Copy Books

One of the ways that schools get by more inexpensively here in Argentina than in the US is that - they don't have textbooks, at least not that the schools purchase.  The most common thing is to buy small notebooks (cuadernos) that they call "Copy Books."  They are called that for good reason - the teacher writes the material to be learned on the board and the class copies it down! 

This of course is a struggle if your child does not write anything down!  Then when they go home, there is no text book to look through or study.  If you don't write it down, you don't have it!  Nate has 1 "text book" that he purchased.  Really, it is more of a workbook and covers all of his classes (and I imagine all of Argentina's plan for what a 2nd grade curriculum is) math, language, social & natural sciences, etc.  He also has a couple of homework workbooks.  They are also tied to the curriculum. 

Would it work in the US to not have schools flip the bill for buying all those books & to put it on the students to write it down?  Don't know, but I am sure it would be a lot cheaper.  It might help their writing skills also.

One additional thought - glue is in big demand here.  Why, because if a note needs to be sent home, it is photocopied, passed out to all the students, and they glue it into their notebooks!  This also happens for teaching subjects that have too much material to be written down easily.  So often, there are all sorts of little pictures, maps, images, and short articles that are glued into the notebooks.  Sometimes they are too big to fit, so they have to be folded.  Makes for some funny looking notebooks. 

But, if you are used to it, I guess it just looks normal.  ; )

Good night and God bless -
Paz y amor del Senor -