The Rural Voice, 1981-07, Page 31THE RURAL FAMILY
Your child's report card
BY GISELE IRELAND
This is the time of year when
scholastic achievement is awarded your
children in the form of a report card.
Whether the child hands this important
document to you with a mile -wide grin, or
reluctantly withdraws a crumpled mess of
paper from the bottom of a bag. could
hinge on your attitude throughout the
school year.
Most schools allow parents to interview
teachers at certain times during the year
to discuss a child's progress and prob-
lems in school. A failing report card in
June is an accumulation of difficulties
that were also evident at Christmas
report time. Attending the interviews
gives the parent a chance to work on the
child's weaker areas.
Ron Hill, principal at Hillcrest Central
School in Teeswater. says he can tell you
in September which parents will not
attend any functions in the school dealing
with the scholastic development of their
child. Can such a parent realistically be
disappointed by below average achieve-
ments?
Bruce County schools have several
programs to help the child with a learning
disability. Some children just need extra
help in reading and math comprehension.
They have a chance to catch up in a lot of
cases if both the parents and teachers
work together. Bruce County schools
send home a schedule of exams corning
up, along with instructions for preparing
at home. How many parents take the time
to read this notice?
•rhe environment for study that the
child has at home is a contributing factor
to his or her marks. No one can give 100
per cent to the subject at hand if there is a
constant flurry of activity going on
around. A quiet place, well equipped for
the student's needs is essential.
Proper rest and nutrition play a large
role in the scholastic development of your
child. It has been proven that a late riser
who skips breakfast and hits the bus on
the run will not be as alert as the
organized child who rises in time to have
proper nourishment and collect himself
and his belongings before the bus pulls to
the gate. This means definite hours of
rest have to be enforced on school nights.
This is the job of the parent, not the child.
A few parents are called in after the
March break mainly because their son or
daughter has been involved heavily in
hockey over the winter months, and as a
result has slipping grades. Hockey is a
physically demanding sport which could
easily find the student sleepy in class if
the schedule is hectic. These problems
are easily corrected with extra work on
the parents' and student's part. A
marked difference is often noted at the
end of the year once the winter sports
season is over.
The home environment plays a vital
part in the development of the student.
Are the children encouraged to turn the
television off, and pick up a book?
Children are offered a good variety of
reading material both at school and
public libraries. Students should be
encouraged to read the daily newspaper
and be interested in the news from
around the world and in their own
community. It is a world they will have to
enter to make their living in after they
leave the halls of the learning institu-
tions.
In short, the school is a place where the
child learns about himself and the world
he lives in. At home, the teaching
function should not cease, but continue.
If we fail to give this support to the
student while in the formative learning
years, we as parents have little cause for
disappointment at a less than perfect
report card. That report reflects, in a lot
of cases, our attitude towards the
learning process.
Farm accidents kill 50
Farm accidents claimed the lives of 50
people in 1980 and farm machinery was
once again the biggest culprit says the
Farm Safety Association of Ontario's
annual fatality report.
Also, once again last year, tractor
rollovers caused more deaths than any
other type of accident. Rollovers caused
28 of the 50 fatal accidents.
On the sidehill, operators
often steer uphill when the tractor starts
to roll. They should be steering downhill
to counterbalance the roll -steering uphill
just makes the tractor roll faster.
A tractor can roll over backwards in 1.5
seconds after the front wheels leave the
ground unless the operator hits the clutch
or brakes. Backward rolls are usually
caused by hitching equipment too high on
the tractor or by popping the clutch.
HOW IT WORKS;
20" disc. blades, mounted on individual pivots, are
rotated by hydraulic motors to cut bean plants off
below ground surface. Each pivot -mounted section
rests on two depth wheels. Two or three windrows
are produced, depending on the number of blades.
The Smyth Bean Cutter can be mounted on the front
or on the rear of a tractor. This compact machine is
not bothered by mud or trash.
Canada's first rotary bean cutter is a product of
the George Smyth Welding and Machine Shop.
THE FIRST NEW IDEA IN BEAN
PULLING IN 70 YEARS
SMYTH
Welding and
Machine Shop
RR 2, Auburn, Ontario (519) 529-7212
THE RURAL VOICE/JULY 1981 PG. 2y