Back to school costs

Fourier

LexieOnRale wrote: »

I think interacting with kids their own age instead of being indulged at home picking and choosing what aspects of life they want to avoid is important to grow as a well rounded person

How does this relate to homeschooling in general though? A child can be home schooled without being indulged or being allowed "avoid" aspects of life.

freshpopcorn

Fourier wrote: »

How does this relate to homeschooling in general though? A child can be home schooled without being indulged or being allowed "avoid" aspects of life.

If you ever watch parents talk about home schooling they always talk about being able to build the day around the kid which wouldn't happen in a normal school.

Fourier

freshpopcorn wrote: »

If you ever watch parents talk about home schooling they always talk about being able to build the day around the kid which wouldn't happen in a normal school.

In other words, they have an individualised study plan. To me this is not avoiding aspects of life, as generic one size fits all learning methods aren't "character building" in any sense, just an inefficient compromise.

Fourier

anna080 wrote: »

Cockapoo. Sure you could be teaching your kid any old sh!te at home.

Of course something done badly will be a poor choice. However for educated motivated parents, I don't see why homeschooling is a bad choice.

suicide_circus

iPad use goes up.

Leaving cert points go up.

Irish university rankings go down.


Hmmmmmmm

.......

This post has been deleted.

freshpopcorn

....... wrote: »

What happens if you say "sorry, cant buy the ipad - cant afford it".

Will your child be discriminated against?

What happens of you send your kid to school wothout books/supplies?
It's generally in the code of conduct that you need to have school supplies.

.......

This post has been deleted.

meeeeh

Fourier wrote: »

Of course something done badly will be a poor choice. However for educated motivated parents, I don't see why homeschooling is a bad choice.

You also need motivated kids. Lazy students like me benefit from external pressure. Although it would be tempting to avoid 6 years of physics and chemistry and replace them with art, history and sociology.

Corkgirl18

Fourier wrote: »

Of course something done badly will be a poor choice. However for educated motivated parents, I don't see why homeschooling is a bad choice.

For Primary School I can understand it.
For Secondary School I don't see how most parents would have the ability to teach LC HL Maths, Physics, Accounting and French for example. I would worry the kids would be restricted in their choices. If the parents can afford tutors for all their subjects then fair play to them!
Also, knowing subject matter well doesn't mean someone will teach it well.

Fourier

Corkgirl18 wrote: »

For Primary School I can understand it.
For Secondary School I don't see how most parents would have the ability to teach LC HL Maths, Physics, Accounting and French for example.

True, I think most would not be capable of the Leaving Cert curriculum.

Corkgirl18 wrote: »

Also, knowing subject matter well doesn't mean someone will teach it well.

True, but the same applies to teachers in schools.

Dinarius

Ger Roe wrote: »

No mistake.....

In the school that I am dealing with, they have now decided that you need downloaded Ebooks and also hard copies - apparently this decision was reached following feedback received from parents. I was never asked my opinion - presumably because I dared to ask a few hard questions at the very start of the process that they weren't ready to hear.

The Ebooks are issued on a time restricted licence and can not be passed on.

You can't download the books outside of the school portal and since they are interactive apps, they would be of restricted use as simple text formats. However, no one can tell me of any reports that produced conclusions on the effectiveness of the apps in the Irish educational system - what quality are they, what benefit do they actually produce?

All in all, the commercial aspect of this whole process is a scam where normal market forces for keeping costs down have been nobbled by setting up monopolistic arrangements with the equipment supply/training/maintenance company 'partnered' with the schools.

This is a costly ad hoc technology experiment being undertaken by certain schools and implemented at their own discretion, while being paid for by parents.

Thanks for confirming this.

How it hasn't had an airing on Joe Duffy (or the like) is surprising, to say the least.

This really does seems like a scam.

D.

Ps. I'm presume Kindle isn't a work round?

Ger Roe

Dinarius wrote: »

Thanks for confirming this.

How it hasn't had an airing on Joe Duffy (or the like) is surprising, to say the least.

This really does seems like a scam.

D.

Ps. I'm presume Kindle isn't a work round?

Regarding the Kindle - the school, on the specification of their appointed partner, does not offer an access device option other that an Ipad. Last year you could at least provide your own - providing it was a latest version device, but this year you have to buy from the appointed partner - to ensure compatibility and reliability .... apparently.

Regarding opt out - parents are told that you can opt out and use books, but you then introduce inequality issues for your child. I was actually told that in instances where there was additional course content being presented through the Ipad in class, there would be no problem with my child looking over another pupil's shoulder.

This advice came from a school that has a long standing standard uniform policy introduced so as to reduce the risk of differential discrimination among pupils.

No parent wants to put their child at risk of disadvantage or point of discrimination and so the process goes largely unchallenged.

.......

This post has been deleted.

nice_guy80

home schooling is allowed even if the parents have a very poor level of education

I know this as children have been removed from our school in the past

uniforms save parents money as the children don't destroy their own clothes
parents need to save for costs
thats what child benefit is for

grogi

Ubbquittious wrote: »

Are the €1,000+ cost per child of sending them back to school genuine or is everyone just trying to outdo each other?

It's time for our oldest one to go to school. We constantly ask myself "if it costs €1000 to send them to school, what did we forget about"?!

jeonahr

€80 for a school jacket, €70 for a skirt, €50 for a pack of 2 blouses (specifically for the school uniform so using different ones are out of question because they come with a patterned stripes) x 2, €70 for the crested school jumper and this isn't including the mandatory tracksuit which also has ridiculous prices. Include books which are €30-€60 for 12 subjects, some of which are to be replaced every year for 1st year, 2nd year and 3rd year versions.

Personally the cost at the start of 1st year of secondary school was insane. Nevermind the €700 for school expenses at the start of the year.

Ger Roe

....... wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Because, as explained that puts your child at a point of disadvantage and potential discrimination.

This is a parental issue to solve , not one for children to be used as pawns in a argument over school policy. Schools should not be putting their pupils in such a situation in the first place. Uniforms were introduced in most schools to avoid disadvantage and discrimination (at least that is the main argument put forward), insisting on using Ipads has far more potential to highlight those aspects

paulgrall

Have had a load of 2nd hand books for sale on adverts and schooldays for over a month and very few seem to be looking. Had a look at other school book ads and it looks like there is very little interest out there for 2nd hand school books. Makes you wonder. I've a daughter going into 5th year and have got nearly all books off adverts in good condition and great value compared to shop prices.

circadian

The idea that a school requires you to fork out around €800 for an iPad that is locked down is insane. They should be leased from the MSP and it would be preferable if the school was willing to foot at least some of the cost since they're enforcing the policy.

I don't pay my employer for a laptop that they administer, why should I buy any device that a third party administers and locks down?

GritBiscuit

paulgrall wrote: »

Have had a load of 2nd hand books for sale on adverts and schooldays for over a month and very few seem to be looking...

Obviously I can't speak for any other school but one of my kids heads to high school next week and of the 15 or so books on his list - ranging from a whopping 18-30 euro a pop, 9 of them are 2017 editions....so as much as I'd love to get all second hand books, it's not what I'm being told by the school he needs to have.

For the poster who suggested having my kid go in wearing lidl's best - that's all well and good if you are in a catchment and it is mandatory to attend that particular school but it's just not an option for schools that are oversubscribed and can afford to offer places based on agreement that their rules and regs are followed. Uniform - all crested, jumpers, blazer, sports gear, you name it all in specific school colours and most choose to keep anything in a reasonable condition for people they know or their own younger kids so precious little going second hand in that dept. I'm at 900 euro and counting and I've still got stationary and other odds and ends to get....still I'm getting off lucky compared to some other parents I know with their ipads at 800 or so before they start with uniform and stationary, parental contributions and all the rest. You have to save in advance knowing secondary is going to be that expensive, I don't see what other options there are. It's a semi-private education system here by any other name.