We have decided as parents that we will not even attempt to put ds in a school that requires children to be robots. If we have no other option, we will home school - not that it is a last resort, we just like our jobs and ds will only have to be in school for 6 hours at the most anyway due to our schedules.
I don't sit still at my job all day! Neither does my husband. We thought about how long we are sitting still and not moving - just sitting listening and being quite. The answer for me = about 15 minutes a day. Even if I am on a conference call I am surfing the net at the same time, in a meeting - I am swirling in my chair, taking notes or talking. I get to go to the bathroom when I feel like it, not on a set schedule. I get to eat when I am hungry and often have snacks at my desk. My husband is an Engineer - so of course he is running around doing cool stuff all day and can only spend so many hours a day writing reports - he would go mad!
Walking, running, multi-tasking, talking amongst coworkers - that is the REAL World! I want my son to LOVE learning - and I refuse to allow school to interfere with that love.
I don't know what I would do if a teacher asked me to weigh my son down with a book bag!
I got into a discussion with another parent who said he 3 year old son needed to learn how to sit down and be quiet. I said "why"? He said, "because he will need to learn how to do it". I said "why"? The only answer he could come up with is that was what he had to do in school, to which I replied "why"? Your son learned to tie his shoes, eat with a spoon, drink from a cup, talk, walk, crawl, laugh, and hug all without sitting down and being quiet - why would that be necessary for him to learn anything else. I then asked him what was the last thing he learned by sitting down and being quiet - he couldn't answer that one! I just can't believe we are doing this to our children. I was talking about this with my husband and we came to the conclusion that there are only two other places with more control - the military and prison!
