26. Public School Reality From A Teacher - Part 2

We talk with Megan, a public school teacher preparing to homeschool, about curriculum realities, the third-grade shift to screens, the limits of standardized testing, inclusion’s classroom impact, and the persistent myth of socialization. The goal is not to bash schools but to equip parents with clarity, options, and courage.

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Transcript

Welcome Back + Guest Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I think it's one of the not one of, it's probably the biggest misnomer that kids get socialized at school. Who said that it's a good idea to put, you know, 25-year-olds all together at the same time, too? I don't know why we think this is just totally normal.

SPEAKER_01 0:18

We're two full-time working parents who just made a crazy decision.

SPEAKER_02 0:23

After four years in public school, we're homeschooling our three kids and documenting the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Never in a million years did I think we would be homeschooled people.

SPEAKER_02 0:33

Welcome to, well, this wasn't the planned podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:36

I'm sleep, and school's in the kitchen now. I'm Scotty. We just start when I say so. I'm Sailor, and this whole podcast was my idea.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

This podcast is our real-time journey. Unexpectedly juggling homeschool, jobs, parenting, and everything in between.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Follow along each week as we document how it's going and share the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because we know some days are going to be ugly. And we're not holding back.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

We're learning to expect the unexpected. So let's get into it.

SPEAKER_03 1:14

Let's go.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Today's episode is part two of the interview I had with public school teacher Megan. She is going to be homeschooling her two girls, and she's sharing so much good information. So if you didn't listen to part one, go back and listen to that before diving into today's episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

I have it on my heart too. I'm like, man, wouldn't it be cool to go speak about this and to educate parents about this and like how difficult it is? But God has put it on my heart to homeschool my kids and be there for them. And I can't, I don't know how to do both and like drag them with me everywhere while speaking to Congress and different things. And I don't know that that would go anywhere. But I do think that it needs to be overhauled.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yeah. And I think it's hard to be that person. A lot of people have DM'd me saying that, well, if you're if your kids are telling you of all of these issues on the iPad and the computers and stuff at school, you need to go to the school board. You need to stand in front of all the people at the school board and tell them what's going on. To me, that is the most terrifying thing anyone could ever tell me. I would love if I was that type of person, but it does feel scary to be the one, you know, if you had a whole team of people with you coming in saying, please, let's change this. I do think that, you know, maybe you could make some positive changes. And I'm just where with you. Like I have to control what's in my household and I feel defeated by trying to like tackle this giant problem. I think if you're that person, we all are pro-school for the whole nation. We need our schools to be wonderful. Right. And we're all pro-school. Even if you are homeschooling your kids, that doesn't mean you're against the school system. That means that we all need to get it fixed for everyone, for our society, for all of the kids. I always want to point that out that when we're talking about all this stuff, we're not bashing schools.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

It's just that things need to change. And you guys have spoken to that so much, too, that like it's not the teachers, you know, that the teachers work so hard. And I can tell you that from the inside for sure. It is the system and it is so broken. It's hard at this point to see like how far and how quickly it has gone downhill to not think that there's some intention. I don't know. I I go down some sort of some government, you know, conspiracy sometimes to feel free to cut this. But it's just, it does feel like they don't want to listen.

Curriculum Reality Inside Public Schools

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Yeah, because right now everything is kind of out and open, whereas it wasn't maybe 10 years ago or even, you know, when we were in school and things. But though so many things have changed with the lockdowns and the standards and the tests, and yeah, COVID. And school looks completely different. And these people at the top, they know they're not oblivious to this. You even see that people at the top aren't sending their kids to schools like this. They're sending their kids to technology-free schools that have hands-on play and things like that because they know. So I know. Yeah, I think some of that is true. Oh, that's true. No one wants to hear it. We just we just need to hear it. Yeah. I did want to talk to you about curriculum, and you said that you feel like your job doesn't really matter as much because of the behavior issues and like how are you even doing this? Do you feel like you had any freedom as a teacher? Like that you could do something different or that you could change it. Like, I guess I just want to hear from you about curriculum and then about us people that are trying to do it on our own with no experience, like what we should be doing.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

I am, like I said, teaching was my second career field. So I'm alternatively certified. My degree is not in education. So all I had to do was take this online course and learn a little bit about lesson plans and classroom management. And then I had to take a content test for early childhood through sixth grade, one test, what have you. That does not make me an expert in any sort of content, right? But when you when you're teaching little kids like that, I mean, the content is not difficult. But I didn't remember what a digraph was or what diphthong or any of those. I didn't remember that. I had to reteach myself. Parents, you can also reteach yourself. It is not hard.

SPEAKER_01 5:54

I had to look up so many things so far. It's embarrassing. Don't look at my Google because it's just embarrassing.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Same when I started. And then when I moved to fourth grade this past year, I had to reteach myself long division. I know that you guys are math people, but I was not. And I used a calculator and I was like, man, how do I do long division? But YouTube got me hooked up and I taught my kids a song and we rocked it.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

But I I feel like everybody has that one thing. Like I told Carson he's doing long division because I don't use long division in accounting. Like I have a very math-heavy job and I don't use it. And I'm like, no, dude, I don't, I've learned a lot and I don't want to learn long division. Can you just handle that? And he's like, I'll handle long division if you'll do like, if you'll check their papers and check grammar. I'm like, deal. My kids make fun of me and I'm not offended in the least. And I'm like, guys, I have lived a lot of life since then. Like, you won't remember it either.

Open-And-Go Materials For Homeschool Confidence

SPEAKER_00 6:50

Who sits down and says your kid needs to know X, Y, C in this grade? I don't know. They make a lot more money than I do. It's not in my pay grade. I don't agree with every one of them, to be honest. But then some districts also provide a curriculum. And that's been kind of more of a recent thing because they figured out there's a need for that because a lot of teachers are brand new and alternatively certified. So, like I would open up my curriculum and it tell it tells me exactly what to say to the kids. And it does take some prep on my part. So I didn't just like try to read because while you're trying to read the curriculum, you know, so-and-so is poking someone in the ear, and then this kid has to go to the bathroom, and then this kid's sitting on top of this other kid, and you just read one sentence. So being a teacher isn't necessarily being an expert, it is how to manage uh the classroom. But having those resources was helpful because for my first several years teaching, I didn't have that. And I just had to pull up the teak standards. I'm like, this is what they have to know. And then I would go on to teachers pay teachers. It's a website where teachers create things, and I would purchase with my own money what I would use to meet that standard that Texas says they need to teach. Oh wow. And so I was like, oh, this looks great. And sometimes there would be errors, right? Because it was just created by a teacher. But like I said, Texas for sure has found a need and they're providing a lot of curriculum. And a lot of districts have adopted Amplify and Blue Bonnet curriculum, but it is just an open and go. Like there is no prep work. And the amount of time that I spent buying activities to go with the standard and planning the slides that I would project to go with it was astronomical. So knowing that they're providing these things, and a lot of times the curriculums now come with slides. So it takes a lot of the prep work off of the teachers so they can, I guess, focus on managing the classroom. And it was it's a little less taxing. It feels a little bit like it's thrown together. But it it gets the job done and it's better than what I had when I started teaching, which was nothing.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

It is assuring for people that are trying to homeschool that I'm I like that our curriculum tells me what to do and tells me how to teach it. And if you're saying that that's what my kids were getting at school anyway, then that does make me feel good. It makes me feel like it's not too much different, but I can just kind of tailor it to like what they need, which makes me feel better about my capability of being their teacher.

SPEAKER_00 9:32

Right. And that's why I really wanted to speak to the curriculum aspect of it because it is reassuring for parents who are like, I can't teach them. Yes, you can. You can. You can do it.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Yes. Well, and I think that for me, my what I kept tripping up on was here's what the standards were at school, here's what the standards are at my new curriculum, here's like, where do you know? And I think the answer is it doesn't really matter. Right? It's so dumb. Like, why I don't care. Like it doesn't it just can't matter. You could switch curriculums like like you guys did. Yeah. You know, it's not all just I think you're like, well, I want my kid to be on a second grade level like like they're supposed to be. That doesn't mean anything. Like it could mean something different from year to year in your own school, even.

Standards, Levels, And What Actually Matters

SPEAKER_00 10:23

A hundred percent. And the teaks, like the Texas standards haven't changed in years, they have been pretty like solid. So that's I mean, something I guess. But like I said, who says, like, who decided that? Right. It's always been something I don't know, like why is it that you have to learn this in first grade and second grade, whatever? And I get the phonics and I get different things, but honestly, if you're just progressing through things, and that's a lot of what teaching is, is making sure that you're doing a slow progression of things, you know. If your kids, if you're homeschooling your kids and, you know, they've mastered whatever skill, move on. And I think that's such a beauty of it, because in in the public school setting, there's really not a lot of time. Like I said, I would maybe we meet with my extension group once a week on a good time if we weren't assessing, which let me tell you the amount of assessing and testing that has to be done. It's awful. And now there's testing beginning, middle, and end of year that's tied to money. And so did you know that? I didn't know those were tied to money. Yeah, so there's something called the teacher incentive allotment, TIA, and it's in Texas, and I don't know if it if other states are going to adopt something like this, but it's based on teacher evaluations from their principal, and then also if their students met their growth goal from whatever test they're taking. So it could be a map or iReady, or I don't know if there's other ones, but those are all approved testing. If the teachers have positive walkthroughs and they they're like proficient or maybe accomplished on several things, and 80% of their class meets their growth goal, they get money. Oh, I did not know this. This is news to me. Fairly new that it's been tied to money like in the past six or seven years, but the goal is to, it's called a teacher incentive allotment, right? So the goal is to retain high-quality teachers because we the state kept losing teachers because this is a very high burnout job. Like it's exhausting. And so I get the purpose of it, but like for me, I earned my money to get that was extra on top of my salary. And I chose to leave it behind to go to this other job because only teachers get it, not paras, not like specialized teachers, like uh dyslexia or different things like that. I think they've now brought it, they they just keep adding more categories, and so it might, it just keeps getting a little bit more broad. But it's actually run through Texas Tech. The school has to send all their data, but they have to pay to send their data off, and it has to get evaluated and all of these things, and they'll get rejected or approved, and then the teachers will get this money. And once they once they get their designation, it's good for five years, and they get to keep this money for five years, but they have to have an evaluation every single year from their principal, and they have to still keep their proficiency scale or whatever. To me, it's kind of hard because those evaluations can be a bit subjective because it's a human doing it, right? Yeah. Like your growth goal, that's easy, whatever. But like you said, it's difficult when kids are maybe really high and they're passing grade level content. The teacher does not have time to teach them that. So their grow goal might not be met. This is giving teachers incentive to increase their goal. And a lot of ways that teachers are able to do that is with technology because those pathways that the students will work through are at their level.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Yeah, it makes sense. And I think teachers should be compensated for doing a good job because there are bad teachers out there. Absolutely. That's just there just are. And sometimes with any job, you need some extra motivation, especially with teachers are going through hell a lot of times and aren't paid very well for it.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Yes. And the goal of it is good. And let me tell you, 98% of teachers want their kids to grow, whether there's money tied to it, tied to it or not. Like they work their butts off and they want their kids to grow because it it makes them feel good too when they know they're teaching them content. There's just those few that that it it isn't great. But I do, I do think it's a good, the thought behind it is good to keep it to incentivize teachers who are doing the right thing and showing up every day, growing their kids and all of that. I think the intention is good.

Testing, Incentives, And Teacher Burnout

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Let's switch gears for a minute. And we had talked about this a little bit before the episode, but you wanted to touch on something that impacts the classroom a lot, which was just inclusion in the classroom. And this is both forms of social inclusion and academic inclusion. And maybe someone listening doesn't exactly know what that is. So can you explain what that is and how it impacts like your job as a teacher in the public school setting?

SPEAKER_00 15:43

Yeah, absolutely. So there was a law passed and it made special education have inclusion time with their peers, in addition to resource time outside of the classroom. And so the campus that I was working at prior to the one I am at now, we did not have a high special education population that needed to be outside of the classroom. They just had kiddos who maybe had an IEP or a 504 that had they had some help where an aide or teacher would push into their classroom. But that wasn't really very distracting as a teacher. It was helpful because a lot of times they just needed help reading the directions or things like that. I think Carson meant mentioned something about content mastery. I remember that as a kid. There was there were some kids in my high school that would have CM and they would get pulled out, or maybe their tests would have less questions on it, or or things like that. And so now there is something called inclusion where these special needs kiddos who might be in a wheelchair, have feeding tubes, just different things like cognitively are not on the same grade level as someone who is their age. And they get pushed into a classroom. So their main classroom might be the special education classroom, and then they get pushed into a classroom throughout the day at different times. And so I think that this is great to have kids be included who have special needs. I think it's really great for kids who don't have special needs to be exposed to that and just to teach them the differences and that not everybody is the same. And I think it's great. However, for it to happen during math or reading or a time where the teacher is really trying to teach content, it is so distracting for five-year-olds who are already so distracted to have these several kiddos. And a lot of times they go into the same classroom, like all like let's say there's five special needs kiddos who are in kindergarten. Those five kiddos are going to push into one classroom just because of the staff that's needed. And they might have several paras and they might even have a nurse or two too. So on top of your already 20 kids, now you're gonna have five more come into the classroom and have all of these special things going on. Is it serving the kiddos? Like, are they actually learning from the teacher who's teaching this content that's on grade level? Some of them might, some of them it does not benefit. Some of these kiddos are nonverbal. And like I said, I think it's great that the kids are exposed to this. But I think that it would be more appropriate if it was only during like lunch specials, recess, and things like that. And the special education teachers may focus more on the content side of it and they taught it at their level, whatever that was. Because a lot of times these kiddos are exempt from taking the tests, the, you know, the tests that are required by the state because they cannot. So if they cannot take those tests, why are they going into the classrooms? I don't know. It's a it's a hard subject to talk about because you want everyone to feel included. And and I don't want anyone to think that I'm like, oh, this is the worst idea ever, because the idea is great, truly. But can you imagine having four extra adults, feeding pumps, wheelchairs, and all of these different things come into your class as a five-year-old and be able to focus on two plus two equals four?

SPEAKER_01 19:46

I feel like, like you said, it's a great idea in theory. It sounds wonderful. But as a teacher who you're having to implement this, it's it makes a job that is already difficult almost impossible when you're trying to get everyone to focus on whatever it is that you're trying to teach. I understand why it's it's not really working, even though on paper it seems really nice. Yeah, it's great on paper.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah, it seems like a great idea, but there are part of the problem too, I think, is that there are so many needs that need to be met that it's just really hard to staff all of that too. So they're they're doing the best that they can with what they have, but it is not ideal. It's great, but it's just not working.

Inclusion: Ideals Versus Classroom Impact

SPEAKER_01 20:33

There are so many things like that now. That seems good in theory, but it is just simply not working, whether it's sending homework after school or having their day super regimented because the more subjects you cover, the smarter they'll be, or you know, just so many things that were it were a great idea, but then once we realize that they are not a great idea, we just have not gone back and corrected those issues. So I want to move on to a huge topic of all the time. If you're gonna bring up homeschooling, it's going to be socialization. I know. It's kind of like a it's kind of like a cuss word, right? Socialization. You can't say it, or a lot of bad things will happen. I have come to the conclusion that my kids were not getting the best socialization at school. And they can also get that type of things at home. But I'm not a teacher, I'm not in the classroom. So I want to hear from you like what you feel like the socialization is at school. Is it good, bad, in between? Obviously, are you concerned about it? Because you're gonna homeschool your girls. I want to hear from you.

SPEAKER_00 21:42

I am not concerned whatsoever about my child's, my children's socialization. Not one bit. But I will tell you that I have been more open about talking about uh homeschooling my kids, and every single person I've talked to has been like, but what about their socialization, Megan? Every cent. I will say that I think it's one of the not one of, but probably the biggest misnomer that kids get socialized at school. Who said that it's a good idea to put, you know, 25-year-olds all together at the same time too? I don't know why we think this is just totally normal. They cannot talk while the teacher's talking. Then you move into independent learning time while the teacher's working with a small group, also cannot talk. Then we line up to go somewhere, can't talk. Walk in the hallway, can't talk. Go to lunch, can't talk for the first few minutes because you have to eat. And then you can talk after you finish your food, which doesn't usually happen. Recess, they can talk for like 20 minutes, but they can't, you know, be too crazy because there's so many kids. Then you come back in, do some more learning, can't talk, can't talk, can't talk, can't talk, can't talk. So how can you possibly socialize at school when you literally can't talk ever?

The Socialization Myth Unpacked

SPEAKER_01 23:02

I also had never thought of it that way, you know, until I had kids and then they were in school. And my son actually told me that. And I was like, God, that is actually so true. You aren't getting those lessons that we all feel like they're getting at school, being around their peers. I just don't know why. Maybe it's just ingrained in us that that is where you socialize and that is how they learn about bullies and things not going your way and people, friends not being so friendly, and all of these things. But now seeing it from both sides, I feel like my kids are getting to practice socialization in a way that I can actually contribute. Yes, for example, my daughter was on a volleyball team and she has like that group of friends, and then she has like friends that are at her gymnastics and at her art classes, she has different groups of people that she socializes with every single week. Well, there was an issue in the volleyball team when she got a position and people were kind of mad at her, and she came home and we talked about it. And I said, This is this this sucks that you're having to go through this, but this is kind of how I would deal with it. And I promise you that this is gonna blow over, like you just gotta keep doing this, this, and this. So we actually had an issue. She came home, we we spoke about it, and then there was a few days where the dust was able to settle. And in those days, she got to socialize with other people, kind of forget about the drama with that. And then when she came back to volleyball again, a lot of it had settled already, and it wasn't as big a deal. But she had my perspective from it, where she wasn't really getting that at school. I didn't even know what was going on. I f I'm a firm believer in I'm not getting into my kids' stuff, and I'm not gonna like save them, and I'm not gonna call your so-and-so's mom, and I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna give you the tools to do it, and I'm gonna support you in doing it because I feel like that's what you have to learn being social, right? You have to deal with people that are not like you and people that do things that you probably wouldn't do, and that's just life, right? We all have to deal with that and whatever experience you have. Yeah, that is so yes, I do think that it's so important, but I do love that having different types and groups of friends that aren't around you 24-7 allows it not to be so stressful all of a sudden. Because I don't think my 10-year-old daughter should have to care about the opinions of a small group of girls 24 hours a day, seven days a week, because she's only with the same people over and over again. Oh my gosh, girls are so mean. So mean. And it starts so early now, so early. And I don't I don't know what that's coming from, whether they're learning more adult type things on screens and things like that, but it came way quicker to for us than I anticipated. And her her saying things like, my ears are weird and I'm ugly, somebody call me ugly today, and things like this. And that started in about first grade. Her confidence went from through the roof, I can do anything, I'm awesome, to I'm terrible, I'm ugly, I'm not good enough, I didn't get invited to this and all of that. And not that I don't think that life throws that type of stuff at you. I just realized that they don't need that right off the bat. They need little doses of it that they can kind of navigate in their head, navigate with their parents, figure out who they are as a person, who their val what their values are, and how they can address it, and then address it. And then then we have another issue to deal with later on, and then we tackle that instead of just being in like a pit of fire all day, every day, and drowning in it, and then getting home and not being able to talk about it. They never were able to sit down and talk to me about it because they were very dysregulated after school. So now coming from this side of it to, oh yeah, you're right, my kids are not gonna be social, they're gonna be weird, to now being on the other side of it. I'm like, no, I disagree. I firmly disagree that their socialization is better now, and that I love that I am making sure that our values stay intact instead of just putting them out into the world at age five and being like, hopefully, what I did in these five years are sticking with you. Fingers crossed.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Oh my gosh, so true. And I think as I don't know if you're a millennial, I don't I feel like versus yeah, yeah. I think that it's like also ingrained in our heads. Like, I don't know if you ever met anyone who was homeschooled and you're like, oh yeah, they were homeschooled. Like when you were when I was a kid, I was like, why are they so weird? You know? And it's just kind of one of those stigmas. But I feel like homeschooling has come a long way since then. And it's almost now flip-flopped. And now you're like, oh, wow, that's why is this kid wearing a tail? Okay. And you're just like, I don't know about this.

SPEAKER_01 28:07

Exactly. I think that it changed so much, and I'm so glad that it did because I never met anyone that was homeschooled, actually. That's how rare it was. But in my head, so rare. Yeah, in my head, I was like, oh, that's weird.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

You know, I can think of like two or three people, and I was like, man, they are weird, Momna.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

It's like they were so rare and so weird that you didn't even see them out and about. But my daughter's perspective was different just because in sports, her first like sports team that she was on, she didn't really know anybody. There were three homeschool girls on her team. She loved them. And so in her head, like when I was like, I don't know what to do with you, girl, like you gotta go to school. She was like, homeschool me. So that's just so funny that, you know, in her head, that was never a bad term. I don't think it is, at least for most kids that were around, like her cousins, are like, I want to be homeschooled too. I've never heard a bad thing about homeschooling from the children, only from the parents, which is interesting.

SPEAKER_00 29:06

Not who don't know, yeah. My cousin, and she actually went to school to be a teacher, and she's 10 years older than I am, and she has six boys, and she's homeschooled them all. And so she's got like 21 down to six. And I always thought, like, how did she do it? But she just has routines and procedures and expectations and laundry days and all the things. And she says that she asks her kids, like periodically, you know, do you want to go to school? Like, do you are like, are you happy to and not one kid in her 21 years of having them at home, not one kid has ever wanted to go to school. I think that's so interesting. But they also they're involved in sports and church, and you know, so there's your socialization. And as they get into high school, her kids are like 16 and have associates' degrees. Like it's just, it's very easy and they go and take those courses, you know, in person and things and things like that, where she doesn't feel comfortable teaching something, she doesn't hesitate to just source that out.

SPEAKER_01 30:13

I think that that's wonderful. It's one of my worst fears for my kids to tell me they want to go back to school. Because like, would say, uh no, probably. But they so far do not. And I I think I'm very grateful that they got to experience that. I don't know how long that will stick in their heads because they're so they're so little. But if I say do you guys want to go back to school, they usually they usually think it's a threat because I'm like, you don't want to do your work, you're going back to school. And they're like, no, no, we'll do it, we'll do it.

SPEAKER_00 30:44

Like I think, like you said, you've learned more because your kids went to school and now they're not, you know, so you've seen both sides of it and they have too. And like for me, my daughter's in second grade, so she's she went to public school, pre-K, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. And right now the campus I work on stops at second grade. Yeah. And that's a wild time too, because there are seven or eight classes of every grade level, and it's a lot. There's a lot of little kids, a lot. They're just like screaming all day.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

Loud. So loud.

Third Grade Shift And Screen-Centric Learning

SPEAKER_00 31:24

So loud. And I'm like, why are they screaming? And we have these like padded rooms that they can go in to like reset, and it's like traumatizing for me. But anyway, we're gonna move on. But going like, I'm like, I have to figure out how to work from home and how to homeschool. Like, I have a goal by when she goes to third grade because there's something with third grade that really switches, and so much of their education is online, and and they do Google Classroom, this and this and this. And oh, I just don't want that for her. My daughter has really great handwriting, she has she loves to learn, she is just she eats it up, like she just loves it so much. So I I think she will be fine on a computer. Like, truly, like she she would be fine. It's more so that I don't want that for her. I don't want her to sit and have to be on a screen all day long. Every assignment they send out is digital. And then it's like they don't even tell the parent, like as a teacher, I would send out like, hey, you can log into your kids' school classroom, but most parents never did. And so you almost never, parents almost never saw work that was done once they get to third grade because no papers go home anymore.

SPEAKER_01 32:39

That's interesting that you said that because I that's exactly what happened with us. My daughter loved school. She wanted to go to school on the weekends. She looked, she's very, very social. She actually won an award for being out of the entire school. My daughter won the award for being like the most, like her best citizenship. She was smiling at everyone, helped people out, you know, kind to everyone. And then the next year, complete, like she started third grade and it just went downhill quickly. And I'm like, she was begging. I don't want to go to school, I don't want to school. We do the same thing every day. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. And I'm like, what is causing you to feel this way? And as a first-time parent, you don't know that shift that happens between second grade and third grade. And she did have great handwriting and she was in creative writing UIL and she was in all of these things. Well, her handwriting got worse for one. Absolutely. And she was super unhappy, but couldn't tell us why. She her work got worse, everything got worse. They used to have two recesses and they went down to one recess. And she just absolutely hated it. And she was the one going, Mom, they give us bad food, they don't let us go outside, and I have to do the same thing over and over again. And it's making me crazy. And she's like, That's what you always tell us. If I feel crazy, I have to go outside. And like, you're right, you don't have any of those abilities to do something that like she has ADHD, and we have usually just had her self-regulate, like taught her things that she can do, and she could do them at home, but she couldn't do them at school. And so I've always wondered, is it third grade? Like, what is the switch in that? And then obviously doing more research and research, it is. It's a complete different change in that. Plus, you add in the standardized testing and the pressure on.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

I was gonna say that too. Yes, that's true and the anxiety.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

She had so much anxiety about this test. And it I finally was like, Sailor, I don't care if you don't get one thing right in this test. Girl, I don't care. This test is it doesn't show me anything about you. Okay, you're doing great in school. Please just go take it. When you're done, just forget about it. But, you know, it is a lot of pressure on them at school to where all of us parents that had third graders were texting, being like, Is your kid okay? Because mine's not okay about the star test. And so it wasn't just my daughter, it was all of them that were having severe anxiety about a standardized test.

SPEAKER_00 35:10

Test that you don't even get the results for until the summer. So it gives you no data to drive your instruction, and it is completely useless. If they fail the star test, they still move on to the next grade. Like I'm when I tell you this test is pointless, like it pointless. At least when I gave MAP or the iReady test, the which is the kids' diagnostic test, it's the kids' test that they take that the money is tied to. When at least when I gave that and they met their growth and things, like I could see what I could work on and I could use that data to drive my teaching. The star test or whatever standardized test of whatever state you're in, it gives you nothing. Imagine because just a few years ago it shifted from being an on-paper test to a computer test. Yep. And so, like, our at our school, the Chromebooks are touch screen. So, like, I was teaching these kids all of these skills for how to read and like follow along with their finger when they're in kindergarten and first grade. And then they get to third and fourth grade and they take these standardized tests, and they can't even follow along with their finger because it's a touch screen computer. And so, how do you focus and read that passage on a device and then remember the questions when you don't, when you can't like highlight and they give you like tools that you can like highlight and whatever, but it's just it's not the same as having a paper in front of you, reading it, going back and looking at it again, making notes. Like it's just oh, it's not user-friendly. It's so hard.

SPEAKER_01 36:42

My kids had no computer use at home at all. And so, yeah, my daughter had a disadvantage. Absolutely. Same because she didn't know how to use a mouse at all. So, how would she have highlighted or or let me look at this tool? She, no idea.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

And the teachers spend an astronomical amount of time teaching the kids how to use these tools for the stupid useless test that means nothing. It's just just add on to the wasted time that is spent. And they do boot camps and all, I mean, just oh yeah, we had boot camps.

Standardized Tests On Computers And Anxiety

SPEAKER_01 37:14

Oh, my husband my husband's point here was okay, we used to get our results back really quickly and they were handwritten tests, but now it's on a computer and we can't get our results back until June. Like, what the heck is up with that? How is that even that doesn't even make sense?

SPEAKER_00 37:30

Nope, it doesn't. Not at all. Nope.

SPEAKER_01 37:33

Okay, well, I think I could probably talk to you all day long, and I am not gonna take up all of your day. So I'm gonna wrap this up. And if I have one big question to ask you, hopefully have some advice to share with all of us, because most people listening are not homeschooling yet, and they are like you. It's on their heart, and it just seems like something that's too big for them to tackle. So if you could sit down with a parent who feels like they have it on their heart, but something's not working with school and they're just terrified and they are just scared to make that change, what would you want them to know, like both from you as a teacher and you just as a mom?

SPEAKER_00 38:14

Listen to your heart, listen to your kids. And I truly think if, you know, if public school is what's right for you and your kids and your family and you're not feeling stressed, that's also okay. You know, there's there's no judgment or anything that that is fine. But if it's on your heart and you're like, man, I'm I'm listening to these other podcasters, and they're like, get your kids out of the schools, or your kids are like, mom, I hate going to school, or whatever. It's just there's a way to make it happen. And, you know, there are people who make it work who are nurses or firefighters or, you know, all kinds of different places. And it might, you might have to get uncomfortable. It might not be easy and you might have to change something in your life. But I think the benefits will really outweigh the hardships that you might go through. Like for me personally, I'm going to be switching to a job that's going to be making less money. And so we're going to have to make some cuts. But this is so heavy on my heart, and I'm so excited and ready to just slow down and take that leap of faith for my kids and for my family. I think that you should know that you can do it because teachers don't know how to do it either, and they just figure it out. And if you have any sort of willpower or work ethic at all, you can make it happen. Easy, easy. Don't think it's too hard because anything in life is hard. Being a full-time working mom is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. And I am just so excited to be more present. Like I send my daughter to daycare and I don't even know what she eats in a day. And you send your kids to school, and if they get school lunch, you don't know what they eat in a day, and you don't know how much of an impact that makes. And so I'm really excited to teach my kids about things, food and and things that help and help me too, because I'm not the healthiest person or version of myself because I'm so stretched thin. So I think in a weird way, when you're like, I could not be with my kids all day, there's no way I could do that. I think in reality, you would be surprised, you'll be surprised to know that it is doable, it is possible, and it might even be not easier, but like, I don't know, it might just take a load off that you don't even realize you have.

SPEAKER_01 40:47

Absolutely. I think it's easier. And I'm the first person to tell you that I am shocked by that information because I was I was ready to just like random bear it through this because I felt like that was what was best for my kids. But honestly, like you said, it's better for me. Way better for me. I think people don't think about that aspect of it. Well, and they always say, like, a kid's kids deserve a happy parent because you parent from a better spot when you're happy. And you have to sometimes be selfish so that you get what you need. But in this way, you're kind of both getting what you need. It's not set in stone. If you hate it, do something different.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

Like, yeah, my that's what my cousin told me too. She's like, if you start it and you absolutely hate it, send it back. Who cares? You know?

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Exactly. And that's kind of what we've been telling everyone in my head. I'm like, this is better, but I just keep telling them, we're taking it year by year. It just, you know, if right now it's working wonderfully. But that doesn't mean that I'm setting up my kids for the rest of their life right now. I don't know. I didn't know I was gonna homeschool. How can I know what's gonna happen two years from now? So I think that that's the if you could tell yourself one thing, just tell yourself, like, yeah, if it sucks, don't do it, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Hey, easy. If if if what you're doing right now isn't working, you know, make a change. And if that's the thing, make a change, then uh you just kind of trial and error. Yeah. You never know unless you try. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 42:20

Well, thank you so, so much for coming on the podcast with me. I think this is gonna be like the best episode we have for sure. And I think it's gonna be very, very helpful for so many people listening.

SPEAKER_00 42:32

I hope so. That was my intent. I'm so thankful for the podcast that you guys made, just giving me the courage that I can do this while working, because it wasn't an option for me and my family for me to stay home. Like it's just not something that we can afford. Um, and so I'm just grateful for you guys creating this and documenting everything and sharing it and hopefully sharing some things from the public school side of it is just a little bit more enlightening, too.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

Yeah, I think that's exactly what we needed. We needed full circle. We needed someone else from the inside to tell us all of these things too. So I think this will be just super, super helpful to people that were like you listening and trying to figure all this out. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 43:15

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_03 43:18

We will work really hard on this podcast. Make your subscribe so you don't miss a single podcast episode. Thank you, have a good day.