him into a gifted program. But don't burden him with additional work and curriculum under the mistaken assumption that this will improve his test scores or give him an educational advantage. According to most experts, it will do the opposite. Please be mindful that children learn in many ways-- but not through excessive homework or overemphasis on performance as opposed to developing a true love of learning. It worries me that your focus is on performance rather than your son fulfilling his potential. Please respect that he is a child, and is due his childhood -- children need to play, and create, and have down time to explore the world on their own terms. This is the best way to nurture a growing mind.
For some overviews of the latest research on homework, see the following:

Current Research and Thinking on Homework
Compiled by TIS Head of School Dr. Alfonso Orsini August 2009

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120425355065601997...

I am a teacher from North Carolina, and we aren't that much higher than Nevada on the list for public education.
I can tell you that all states are not required to follow the same curriculum. The federal government sets guidelines, but states have their own Education Departments that set the state's curriculum.
I don't know about private schools in Nevada, but in NC, private schools are not required to follow the state curriculum.
In some cases that's a good thing; in others, it isn't good. I know that at the high school where I taught, students who had been in private schools were consistently behind their peers in what they should know at a certain grade level.
Hope this helps.

The best way to give you kids a good education is to be involved. Ask to see his homework and check the answers. Read his books and make sure he has the concepts down.

Encourage academic success. Volunteer in the class room. It helps your child a lot.

good luck to you and yours.

All school districts have different curriculums. Even schools within the same districts can be different.

The best thing you can do is to continue on the path you've already started. Review his homework each nigh. Get involved in his school, attend the PTA meetings, if possible do some voluntering.

Also, read, read and read some more. Reading is also about learning vocabulary and grammer. This will help him not only with scoring better on test, but throughout his entire life. Fiction is great, but non-fiction or fact based fiction is better. We loved "The Magic Tree House" series. If one of the books sparked an interest in a particular topic, we'd learn more about it. Make weekly trips to the library.

The best way you can "teach" him, is not to worry about any cirriculum or workbooks, but just in everyday life. Make it fun. Play board games or card games that encourage math skills, Count Down is great. Have him help you in the kitchen and learn about measuring ingredients.

Good luck.

Hi F.,

Though I now maintain a practice as a parent coach, I have spent many years teaching in the classroom- both in public and private schools. What became very clear to me is that, the single most important factor in the success of a child's education is not the school, but the parent involvement. A child can go to a fantastic private school but without structure and support from his parents, he won't be successful. Alternatively, a child at a school with limited resources can flourish if his parents enrich his world with their support and new experiences. Talk to your son. Find out what excites him. Help him pursue activities that he will learn from and enjoy. Stay involved... and save the $20,000/year.

Be well,
G. B.

You got a lot of great responses. I second (or third or fourth or...)play and reading and not too much homework!

I do have to comment about the response from JoAnn C.. JoAnn, what are you talking about? What you say about CA is nonsense. Your personal beliefs about sexuality/relationships have nothing to do with this question. It's simply not true that it is a part of the curriculum for the state. I'll thank you kindly not to spread such ideas. Not because I think it would be bad or good but because it's not the truth. Where and when all the different types of adult relationships should be taught is a matter of debate, I know. I do believe that's a topic for another day.

As a public school teacher, for the most part Nevada schools get a bad name. Yes, there are some schools that are struggling. Really it depends on which side of town you live on whether or not your school is good. Sad but true. As of right now curriculum varies from state to state and district to district, however, that might be changing in the next few years. The biggest factor for success at every level of k12 education is parental involvement. If you stay involved in your sons education then he should not have a problem.

F., If you do an online search and type in "k-12 online", you will see a list of several sites. I have heard a number a great reviews for CAVA - California Virtual Academy. There are many really good online programs to enhance what your son is learning in school. Like many others, I strongly recommend you stay involved with your son's education - maintaining a good relationship with his teachers, knowing his friends & their parents, and discussing his day & his homework with him. We all want our children to be successful in school. Remember is emotional development is as important as his academic & social development. Please don't lead him to feel too much pressure by adding too many pieces of paper (homework, extra worksheets, etc) to his day. Have a great time with your son! B.

Hi F., I live in Henderson and my daughter is also six. She went to public Kindergarten last year and was well advanced, like it sounds like your son is. We decided to do NVVA (Nevada Virtual Academy, through K12) this year. It is a public virtual charter school, so she is at home doing online and offline learning. It is still public education, so it's free, but it is a charter school, which means it is of a higher caliber than a traditional public school. They can also individualize her education, which will be great, since she is reading at a fourth grade level! I would definitely look into it for your son. Also, if you need him to be at a physical location during the day, the Vegas area has quite a few charter schools that are not virtual as well, and they are also free. I hope this helps you!

Updated

Also, F., there are lots of homeschool groups in the area, and they do LOTS of activities, so your son would get plenty of opportunities to socialize with other kids.

Encourage him to read books at his level. Encourage comprehension by having him tell you about what he read.
Encourage writing / drawing. Get him a journal and have him draw a picture and write a short sentence underneath.
Make flash cards and have him practice math.
Get education software games and let him play on the computer.
Look online for resources. Here's a pretty good one: http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/CompactforReading/table1.html

He's only in 1st grade, so I wouldn't stress too much. Let him be a kid. If you put too much pressure on him he won't enjoy it at all. And, then it will be harder when he's older and it's more important. Make sure it's fun and he's enjoying learning.

One thing you can do is push for private school vouchers and tax credits so that you have a choice where you send your son. I am just as frustrated as you with our school system. America is a wonderful country and it has so much to offer and yet we are ranked 19th I belive when compared to education in other countries.

Some other countries make their schools compete. If parents choose not to send their kids to a certain school because it isn't competitive enough then the school will be shut down. Makes sense to me!!!

All I can say is keep doing what you have been doing. Teachers are great, but never depend on one to give your son all what he needs. Teachers are there to fill in the spots that you haven't covered and you are there to cover what the teacher can't get to. Just keep up with your son's school work at home and he should do fine. I think involved parents have a big impact. I will always remeber the day my daughter's preschool teacher said she can always which kids have parents that work with them at home. I believe it carries all the way through their middle school and high school years.

Good luck!!! When my daughter starts first grade then I will be wondering the same things as you. :-)

Hi F. --

I think it's wonderful that you intend to help your son do the best he can, whatever the school environment is. If your school has a parent organization, I think you'd be a valuable member there, and hope you'll consider joining.

Since you're in a big city, you have some great resources,
starting with your public library. The librarians can make lots of helpful suggestions, in practically any topic.

Also, there may be some resources for parents of young children at the university campus. See if there's an early childhood education department.

Call your local Mensa chapter and ask if they have any activities for gifted children. The child doesn't need to be a member of Mensa to be included.

Good luck!!

S.

Hi F.,
Each school district selects their own curriculum. So, even within the same state, each school district has a different rating. In the US, there is not a nationalized curriculum (thankfully). And, each state has a different amount of money they throw at their schools. All of this is determined within each state, not on the federal level.
As for your options to teach your son, there are tons of homeschooling curriculum options on the market (you don't have to be officially homeschooling to purchase any of these). You can google online as well as look in your local bookstore for options. What you decide upon will greatly vary depending on your particular views. Most homeschooling curriculums are Christian because most homeschoolers in America are Christian (although the number of non-faith based homeschoolers are rising). Obviously, most people learn best with one-on-one tutoring because everything is catered to their strengths and weaknesses and they don't have to wait for anyone else to catch up (and they don't run ahead if the student doesn' get it yet). It is legal to homeschool your child 100% if you wanted to do that, too. Some people don't realize that.

That is so awesome that you are recognizing the individual needs of your son. We just started Kindergarten for my son. He does awesome with reading and math. I wouldn't say he is in the gifted category, but he is probably at least a good 6 months ahead of the regular kindergarten curriculum.

Even though we have excellent public schools in our district, with all the cut backs, increased class sizes, etc. plus our own Christian faith, we decided to try homeschooling through a local charter school. I would love to homeschool exclusively, but given that I am not a teacher by trade and have never done this before, we thought we should get our feet wet by basically part time homeschooling with our local charter school. Like another poster mentioned, it is free since they are public schools through your unified school district. You can check out ours at:

www.classicalacademy.com

With our school there are 3 tracks. Track A meets Mon-Wed and homeschools T-T-Fr. Track B meets Tues-Thurs and homeschools M-W-F. Track C homeschools 5 days a week and meets with an Education Specialist every 5 weeks. We are currently on Track A. We are starting our second full week of school and so far we both love it.

Basically they give you all the curriculum and teacher manuals, most of the print outs, links to extra/more challenging curriculum, and all the support you could ever ask for. There is always someone to answer your questions or concerns either in person, by phone or by email.

One of my major deciding factors to homeschool (because I never in a million years thought I would ever homeschool my kids) was the amount of time I saw my friends doing homework with their kids at night. My best friends Kindergartener would spend about 45 mins to an hour doing homework every day. We started the full curriculum with my son last week and we spent a max of 1 hr doing school work and we are done. No homework at the the end of a long day. We are doing the same work as regular school, but in less time. As far as prep work for me goes, it takes maybe a couple hrs each week total. And the teacher guidelines pretty much line everything up for you word for word. So far it's been very easy, and again I have no teaching background.

I don't know about your son, but another issue with my son is that he gets bored in class. And when that happens, that's when he gets into mischief. He tends to pick up things pretty fast, so he gets bored pretty quickly. Imagine him in a class of 30 kids and 1 teacher who spends most of their time helping the kids who are working at a slower pace. My son is also not one who learns by sitting still. He gets his memorization done by jumping up and down and clapping in time. Or drumming on the drumset in time.

Anyhow, I don't know if you've ever considered homeschooling or not. But if you have the time, it's worth it to look into it. At the very least check out the homeschooling websites for ideas and links to some good supplementary curriculum for your son.

websites that my son likes to go to on his own are:
www.pbskids.com
www.nickjr.com
www.funbrain.com
www.brainpop.com

If you have any questions, feel free to pm me.

Hello, If you are concerned that your son might not get as much out of the public school education and can't afford the private schools, why not just get him some more challenging work from a teacher's supply store. Then make it fun for him. He will excell with your help.
Good luck with your precious son.
K. K.

Check out Explore Knowledge Academy. It's a publilyc funded charter school and will probably give your son the type of education that you are seeking out. Here's the website:

http://www.ekacademy.org/

Good luck to you and your son.

Sorry, I don't have tome to read the other responses, but I'll say this: I agree all students deserve a great, free education. But don't be fooled into thinking that because a school is private they're providing a better education. It is possible, but many times instruction in public school is even better. Sadly, many parents don't spend as much time with their kids as you do, so as far as those test scores go it has a lot to do with the parents' involvement and resources of the students tested and less to do with the classroom itself. A bill just passed to make all states follow the same curriculum. I'm in CA and know that our standards are very similiar to what the new US ones will be; check them out by googling 'CA state standards' and you can see what students in all grades are expected to know. But I wouldn't worry too much about extra resources. You want him to like school and not feel like he has to do worksheets all the time. I'm sure your child's teacher can give you some ideas for extending what they're doing in the classroom, and then be sure to go the library often and read, read, read!