Everyone involved with a school schedule has probably by now settled into a routine. It always takes a while to get logistics set up for any family involved with a new school year. Our school-age patients are a little short on numbers at the very start and end of each new school year. Once people develop their unique program, it becomes necessary to negotiate, with relative comfort, a successful program for week after week that they can soon relax, exhale, and follow the plan.
At our home, that is a typed daily transport schedule for the 2011-2012 school year. Each child is listed on a daily time roster, who transports who, and to where, and by when. And, with multiple children in multiple schools, the schedule can at first seem hectic and confusing. However, with larger numbers of children, the demand for a clear plan becomes more and more necessary.
With the importance of scheduling, comes the exceptions: doctor’s appointments, orthodontic’s and dentist’s appointments, eye doctors, etc. Schedules are made to be broken, or so it seems. Time outside school can also be educational, as can transport. Hours of education can be added to a child’s education while being transported. Siblings or drivers can quiz each other on spelling, multiplication, tables, etc. Think of it, if just one concept was studied on each trip.
I once told a teacher, who was perturbed with me for taking my child out of school, that I was taking my daughter out of school on an educational outing and I said, “I think education is more important than school.” I would not recommend that comment to anyone, since teachers do operate most effectively with everyone present. My point, however, is if a child must be removed from school, have it be a learning experience. Ask them to report one thing that they learned by questioning their doctor, orthodontist, dentist, eye doctor, etc., about something they may not have learned in school. All professionals have much to offer in terms of education. If you must take off school, then make it an educational outing. Ask good questions. The quality of one’s life is measured by the quality of one’s questions. Ask thoughtful questions and…
Keep smiling!
Dr. James G. Hood
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Dental Care Associates of Spokane Valley, P.S.
Family and Cosmetic Dentistry Welcomes Patients
from Age 2 to 102!
James G. Hood, D.D.S., M.A.
507 North Sullivan Road, Suite A-1
Spokane Valley, WA 99037-8576 USA
Phone: (509) 928-9100 | Fax: (509) 928-0414
Email: drhood@drhood.com
Websites: www.drhood.com
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