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Earlier someone asked me what my "complaint" was. Well, it's that I see the PTSA as a stay-at-home-mom organization, and I feel that the local PTSA is pushing work on parents that we don't have time for.
As mentioned above, there are a ton of paperwork that is coming home, frequently with school-related activities. We'd like to be good parents and supportive of the school, but there is too many "assignments" coming from (mostly from the PTSA) that are either not age appropriate (prizes for reading when our kid can't read right now) or too time consuming (science fair) or not something we support (eat at restaurants, buy overpriced junk).
Since I'm not a volunteer at school, it is very hard to get the appropriate context for which of these activities we are "supposed" to do and which are acceptable to "ignore".
We have to filter out and skip unimportant activities....and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.
Can you explain exactly what motivates the kids to do it? Prizes? Money? Grades? Skipping class?
Science isn't often the kind of thing that kids do for fun, so I'm curious what the motivation is.
Of course kids do science for fun! Kids are naturally curious about the world around them and science is a perfect outlet for that curiosity. I have a daughter who earns her living as a scientist and from an early age she was thrilled with books about science and especially those with hands on experiments. She was and is still is motivated by the pure love of science and an intellectual curiosity about how things work. She was certainly not alone in that as a kid.
You don't even know yet if your kindergartener will be eligible to participate. Wait until you have further information and then maybe ASK your kid if they want to participate instead of assuming there is a problem where none may exist.
Earlier someone asked me what my "complaint" was. Well, it's that I see the PTSA as a stay-at-home-mom organization, and I feel that the local PTSA is pushing work on parents that we don't have time for.
As mentioned above, there are a ton of paperwork that is coming home, frequently with school-related activities. We'd like to be good parents and supportive of the school, but there is too many "assignments" coming from (mostly from the PTSA) that are either not age appropriate (prizes for reading when our kid can't read right now) or too time consuming (science fair) or not something we support (eat at restaurants, buy overpriced junk).
Since I'm not a volunteer at school, it is very hard to get the appropriate context for which of these activities we are "supposed" to do and which are acceptable to "ignore".
We have to filter out and skip unimportant activities....and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.
Given that most parents (even mothers) work now a days your perception is off. The PTSA is a volunteer organization that is offering enrichment activities. You don't need to be a member, volunteer or participate in anything they do. By sending home hand outs and announcement they are inviting you to participate not demanding you do so. If you're overwhelmed and don't care to be involved, just toss the notices in the trash. Honestly, you are WAY off base if you see the PTSA missives as some sort of conspiracy against or indictment of working parents.
Earlier someone asked me what my "complaint" was. Well, it's that I see the PTSA as a stay-at-home-mom organization, and I feel that the local PTSA is pushing work on parents that we don't have time for.
As mentioned above, there are a ton of paperwork that is coming home, frequently with school-related activities. We'd like to be good parents and supportive of the school, but there is too many "assignments" coming from (mostly from the PTSA) that are either not age appropriate (prizes for reading when our kid can't read right now) or too time consuming (science fair) or not something we support (eat at restaurants, buy overpriced junk).
Since I'm not a volunteer at school, it is very hard to get the appropriate context for which of these activities we are "supposed" to do and which are acceptable to "ignore".
We have to filter out and skip unimportant activities....and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now.
I saw the myriad of activities that our PTO (same group, different name) had as a chance for me to have a choice in what I participated in. In no way did I think I had to "do it all" and I was a part-time SAHM and part-time work out of the house mom.
Can you explain exactly what motivates the kids to do it? Prizes? Money? Grades? Skipping class?
Science isn't often the kind of thing that kids do for fun, so I'm curious what the motivation is.
Well, I guess since the Science Fair's been happening every year, the kids see it and want to participate. It's big. It takes up the entire gym with about 250 exhibits (I was on the committee for three years so I know the numbers
Some of the experiments are... tactile. Stuff bubbling, stuff blowing up, stuff floating around -- kids love that. My daughter did something on light, prisms, and rainbows and she learned a lot. We had to guide her a lot -- she was only 8 or 9 at the time -- but she did a lot of the work (unlike her partner who did very little) so she learned a lot about leadership, cooperation, and of course rainbows.
Then there's the presentations. Kids love to stand there and show off their work. It's a sense of achievement. It's also great practice.
It's also a social thing. Kids love to do things in groups, there's a peer pressure and a competitive thing involved, even though our fair doesn't award a "best of" prize.
And, yes, it's an excuse to miss class.
Overall, lots of good stuff about a science fair. Every school should do it, in my opinion. Why not? We need more scientists, and we need more kids thinking about science in the real world, learning how to conduct experiments and write up their results. These are skills they'll have for the rest of their lives.
Just saw a PTA announcement, the PTSA has decided that my kids elementary school s going to do Science Fair this year.
Since my kindergartener can't read at the moment and is still working on sight words, trying to have her do a science fair experiment, data reduction, and analysis sounds like mission impossible. I have not heard anything about the science fair from her teacher.
My experience is that science fairs are part of the school day rather than an ancillary activity. I'm a little surprised that the science fair announcement was made by the PTSA rather than the school.
Is science fair usually run by the PTAs?
Science fairs happen on multiple levels. For kids in late middle school and beyond (6th and above) schools hold fairs, have winners who go on to local (multischool) fairs, which then go on to regional (multi state) which then go on to the national.
Some schools, give children the opportunity to start participating in the school level fair at a younger age so they can get practice. Some schools make participation mandatory (usually in 5th or 6th grade) and those fairs usually take place during the day. All other fairs take place outside of school.
If you do not want to participate feel free not to. It will be fine.
Can you explain exactly what motivates the kids to do it? Prizes? Money? Grades? Skipping class?
Science isn't often the kind of thing that kids do for fun, so I'm curious what the motivation is.
Most kids at fairs because they do "science" for fun. There are quite a few prizes to be had, especially at the junior in high school level but every year over 95% of my seniors compete in multiple fairs despite getting very little out of it in terms of college applications. OTOH the last few years my top seniors have won quite a bit of cash. One got over $6k and another got over $16k.
Many younger kids enjoy the simple act of trying to figure out and experiment with things. If yours isn't into that kind of thing, no worries, different strokes and all of that.
Science is my kids ' favorite subject, and also mine. I'll bet you anything, this won't even apply to kindergartners, and you won't need to worry. I would also bet you that 100% of the requests for time and money are optional. Choose what you can do and ignore the rest.
If you want to make things better, go to a meeting. Suggest one weekly email with all the info instead of lots of emails with one item.
I just contacted the school and heard back. It's open to all students but optional and extra curricular. We'll opt out this year.
I do think that (assuming they pull it off) that it'll be a fun thing for my daughter to go to and see what older kids are doing. I'm pretty sure most of the kids who participate will be 4th or 5th grade.
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