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<!--Generated by Squarespace Site Server v5.8.0 (http://www.squarespace.com/) on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:58:47 GMT--><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" href="/universal/styles/feed.css"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>Helicopter Mom - www.GoodCityLiving.com - Comments</title><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/</link><description>Behind the scenes look at the life of a family with two kids in two of NYC's best public schools</description><copyright>Copyright 2006- 2008</copyright><language>en-US</language><generator>Squarespace Site Server v5.8.0 (http://www.squarespace.com/)</generator><item><title>nycmama comments on An interview worth reading</title><author>nycmama</author><pubDate>Sun, 10 May 2009 02:10:20 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/an-interview-worth-reading.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/3998859</guid><description><![CDATA[I totally disagree with this article espeically social promotion.  Right now I have a young 6 year old in a class with 8 year olds.  This is totally unacceptable for his social and emotional development.  Not only are they bigger and more mature than he, they are still struggling academically.  Holding kids back is fine as long as his child doesn't have to go to school with them.]]></description></item><item><title>Tammy comments on A new spin for helicopter mom</title><author>Tammy</author><pubDate>Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:12:50 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/a-new-spin-for-helicopter-mom.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/3194000</guid><description><![CDATA[I'm a stay at home mom now, but only because I got very ill a couple of years ago and had extensive surgery.  I worked for 25 years and God only knows we still need the money just to survive.  So I do know and understand both sides.  I have two small children in elementary school. I think it is important to volunteer at the school when possible, but I also think SOME (not all) of the volunteer moms need to get a life and stop &quot;hovering.&quot;  Some of them are only doing it so their children get special privileges over children whose parents work and to make THEMSELVES look good.  Example:  The kids at my daughter's school always get picked for safety patrol captain, get their pictures splattered all over the year book, get opportunities to change their grades and bad behavior is overlooked more than the other children.  Not to mention the one mom I know that volunteers daily also donates money to the school for field trips, parties, low income kids (which is good), and of course she's been volunteer of the year every year for eleven years (why not she funds the school and schools are desperate) but she ONLY does it to make herself look good.  The school has lost most of their volunteers because when she comes in all she does is gossip and boss everyone around including the teachers and most of the other volunteers don't feel it's worth it to put up with her.  TEACHERS have even quit because of her.  She thinks she's the &quot;Queen Bee&quot; of the school, not just her daughter's class! She also does this at her daughter's dance center by making large donations to the director so her daughter can move up in levels, then the dance teachers get mad at the little girl because she can't keep up.  She also sits with the directer and gossips the whole time she's there AND mom's including myself have left because of her. The worse part is that it's effecting her daughter to the point that her daughter will literally cry if something bothers her in the slightest bit or she doesn't get her way.  This &quot;helicopter mom&quot; is hovering so much that her poor child has absolutely NO independence of her own.  I feel sorry for her daughter when she gets into high school!  This mom is destroying this child for her own selfish reasons and there are a lot of moms like this.  Give your CHILD, the teachers and the school some space and get a life!]]></description></item><item><title>MC comments on I spy on my son's class</title><author>MC</author><pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:45:24 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/i-spy-on-my-sons-class.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/1318288</guid><description><![CDATA[Hi Helicopter Mom,<br/>I read (almost) your whole blog.  I related to much of what you said.  I am the parent of a 9th grader at a choice NYC public HS.  My child loves to read and has excellent reading comprehension skills.  My child also has dylexia.  You seem like a caring mom and I wonder if my experience in the (previously unimaginable) world of LD in NYC might be of service to you as you navigate the coming years for Younger Son?  Email me if you think I can help you or YS.]]></description></item><item><title>Helicopter Mom comments on WHO is now reading with you at school?</title><author>Helicopter Mom</author><pubDate>Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:54:09 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/who-is-now-reading-with-you-at-school.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/1125638</guid><description><![CDATA[That is amazing to me, given my younger son's experience. My older son learned with Balanced Literacy too. Two weeks ago when I asked him, he couldn't tell me the difference between a short and long vowel sound yet he is an avid and excellent reader. My two kids have 2 completely different learning styles. Is your child in second grade now? Would you consider participating in my dissertation? I am looking for kids who learned to read without explicit phonics instruction, as well as for kids who needed it. I will then give them a few fun tests that would identify their learning style. Would be fun for your child and valuable for you too since it may make you aware of his learning style, which will most likely effect how he approaches school work in the future. (Both types of styles that I am looking at are totally normal. Neither one is better than the other but each does have its own specific strengths and weaknesses that it would be great for parents--and the kids--to be aware of.) If you're interested, please email me at goodcityliving@aol.com. I hope to hear from you! ]]></description></item><item><title>Another Mom comments on WHO is now reading with you at school?</title><author>Another Mom</author><pubDate>Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:13:27 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/who-is-now-reading-with-you-at-school.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/1124349</guid><description><![CDATA[I'll try to explain what I remember. In nursery school at age 3, they had a letter of the week to write. He liked it at first but then hated it.At age 4 (different school) they only taught one random letter (B maybe?) and asked kids to find things at home that began with that sound. Other than that, they just wrote a lot, made little books, but no formal instruction. About that time, I bought Bob books and started pointing out sounds, and he was interested at first but then just came right out and asked me to stop trying to teach him to read. So I did. Figured he'd rather learn to read in K from teacher and that's what happened. I thought the balanced literacy stuff was kind of dopey when he brought home those little books, but it worked. As for vowel sounds, I don't think there was any explicit instruction for that. Though we did play rhyming games when he was little (cat, mat etc) and we did have plastic letters on the fridge.  I still don't know how or exactly when it really &quot;clicked&quot; for him.  I do know that the summer after K, we hit the library regularly and let him pick books, and he just started inhaling books. I think a big part of it is that they have to be ready - developmentally and emotionally - and then it just clicks. Clicked for my son just before 6th birthday. Seemed about average for the class, but most seemed to be avid readers by the middle of first grade. ]]></description></item><item><title>Helicopter Mom comments on WHO is now reading with you at school?</title><author>Helicopter Mom</author><pubDate>Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:22:31 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/who-is-now-reading-with-you-at-school.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/1124104</guid><description><![CDATA[Hi. Thanks for posting.I'm glad your child did so well with Balanced Literacy. Just curious--how did your child learn the sounds that vowels make? I would love to hear the story of how your child learned to read--from beginning to end if you have the time! Helping all kids learn to read has become a driving passion of mine. I now realize that some kids really need phonics while other kids really hate phonics and are better able to intuit sounds on their own and that both types of kids are perfectly normal kids. In fact, my dissertation is examining what accounts for some kids needing systematic phonics while others do not. (My hypothesis is that this is a matter of two different but equally fine learning styles that appear to manifest themselves in other areas of learning too.) As for Younger Son having trouble with writing, depends on what you mean by trouble. Of course, he couldn't spell most words but his handwriting was good and he loved to write. He would fill up pages and pages with stories that he then sadly, couldn't read, nor could anyone else...]]></description></item><item><title>Another Mom comments on WHO is now reading with you at school?</title><author>Another Mom</author><pubDate>Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:32:03 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/who-is-now-reading-with-you-at-school.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/1119104</guid><description><![CDATA[Hey, I'm new to your blog and glad that your son is now doing well. I remember a similar K parent's meeting about reading instruction, I was mystified and skeptical, but for my child (and most of the other kids) it seemed to work well. Gave them confidence and taught strategies to look for clues in pictures, context.  As I recall, the &quot;phonics&quot; part came in with encouraging them to write in K. I remember teacher advising us to encourage kids to imagine the word they are trying to write as a rubber band that they are stretching, and to listen to each sound and try to guess which letters would make those sounds.  Also was advised not to correct spelling, which was counterintuitive.  But it did seem to work.  By the end of K, my kid was an eager reader. Teacher did explain that learning to write is a big part of learning to read, which had never occured to me before.  Did Younger Son have trouble writing in K and 1st? ]]></description></item><item><title>Helicopter Mom comments on Same question--why more girls than boys?--at Beacon High School</title><author>Helicopter Mom</author><pubDate>Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:51:52 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/same-question-why-more-girls-than-boys-at-beacon-high-school.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/1044002</guid><description><![CDATA[Traditional schools believe that, by the time students graduate, they should have been exposed a certain body of information and they will all be expected to know the same facts. They will be quizzed and tested to make sure they have acquired these facts. Progressive schools believe students learn best by constructing their own knowledge. That means exposing them to a topic and then letting them investigate that topic and learn on their own, generally through lots of hands on activities or self-directed research. Traditional schools tend to cover a lot of information, while progressive schools tend to pick fewer topics and allow students to delve into them deeply. Some private schools (such as Dalton) begin with a progressive approach in the lower school and then switch to a traditional method of teaching in the upper school.]]></description></item><item><title>future kindergarten parent comments on Same question--why more girls than boys?--at Beacon High School</title><author>future kindergarten parent</author><pubDate>Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:30:21 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/same-question-why-more-girls-than-boys-at-beacon-high-school.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/1043966</guid><description><![CDATA[what is a progressive school? we are looking at kindergartens for next year and are hearing that most schools in New York are progressive. what exactly does that mean?]]></description></item><item><title>Mom of 2 high schoolers comments on Why we walked out of the Bard High School Early College open house</title><author>Mom of 2 high schoolers</author><pubDate>Wed, 03 Oct 2007 02:01:31 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/why-we-walked-out-of-the-bard-high-school-early-college-open.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/1021288</guid><description><![CDATA[Your son's reaction to the principal's statement reflects very strong self-esteem. I hope the other boys in that room were as self-aware and resilient as your son. What a stupid thing for an educator to say. He could have at least fine-tuned it a little bit couldn't he have? Like he could have said that in the pool of applicants the school had that year, the girls had higher scores. How ridiculous to state it as fact--girls have higher scores.Has he not noticed the number of boys in Stuyvesant or Bronx Science?]]></description></item><item><title>Helicopter Mom comments on Why we walked out of the Bard High School Early College open house</title><author>Helicopter Mom</author><pubDate>Wed, 03 Oct 2007 01:50:30 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/why-we-walked-out-of-the-bard-high-school-early-college-open.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/1021261</guid><description><![CDATA[I will, I promise. ]]></description></item><item><title>downtown Mom comments on Why we walked out of the Bard High School Early College open house</title><author>downtown Mom</author><pubDate>Tue, 02 Oct 2007 14:13:44 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/why-we-walked-out-of-the-bard-high-school-early-college-open.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/1019279</guid><description><![CDATA[I hope you will continue to describe your family's reactions to the high schools you visit--this is very helpful to those of us who will be looking at high schools in the coming year or two. ]]></description></item><item><title>Helicopter Mom comments on My son’s school thinks there is something wrong with him</title><author>Helicopter Mom</author><pubDate>Tue, 26 Jun 2007 14:57:27 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/my-sons-school-thinks-there-is-something-wrong-with-him.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/884750</guid><description><![CDATA[Hi downtown mom,<br/><br/>I have been thinking about you and wondering how to get in touch with you. I am doing my dissertation on how kids learn to read and their personality type. I would LOVE to have you and your son participate in it. Is that something you and your son would be interested in doing? In return for participating, you'll have full knowledge of your son's personality type and custom tailored homework and studying advice that will help your child do well in school. Would you be willing to give me your email so that I can contact you when the study is ready to go? (Won't be for another month or so) You can email your email to me at GoodCityLiving@aol.com. If you don't want to participate in the study, I totally understand and look forward to continuing to hear from you in your posts here!<br/><br/>Any other parents and kids who would like to participate are welcome too. Just email me your contact info at GoodCityLiving @aol.com. Your responses will be completely confidential.<br/><br/>]]></description></item><item><title>downtown Mom comments on My son’s school thinks there is something wrong with him</title><author>downtown Mom</author><pubDate>Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:54:13 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/my-sons-school-thinks-there-is-something-wrong-with-him.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/884443</guid><description><![CDATA[When my son was in first grade and having trouble reading and writing our school's OT confidentially advised me to get an independent neuropsych evaluation. I've heard from several parents that school evaluations won't &quot;find&quot; dyslexia, for instance, because they don't have a satisfactory way of dealing with it. I know a couple of kids who were diagnosed with dyslexia in an independent evaluation but not the school one. In our case, the independent evaluation didn't find any learning disabilities, and I felt satisfied that it was the final word - whereas after what I'd heard about school evaluations, I probably would have still sought an independent evaluation if he'd gotten an OK from the school.]]></description></item><item><title>Helicopter Mom comments on My son’s school thinks there is something wrong with him</title><author>Helicopter Mom</author><pubDate>Wed, 20 Jun 2007 03:53:39 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.goodcityliving.com/blog-helicopter-mom/my-sons-school-thinks-there-is-something-wrong-with-him.html#comments</link><guid isPermaLink="false">34397:1040270:comment/871723</guid><description><![CDATA[Thanks for the advice. Why do you say the evaluator should not be connected to the school? Do evaluators connected with the school tend to find things wrong with kids or do they tend to NOT find things wrong with kids? Have you experienced something similar with your child?]]></description></item></channel></rss>