Have Donut, Sit Down, Read

John started public school this week, in Mr. Dodyk’s first grade class at E.K. Powe Elementary.

This is a bit of an experiment. Last year, we sent John to a private Montessori school. He had a kind and attentive teacher. He was able to learn some advanced math (cubes, square roots, division) and the geography of most of Africa and Asia.  Still, there were other things that didn’t make a lot of sense to me. Why, for example, should a student be allowed to not do what he or she doesn’t want to do? Shouldn’t there be a place for following orders? Even if your child comes from a progressive middle class family?

Seriously, though, there is a lot of difference this year. I could tell when we got our first contact from DPS. It was a robocall – “Beinvenidos a Durham.” It went on to express how well we would like kindergarten.

Parents day seemed ok.  We enter the building and are immediately confronted by a crowded hallway.  All of the teachers are explaining things to the parents in Spanish. Susie and I realize that this is going to be different than Overton or Arrowhead.

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