I was able to read an article in my McKay Today Magazine called "Parent Involvement: The Beginning Defines the Future" by Bryan Korth. I was pleased to see the article and all the ways parents can be involved in their kids' education, both at home and at school. The ways Korth mentions:
1. Parents assisting teachers by preparing materials or filing paperwork.
2. "Classroom parents" who organize classroom events.
3. Parents who actually instruct in the classroom.
4. Communication between parent and teacher.
5. Being engaged in homework.
6. Parental support to develop strong bonds with the child.
7. Regulation: appropriate expectations and structure regarding a child's behavior.
8. Acknowledgment of the child's independent self, whereby parents avoid intruding, exploiting, or manipulating the child.
Like I said, I was pleased to see the article, but I was also kind of disappointed in the content. For one thing, I was looking for some new ways to be more involved, but as I read, I pretty much feel like we're doing every single one of those things already. I suppose the only way we could be more involved is to home-school our kids, and I'm just not going there. I felt good when I realized I help with homework books for my kindergartner's class; and I felt good that although I'm not really participating in classroom events, I am participating in the PTA (but don't get me started on that one today. I just added up my hours for the last 3 weeks and I'm looking at 20+; and I still have 2 events next week before I record my monthly hours!!! I'm good for 5-15 hours/month, but this is getting ridiculous. I oversee 12 events this year.). I also felt good that next month I will begin instructing my 3rd grader's class on art for the next 3 months. I'm no art expert, but no one had signed up for the assignment, and I used to be kind of good at art.
Another thing I was disappointed in was (oh how do I say this without being too offensive) the acknowledgement that most parents don't actually have the time to help out at the school, but if they're involved in other ways with their kids, then that's great. Now that's fine, but I'm feeling a little burdened here putting in so many hours at/for the school. I guess I just need some validation that these big school activities (book fair, carnival, reading activities, etc.) are actually worth helping out with, or I kind of just want to stop. I'm feeling like the work to carry out the activities is in no way balanced with what my kids personally get out of them. It seems like the activities are great and all, but there seem to be too few of us left/willing to be able to carry them out. The reason I've done PTA/school activities is that more people want to be in the class with their kids, and fewer want to help the PTA/school, so I thought I'd help where the help was needed most. Maybe I'm just being too nice by helping out the PTA/school and should be more selfish and get more into my kids' classes.
Anyway, it seems like there was one more thing, but I can't remember it now. If you've had experience with PTA/school activities, what do you believe is their purpose? Are the activities really valuable, or does classroom involvement outweigh the school functions? Are we holding these big activities just to show how awesome we are, or could we do without them and focus more on the classroom?
