AllieBaba
Rookie
- Oct 2, 2007
- 33,778
- 3,927
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- Banned
- #21
I think the transportation should be provided by the parents if they send their kids to a school outside of their district. But they should still be allowed to do so if they want.
Head Start works like this...there are income limits, but they are generous. They have certain "slots" for certain criteria. For example, they have so many "slots" for children who are above the income limit, they have so many slots for disabled children, etc.
My kids went to head start, with my daughter going the first year on the reservation, an absolutely wonderful program. It was 5 days a week, from 8 until 4 p.m., and except for the continual lice issue there was very little about it I would change. The elders were housed in the same building and the children were able to visit with them and have language lessons with them, and story time, and they had tribal members come in and teach them to dance and play traditional games; we went root digging in the spring and had the root feast, and various and assorted give aways and cultural events. My daughter learned to spell her name by the time she was 4, and to count and the letters of the alphabet, as well as learning some things about her culture, communication, and manners. The food was wonderful...so many kids have never sat at a table before and eaten family style, so that in and of itself was worthwhile. When she first started, I believe we were over the income level and lived off the reservation, but because she was Indian and all her cousins and brothers had attended they were able to move her into one of the alternative slots.
This year we moved to a different community, and the head start can't even begin to compare. It only operates 4 days a week, from 8 until noon, and there are none of the cultural or even intense learning aspects of the tribal head start. The kids enjoyed it, but the learning curve was much slower (though they did both learn) and there weren't so many really enriching activities....
Head Start works like this...there are income limits, but they are generous. They have certain "slots" for certain criteria. For example, they have so many "slots" for children who are above the income limit, they have so many slots for disabled children, etc.
My kids went to head start, with my daughter going the first year on the reservation, an absolutely wonderful program. It was 5 days a week, from 8 until 4 p.m., and except for the continual lice issue there was very little about it I would change. The elders were housed in the same building and the children were able to visit with them and have language lessons with them, and story time, and they had tribal members come in and teach them to dance and play traditional games; we went root digging in the spring and had the root feast, and various and assorted give aways and cultural events. My daughter learned to spell her name by the time she was 4, and to count and the letters of the alphabet, as well as learning some things about her culture, communication, and manners. The food was wonderful...so many kids have never sat at a table before and eaten family style, so that in and of itself was worthwhile. When she first started, I believe we were over the income level and lived off the reservation, but because she was Indian and all her cousins and brothers had attended they were able to move her into one of the alternative slots.
This year we moved to a different community, and the head start can't even begin to compare. It only operates 4 days a week, from 8 until noon, and there are none of the cultural or even intense learning aspects of the tribal head start. The kids enjoyed it, but the learning curve was much slower (though they did both learn) and there weren't so many really enriching activities....