Thirty Minutes Tops

By Claire Walpole

The new school year has begun! Kids in Chicago Public Schools are going on year two of the mayor's longer, fuller, most bestest day ever! The seven-hour school day has resulted in the shortest, most truncated school night ever. My kids have just slightly over four waking non-school hours to call their own. As a parent, I really cannot cover everything I want my kids to learn from me in the four hours I have them at home. I really like my kids teachers and I really appreciate all the work they do during the day, but due to the short amount of time I have my kids at home, I'm going to have to send some work back to school with my kids to complete during the seven hours they spend in the classroom. I apologize for the negative impact this work might have on the teachers and the rest of the class. I know only too well how that feels. However, the lesson plans I have in the evening are better learned if there is some additional follow through done during the day, parent/home connection and all that. None of these assignments should take up much time, thirty minutes tops.

To all my children's teachers: Please note that each of my children will be bringing a basket full of laundry each day to school. We are covering a unit on self-sufficiency at home. Children will be learning how to sort, fold and put away their clothes. We work on this during the evening, but if they do not finish their work by bedtime, it will need to go to school with them each morning. This is a great opportunity for teachers to reinforce in the classroom, what I as the parent am trying to teach at home. [Read on]