a hiatus (I just really like the term)
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
my inspiration has left the building. I am however, having fun with facebook. Its a time sucker though.
So, here is my thoughts/questions for the day:

Olivia is in grade 2. She is in a gr2/3 split. The gr.3's, are starting a new thing, called, "current events". They pick an article from the newspaper,, and do a little right up on, and then lead a discussion in front of the class.

Here's my bone to pick:

The first day, a boy brings in his homework, and he did it on the University shooting that just happened. So he brought in the clipping, and they all read the article, and talked about it.

I am torn on how I feel about this.

-I want to shelter her from things she doesn't need to know at her age
-I don't want her to be in fear, is this kind of thing going to instill fear?
-we don't watch violent things - they don't see it on t.v
-she is only 7, does she need to know how much evil there is in the world?
-how important is "current events"? to this age?

At the same time, I don't want to over do it. I want to be balanced, I want her to be balanced.

Whats your opinion?

Posted by Lee at 10:03 PM |

12 Comments:
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At April 19, 2007 10:47 AM, Blogger Family Of Five said........
I too have mixed feelings. I truly believe the more they know .... the more you can talk to them about your thoughts and feelings on certaing topics. This is the age where they care about what you say and what you think. Fear is many times what keeps us safe.... that gut instinct inside us. Real life happenings is a great way for them to overhear your thoughts and expectation. I don't watch the news and just heard about this event through blogging. I find much of the news depressing and don't really want to hear about all the violence in the world. Has the world really gotten more violent or do we just make a bigger deal of it? I am happy in my ignorance! :) And on the flip side if we didn't make so much of what happens public and tell young kids ... are we putting ideas into their heads?.? Who knows. Really just do what you feel is right for your family. There isn't really a wrong.
 


At April 19, 2007 7:22 PM, Blogger jewels said........
way too young! and there should have been a letter of explanation! at the grade 6/7 level yes - not at grade 2/3 - I would say something.
 


At April 19, 2007 9:34 PM, Blogger Meredith said........
I enjoy shelter, I also like when someone else opens a door for discussion. I think she is a bit young, as are the grade 3s. We didn't do current events until high school, I think there's a reason for that. What's done is done. The teacher probably didn't know it was coming either.
 


At April 20, 2007 6:17 AM, Blogger jewels said........
the teacher should have checked all news clippings before the students shared them with the class. why are kids that age looking through a newspaper anyway? i am all for kids knowing about the world they live in but not until they are old enough to understand it!
 


At April 20, 2007 8:01 AM, Blogger Lee said........
me too. I wonder if this one "slipped through", before she realized/ I will have to talk to her.
 


At April 20, 2007 10:46 AM, Blogger Family Of Five said........
I think Lenore was in grade 5 when she started doing newspaper event.... I'm pretty sure if I remember correctly it had to be non-violent. :)
 


At April 20, 2007 10:49 AM, Blogger liz said........
I went through the same thing, with both my kids when they were in that class. I strongly objected to them watching the news, I ended up reading the paper and picking their story so they didn't read the others. It was also right after we were in the car accident and Becka was having major anxiety, I was trying to convince her her world was still a safe place, and then she went to school and heard about all the horror in the world. I had major issues with it.
 


At April 20, 2007 11:54 AM, Blogger Shannon King said........
Way too young!!! Children at such a young age don't understand topics about murder and violence. I have a hard time myself understanding why someone would kill 32 people, some of which he never even knew. There are sick people and events in this world that are children don't need to know about at the age of 7.
 


At April 20, 2007 5:10 PM, Blogger Jennifer said........
LET YOUR OPINIONS KNOWN TO THE SCHOOL IMMEDIATELY IF NOT SOONER!
that's disgusting. I don't even watch news because it's too disturbing for myself! and I'm 31.
 


At April 21, 2007 3:41 PM, Blogger Lovella ♥ said........
wow, that seems really young to deal with it in school.
I just saw on the news that one teacher had her elementary students do a reenactment. How stupid is that? The thing is one child may not be nearly as sensitive as another child. How can the teacher assume that they'll all be able to cope?
 


At April 22, 2007 12:16 PM, Blogger shari said........
WAY too young. This is definitely something to take up with the school. It is not their job to decide how to filter world issues to our children.
 


At April 22, 2007 12:20 PM, Blogger shari said........
I can remember 9/11, and worrying about how much is too much. You couldnt turn on the tv, radio, or internet without hearing about it. It was definitely something that you had to discuss with your children, and I am sure that teachers were unable to avoid the discussion in their classrooms those first days. But, it's really hard to find the balance. And asking grade 3 students (and the second graders listening in) to share, discuss and process current events, is WAY excessive in my opinion.