Living in Hawaii

[mrjimboalaska]

Curious,
While you mentioned having children in Public school, you did not mention the quality of education.....
My son was learning fractions to the 1/8's in kindergarten in Alaska. They were touching on multiplication......
Never touched fractions in 1st grade here, never touched multiplication...
Now he is in 2nd grade.....still adding single digits...8+8.....have not touch multiplying and dividing in school.......way behind MOST mainland schools
Now, I have him adding and subtracting 4 digit numbers, we have been doing multiplication and I have introduced division AT HOME
I compare the schools to Idaho(1 sister/1 brother there) Georgia(1 sister there) California(1 brother there)
Short school hours and a strong school union is all I see, and hear tell that we are lucky that Hickam Elementary is on base, 50 out of 50....bottom of the barrel..
But as I said, I do love Oahu, the cultural seen, BUT, they FAIL taking care of the children..........
And, it would be even worse except that the schools have made ground since the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND has been implemented(against union wishes)
Am I wrong here?

 

[Cacia]

yes. I think it might depend on the district too.

Local people have long seen the need for private education and that is why Hawaii has the highest percentage of school children attending private schools. You people who think you are entitled to a quality education (I AGREE) just haven't come to the conclusion much of the population here has..You really need to tutor or find time to partial homeschool to stay competitive. It is sad....The part that galls me is no AC out in Ewa beach and places where we don't ask anyone to function or work without ac. The wind blows through the classrooms and you cannot lay papers down. Really shameful.

My advice is to try and find a high school student your child respects and admires and have them tutor. They don't require as much pay (they may be happy with a fraction of what a teacher would charge) I find they are even more effective to be honest. It is tough and you have to get creative. Get together with other parents and share a high school student tutor.

I have one very capable student and one in the slow lane, so my situation is a bit unusual. The one at Punahou runs her entire life already.

 

[ch0ppersrule]

Curious,
While you mentioned having children in Public school, you did not mention the quality of education....
And, it would be even worse except that the schools have made ground since the NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND has been implemented(against union wishes)
Am I wrong here?

My daughter also went to Hickam Elementary and now attends Aliamanu Middle (8th grade). Believe it or not, they still get recess in middle school. The teachers are not on a strict or required schedule or curriculm here. So far in Social Studies (all of 7th grade and this part of 8th) she has learned the hardships the Hawaiians have had with the Americans stealing their land and taking the good jobs. They only teach Hawaiian history in 7th grade. She got to learn the impact WWII had on the hawaiian islands. She learned NOTHING about Hitler or any other country. So far WWII has no impact on anybody but Hawaii. Gotta love it. Her first project due this year was on the first 10 Amendments and to pick out stories on people who had their Rights violated by the US Government. This is her only project she will do on this. I will have her pulled out of that class and have the Board of Education look into this. She is in 8th grade and should learn about world history not what the government is doing wrong. That is high school or college debate stuff. She didn't have to find any stories where peoples rights were violated by anybody else, just the government. When we left NM , she was ending 1st grade, she was doing multiplication and writing in cursive. Here in Hawaii she didn't start multiplying until the middle of 5th grade into 6th grade. They still haven't taught cursive to anyone yet. We have her do extra work at home so she won't be the 2-3 years behind when we leave this coming spring.

Catherine- when we first moved here we were told Haole means: white person/visitor. The few Hawaiian friends I have also say it means white person. Whether it was intended to be meant as something else, the "people of Hawaii" have since changed the meaning. If I am called haole - oh well, but when the f word comes before it is meant in a deragatory way.

 

[mrjimboalaska]

Chopper,
While I don't see a problem with state history (I actually want my kids to learn about the history of the polynesians) What you mention brings to mind a poly Sci
Professor I had in college. VERY Liberal, and no matter what facts you documented, if you wrote a middle of the ground or to the right paper, you failed....period. They teach anti-americanism in college these days......
I run around a lot on the Island and have never YET ran into any prejudice, I guess that I am lucky.
I do a lot of reading and Math with my son and am starting with my little girl, but in the course of volunteering at school find the children that are ahead of the class, tend to disrupt the class...
We as a community and a country pay mucho tax dollars for education, demanding that the money is put to use properly is our JOB and RESPONCIBILITY.....I can't afford to send my young kids to private school and then also send them to college. I'm hoping that I can send them to college and buy their first house instead.

 

[ch0ppersrule]

Chopper,
While I don't see a problem with state history (I actually want my kids to learn about the history of the polynesians) What you mention brings to mind a poly Sci
Professor I had in college. VERY Liberal, and no matter what facts you documented, if you wrote a middle of the ground or to the right paper, you failed....period. They teach anti-americanism in college these days......
I run around a lot on the Island and have never YET ran into any prejudice, I guess that I am lucky.
I do a lot of reading and Math with my son and am starting with my little girl, but in the course of volunteering at school find the children that are ahead of the class, tend to disrupt the class...
We as a community and a country pay mucho tax dollars for education, demanding that the money is put to use properly is our JOB and RESPONCIBILITY.....I can't afford to send my young kids to private school and then also send them to college. I'm hoping that I can send them to college and buy their first house instead.

Yea, I don't have a problem with them learning the states History, but I do have a problem with them continuously telling the kids how bad the Americans are for stealing their land. That is not appropriate teachings for this grade. Like I said- it is late high school or college material. Also with the WWII only involving the hardships the Islands endured. My daughter didn't even know who Hitler was until we told her about WWII. Her teacher argued about where my husband was TDY to. He told my daughter that her dad was not in that country and she didn't know what she was talking about. She kept telling him that he was there then the teacher told her to shut up and sit down if she couldn't tell the truth. I just want to her learn more of history than opinions. She does get bored in class because most of the stuff she is doing now she did in 3-5th grade back on the mainland. Pretty sad. I unfortunately don't have the patience to do homeschooling. My neighbor told us that our daughter will never get an "A" in social studies because the teacher refuses to give anyone an "A". Can't wait for the report cards to come out. Depending on her grade I will argue my case to him if I have to. I will also bring in the principal and/or the Board of Education if needed. I was told she will be lucky to get a "C". I'll let ya know how that goes. Gotta get back to work.

 

[Robert Ray]

My wife and I will arrive wed nite. We'll be at the ALA MOANA .I'll be meeting folks thur and fri off and on and want to do at least one boat dive that's on that side of the is;and, also are there any easy access beach diving.

Second topic, I'll be coming out first the end of Nov. and my wife/kids later, to conserve money so will share rent/room with someone, do you guys there have any connections with folks that have space ect. ?

 

[justleesa]

On a good day (traffic) you are less than 10 minutes away from the harbor

Check the link to the honolulu advertiser - always stuff in there.

Give a hollar when you get here!