I wrote this letter to dd's preschool teacher this morning. I am not good with words and I am not good with punctuation etc...so please ignore all of that. I wanted to get my point across, but I also didn't want to offend her either.




I had a chance over the weekend to think about our talk we had on Thursday and the letter that was sent home about Megan’s homework. We did work some more on the homework over the weekend. She was able to trace over most of the letter/number worksheets with the dotted lines. She could not write the letters/numbers on her own. It is not easy to hold her hand and make her do it. She is very independent and usually wants to do things on her own. If we try and force her it turns into a battle, which results in her not wanting to do the homework at all. I feel at this stage for her it should be more fun than forcing her to do it and having her in tears. She does have a lot of time to still grow and learn things. I know that a lot can be learned in a year and 8 months and I just personally don’t feel I want her to be pushed too hard just yet. I know she needs to learn to write and I know that will come in time. I know they have so much that they have to learn before kindergarten (my son was in Kindergarten last year), but again I just feel she has time to learn and grow with out pushing her to do things that are just too hard for her right now. I have no problem with her doing homework at all. I just don’t want to try and force her to do the stuff that she can’t do yet. We will slowly work on it. I know we talked about giving her some different kinds of worksheets, so hopefully that will work out better. I know that it is supposed to be for bonding time and to help parent’s be more involved with their child. I am with Megan every hour that she is not in school, so we do get plenty of bonding time on our own as well. I actually put her in the school originally to have her get some better social skills and interaction with other kids other than her brother and sister. I left on Thursday feeling a little upset and like I was in trouble so to speak for not having the homework done just right. I don’t want to feel bad when I bring her or pick her up. I will have her do what she can on the homework and I will try and have her do the harder things as long as it isn’t causing her to feel stressed about it. I want this to be an enjoyable experience for everyone all around. I just am not willing right now to push her too hard. If this is going to cause problems with what you are trying to do with your class I completely understand. I really don’t want to have it be a disruption, because that is not fair to you or the other kids in the class. She is there for fun and I can just take her out and keep her home with me if it causes any problems. Just please let me know. I absolutely appreciate everything that you are doing and since she has been coming to the school she has made huge improvements.



Updated:
This is the response I got back from Megan's teacher...in a letter. She wasn't there when I picked Megan up from school today:

Let me start this letter off with an apology. It was not my intention to make you feel bad the other day during our meeting. As for Megan's homework I understand that she doesn't want to do it and I agree that no child should be forced to do anything to the point where it becomes a battle. But I believed I was doing what you wanted. I thought you wanted her to learn her academic skills at this level. Wanting and having Megan moved into the pre-K class means learning the pre-k level. This includes how to write and doing homework. I am more than willing to give Megan the other homework we had talked about, but as of September she must be doing the homework and academic skills required in the Pre-K classroom. It is no trouble at all for me to do the other packets for Megan. This way it will be fun for her buy she will still be doing some sort of homework. If you have any other questions or concerns feel free to let me know. Thank you.


(They told me they were going to move her to the next class on January 2nd because they thought she was ready....I just figured she moved to the next class because she was older than the kids in the class she was already in...I didn't know any of this other stuff or I probably would have asked for her to stay in the other class.....I never asked for her to be moved to the new class or wanted her to be moved...I was told she was ready and they were going to move her).

I think it sounds very good. I'm not a good writer either but to me it sounds good. You were very nice about it so they cant be upset with what you say and you told them things they need to know. :)

Very well said!!!! :mrgreen :thumbsup

I think you put your feelings across very diplomatically - very well put!

Thanks guys! I was having some second thoughts after I dropped it off this morning. I wrote the letter, because I can never get out what I need to say in person. I always just forget what I want to say. I am sure I will still talk to the teacher, but this gives her an idea of how I feel, so I won't have to try and remember on my own.

Thanks guys! I was having some second thoughts after I dropped it off this morning. I wrote the letter, because I can never get out what I need to say in person. I always just forget what I want to say. I am sure I will still talk to the teacher, but this gives her an idea of how I feel, so I won't have to try and remember on my own.

I think that was a good thing to do. I am the same way I will always forget things that I want to say. With a letter you can say what you want and make sure you dont forget anything and cant be interrupted. :)

I think it sounds great! I hope that you can come to a compromise that works for all of you!

I think it sounds great! I hope that you can come to a compromise that works for all of you!

Me too. I don't want to have to take her out...she loves going and I enjoy my free time. The money we pay for the preschool could really be used to help pay for bills, but I want a happy kid *lol*

Me too. I don't want to have to take her out...she loves going and I enjoy my free time. The money we pay for the preschool could really be used to help pay for bills, but I want a happy kid *lol*

totally understandable. I can't see forcing them at 4. When I was that little, I've seen the homework my mom saved from those days, adn we did things like coloring and counting froot loops and matching shapes.....not writing!!

oh good luck with it and I hope the teacher can see your views and try to work something out for a compromise. To me I think if they want her to learn certain things that bad then maybe they are the ones that need to work with her and just have you do the easier stuff. does that make more sense, but on the other hand I dont think she needs to be pushed to the point where its not fun and turns into a battle. She doesnt need homework battles at age 4. Even my DS school doesnt send homework home but they work on things in class but if he got behind or misses something they only just send a few sheets home and not a whole entire packet.

sounds good.

Since when did preschool start giving homework? You aren't even req'd to go to school until 1st grade.

This is the response I got back from Megan's teacher...in a letter. She wasn't there when I picked Megan up from school today:

Let me start this letter off with an apology. It was not my intention to make you feel bad the other day during our meeting. As for Megan's homework I understand that she doesn't want to do it and I agree that no child should be forced to do anything to the point where it becomes a battle. But I believed I was doing what you wanted. I thought you wanted her to learn her academic skills at this level. Wanting and having Megan moved into the pre-K class means learning the pre-k level. This includes how to write and doing homework. I am more than willing to give Megan the other homework we had talked about, but as of September she must be doing the homework and academic skills required in the Pre-K classroom. It is no trouble at all for me to do the other packets for Megan. This way it will be fun for her buy she will still be doing some sort of homework. If you have any other questions or concerns feel free to let me know. Thank you.


(They told me they were going to move her to the next class on January 2nd because they thought she was ready....I just figured she moved to the next class because she was older than the kids in the class she was already in...I didn't know any of this other stuff or I probably would have asked for her to stay in the other class.....I never asked for her to be moved to the new class or wanted her to be moved...I was told she was ready and they were going to move her).