A Perfect Opportunity - Missed

I was talking to my babysitter last night as she was introduced to the Little One and has been H's babysitter since she was 18 months old.  Actually she was one of H's first daycare teachers and thru the years I would consider us friends.   She is a wonderful young lady that I have seen grow and mature into this incredible person.  She put herself thru school and is now a third grade teacher.

Miss A and I always seem to talk about life in general, teaching, work,  and anything that comes to mind. Last night we were discussing ( among other things) our trip to China;  how H did on the trip,  the discussions, based on a 9 year old perspective, her and I had throughout the trip and overall the trip.

Its a shame that the Learning Opportunity for her classmates was completely missed.  H goes to a very small, though public school.  All her teachers, not to mention the school knew she went to China, as we have been talking about it for a year.  The curriculum is now taught towards the standardized test, and teachers are not  allowed to deviate from that.  Fourth grade is the  Texas History  year. ( I am still in wonder that you can fill a whole year with Texas History).

when Miss A and I talked about the learning opportunity that was missed, she and I agreed that it was a teaching moment we wished the teachers would have embraced.
Think about just the obvious things:

• The time difference between China and Central Time.  H and I always did some great math trying to figure out what time it was in  TX, when in China it was......
• Money conversions. The exchange rate was somewhere in the  neighborhood of 6.29.  Every time I went down to the front desk to exchange US dollars,  H would figure out how many Yuan we would get.   When we bought something, she would have to convert it the other way.  
• H climbed the Great Wall.  This is one of the Seven Wonders of the world. It is magnificent, and we were in awe. We have pictures and learned a little history. 
• China as a country. Our guide told us all kinds of facts that really are not found on Google.  Just tidbits from the different regions were visited. 

This is real world experience. I think its a shame that nothing was discussed,  no questions asked of H in school.  H missed two weeks of school, and she will not be penalized,  but at the same time,  I was hoping that someone would have her do a poster with things she learned, or pictures.  When I inquired, the response was, it did not fit into the curriculum.   Really??

H learned so much on this trip, that goes far beyond the multiple choice questions on her test.  Her grandparents live in Europe, and she now figures out for me if its a good time to call,  considering that they are ahead 6 hours.  ( just to name one thing) 

I think its up to us to take these opportunities and make sure that our kids did learn something, and remind them and have them discuss it with you.  Since we love to travel,  there will be many more, and I will do some schooling on my own, because to me real world is much more useful at times that multiple choice.  I think it has its place... but H got much more out of the trip than the two weeks of review in the first two weeks that occur.