Giving back

[jkpescador]

How do us parent's give back to the preschools and public schools?
Fundraise?
Write grants?

Mostly you read what's wrong with the schools but how do we help make them better.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Re: Giving back

You make the schools better by sending them better kids. Make sure your kids are well prepared, and insist that they work hard and do well. If all parents did this, then you'd better believe the schools would improve.

[1stwahine]

Re: Giving back

How do us parent's give back to the preschools and public schools?
Fundraise?
Write grants?

Mostly you read what's wrong with the schools but how do we help make them better.

Get involved from start to finish! Volunteer and become a part of everything in your child's education. There is no excuse.

Auntie Lynn

[kimo55]

Re: Giving back

How do us parent's give back to the preschools and public schools?
Fundraise?
Write grants?

Mostly you read what's wrong with the schools but how do we help make them better.

first off, what does give back mean? give back what?!
They gave ya something that ya just don't want? something spoiling in yer garage fridge?


fundraise is a good idea. i would, if i had keiki, meet with the teachers and learn how i can help the kids excel. open lines of communication with them. and try communicate with my keiki often. Support the lessons and projects they tackle. help them enjoy each little victory. each book they read, each lesson or problem they overcome or take control of. help them write out and plan goals... help them see each step toward each goal. help them make small and large goals. help them toward the completon of each. but meanwhile, teach them the steps, the journey is as important as reaching the goal. learning and growing, the process is important as the destination. This kinda thing is lacking nowadays and that may be one reason we have a society so full of impatient "I want it and I want it now" spoiled brats. (present company excepted of course.)

Oh. and when you are talking about being interested in developing any aspect of education, maybe use phraseology such as: "How do we parents give back..." Just a thought.

[damontucker]

Re: Giving back

someone trying to rub me here?

[kimo55]

Re: Giving back

where. what you pointing at?
no.
don't tell us.

[1stwahine]

Re: Giving back

someone trying to rub me here?

Wat da hell you talking about Manoa?

Auntie Lynn

[lavagal]

Re: Giving back

Oh get me started! If every parent volunteered once or twice a year at school I'd be so grateful! I encourage everyone to get involved with their kids' schools. And I also encourage people who don't have kids, but live near a school, to "adopt" it in some way: give them your recyclables, set up a little endowment, check with the parent group and see what they need. After much needling at various hotels in Waikiki, we just acquired some castoff tablecloths from Sheraton. We will now use them for our special event breakfasts and dinners. Those of us in the parent group will take them home each time and wash them. It means not buying lousy paper or plastic ones from now on.
We give our teachers each $100 at the beginning of the school year to help them buy supplies. We raise funds to pay for a PE teacher. Tell me why in a state where everyone is all hu-hu about children and obesity, we have to hold bake sales and spaghetti dinners to raise enough money to pay for a PE teacher since the DOE will not?

Like I said, get me started! In my first Lava Mama column I talk about volunteering at school. I am passionate about this.

@

[pzarquon]

Re: Giving back

Your school probably knows best what it needs and how you can help, and I'm sure they won't be shy about telling you, if you ask.

Sometimes the little things help a lot, from classroom supplies to cleaning to volunteering to chaperone on field trips or helping to plan class activities. Scrivener can probably speak directly to this, but I imagine teachers prefer to teach, and not so much doing various administrative tasks. A lot of it is unavoidable -- you sure can't grade papers -- but one item off their to-do list is probably a relief.

Heck, beyond fundraising, some schools require hands-on support. Our brief stint with Montesorri, there were campus and classroom clean ups... heck, they even had the kids painting and fixing up the buildings. On top of charging an arm and a leg. Talk about maximising your assets!

On a broader scale, being involved is important. Join the PTA, go to meetings, take advantage of the opportunities for input and feedback that are made available. I've certainly heard my share of horror stories from teachers about parents that get too involved... but I'm pretty sure that's preferable to the opposite scenario, most of the time.

If your school fundraises, help fundraise! Though when an option, we prefer to offer a direct cash donation. Why contribute to an undertaking that requires all sorts of administrative work for just a cut of the profits, when they can avoid counting tickets and get every cent?

And if your school depends on grants or struggles with funding, definitely advocate. I'm sure grant writing is never a wasted skill, if you can do it! When our daughter went to Voyager, I wrote letters, submitted testimony... they were just as appreciative of that as they were direct monetary donations. You sometimes get a form letter back from the Capitol, too. Woo hoo!

And Manoa? Once again, it's not always about you.

[jkpescador]

Re: Giving back

Interesting point of view Glen. That's a work in progress.

Mahalo Auntie Lynn we will try. You are an inspiration.

For some reason volunteering and fundraising brings a certain Zippy's chili commercial to mind.

kimo55 I guess some people knew what I meant. Most people refer to "giving back" as giving back to the community in some way. The title of the thread was enough for you to read and post a pretty good response.

I used to get asked to help find people in the community that want to participate at Career Day. That was hard. Most people thought their jobs were too boring to talk about. I asked one of the teachers and at the time the most requested job the students wanted to know about was "Bay Watch Actress."

[craigwatanabe]

Re: Giving back

You make the schools better by sending them better kids. Make sure your kids are well prepared, and insist that they work hard and do well. If all parents did this, then you'd better believe the schools would improve.

Bravo Glen!!! I think you hit the nail on the head dead on! I honestly believe that as a parent, the education of a child lies mainly with the ability of the parent to prep that child socially for school. A respectful child will perform better in class and around campus than one that isnt.

How can we give back? How about giving the educational system a child ready to accept what it can offer without any of the disciplinary issues.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Giving back

How I have done it all these years since my h.s. junior was in preschool:

-get to know all of their teachers well enough to be on a first-name basis.
-read books on educational theories (even some great books on homeschooling) and attempt to understand what the teacher is teaching, the outcomes desired, benchmarks being looked after and why it all matters.
-have a home library. Make it inversely proportional to the number of cable channels and tv sets in the home. And have at least one old-school encyclopedia set around, preferably one that calls Russia the U.S.S.R. it is a fantastic example of showing how much the world changes--and stays the same.
-attend school functions.
-keep kids in organized activities that are outside of the school campus.
-buy twice the number of school supplies required and keep an area in the home office that allows for the children to acquire pencils and paper as needed.
-get to know their coaches, friends and friends' parents on a first-name basis. As with the teachers, have all of these folks' phone numbers, cell, and email available on one's pda.

In my experience, the issues aren't in preschool and elementary; its intermediate and high school when teachers rely directly on the student to pass communications along to the parent. There is wisdom to this, because it fosters responsibility on the student. Some young people, however, are not so responsible, and conversely, parents who rely on their kid to take care of such matters are letting themselves off the parental hook.