Well, yesterday I attended the open house/tour at our neighborhood elementary school. People have asked me what I thought and my answer is, "I don't know". It is so hard to form an opinion based on a one hour event where they have planned for our visit. We began in the library where the principal told us about the school and how wonderful it is. The school is currently ranked among the best in our district. Most of the teachers (I think 80%) have been there at least 5 years and have Gifted and Talented certifications.
Then we took a tour of the school while our kids stayed in the library to do some crafts. All of the kids were neatly lined up in the hallways. The school was clean with examples of students' work hanging on the wall. The classes we visited were participating in fun activities. The kindergarten classes had been studying rhyming words and had read Green Eggs and Ham so they were ending the week by actually eating green eggs and ham. It has been awhile since I have been in a kindergarten classroom. I had forgotten how busy they are.
One thing I liked is that, for a public elementary school, it is small. There are 4 classes per grade level. In K, 1, 2 and 3 that includes one ESL class. There were no portable buildings. The principal said that enrollment has increased by about 60 kids in the last year and 100 kids in the last 2 years. This was mostly due to graduates of the area moving back and homeowners sending their kids to the school. This has contributed to more parental involvement and a strong PTA. The student body is diverse. From what I could tell it was about 1/3 each of White, African American and Hispanic.
So, it was a good visit. Certainly it did not answer our ultimate question of where our kids will go to school, but now we know what our public school option is like. I really liked Ashley's comment that I could volunteer once or twice a month in the school and that would help me to know what the school is like on a daily basis.
After the tour I went to playgroup where we had a great discussion about schools, specifically the need or trend of sending kids to preschool and mothers day out. Some of our observations were that it seems in our area almost everyone sends their kids to mothers day out or preschool at a young age. If you do not you are really in the minority. I know that friends in other parts of the country do not experience this trend. We were trying to figure out why it is that way here. My guess is that it started because there is a lot of disposable income and emphasis on education. A lot of people do not know how or want to try to educate their own kids so they send them to preschool. Then, over time it became the norm. I include myself in this since I started Katherine at mothers day out at 11 months. For me it was really because I wanted to have a day to get things done. I also knew that Katherine would benefit from the experience. Of course I also want her to learn and be challenged academically but obviously at her age I can do anything they are doing at school.
Last night I was talking with another friend and we talked about how a private Christian school would be great but that it is hard for us to justify the money. We feel like we would be choosing between paying for K-12 education or paying for college. When I think of it like that I realize that a private school may not be the right answer when the kids can get an education for free in public school. Once you go to college, it does not matter if you came from a private or a public school as long as you are prepared for the work. So then the question is how well will each of those options prepare my kids?
Another option that I forgot to mention in my previous post is the idea of a school that meets 2 days a week and then the kids are with mom for school the other 3 days a week. There is one school in our area that does it this way that provides a classical Christian education. Julie also sent me information on the University Model School which is similar but there are none close to us right now. That idea is kind of a best of both worlds between private school and home school. Plus it costs less than a other private schools because they are only there 2 days. The school that is in our area starts at pre-K.
So much to think about. Obviously I have no concrete answers. This is just a collection of my thoughts.
8 comments:
Tom & I began discussing the education options before C was even born. We feel like, for us, the issue is more worldview than academics. Yes, we do want C (& now L) to have a strong academic background but wouldn't choose a school that wouldn't provide that...and also feel that as parents, we would supplement and encourage as necessary. Our bigger concern is that our children receive knowledge that is presented from a Christian worldview. Tom was educated completely in public, secular schools and didn't realize how much his world was tinted by secular, non-Christian lenses until the past few years. Our society is already indoctrinated by so many anti-Christian messages (both subtle and not so subtle). We don't want to have to battle it even more coming from the classroom each day. For this reason, we are definitely looking at Christian school or home school. Because home school may be a top option, we have no intention of putting our kids into a MDO or preschool setting. I feel like C gets plenty of social interaction in his activities - swim, music, playgroup - and in church nursery/Sunday school setting, and I can definitely teach the academic aspect at home at this level. If we choose to go the route of home school, we would do it on a year to year basis and reevaluate each year based on how the kids are doing and if I feel I am handling okay. I know this is long so here's my final comment...I heard a speaker on Christian radio years ago speak on this topic. The person had a large family and approached the school issue in a unique way. They prayed about and evaluated each child as an individual and put them in a school situation based on what they felt each individual child needed academically and spiritually. Each child in their family had different educational experiences - home school, public school, Christian school...and sometimes even all 3 over the course of their schooling career. I have always thought that was a very wise way to approach things. Thanks for sharing your journey in this huge decision. It's always good to be challenged to think and pray about it more
I do not and most likely will not put Hannah in MDO because I feel at this age her greatest need is to be with me. She has her entire life to attend school. If I put her in a MDO program 2-3 days a week, I would not be a stay at home mom. It would essentially be like daycare and therefore I could keep earning an income doing what God called me to do before He blessed me Hannah. We have fun learning and spending precious time together right now. I believe that parents are the best teachers from birth to age three. I might consider one day a week in the future, but would not feel good about more than that.
Again after we talked, I really really wrestle with this. I think more of it is...am I at 35 feeling peer pressure between the different types of education. Ultimately, our budget will be a main factor in the end. I still firmly believe, no matter, where the kids go, it is ultmiately my and Pauls responsibility to influence and teach them spiritual needs, warfare, etc. Something I think my parents did very well, and only realize this at an older age; so they really did a good job b/c I didn't even know it at the time.
Just as another reason...Evan goes to MDO and will go to preschool so that I am able to work part time to supplement our income. MDO for me has been a better option than large daycares. I am not sure at what age I would have started him if I wasn't needing to work.
As for private vs public - I am a product of both. I can tell you that going to a private Christian school until 8th grade did NOT do much to further or begin my faith. My faith was built within my famiy and friends whom I met mostly in high school which was public. I am a fan of private, public and home schooling based on a person's personal decision. At this point Evan will go public because that is the option before us. However even if paying for private school was an option, I am not sure I would choose it - but that is a personal decision as is if you did want to send your child.
Moving from Houston to Dallas I have noticed that there is much more perceived pressure here to send your child to a private, Christian school and a much larger perceived division between the two. In Houston kids at both were friends and hung out, whereas here I sense a stronger division and mucher stronger line being drawn "for" parents. Just an interesting observation.
Wow. This is really interesting to read all of your thoughts, Christy, as well as all of the comments. We all have strong feelings on what's best for our children's education, don't we?! I know that you are a strong enough woman to make the best decision for your children, Christy, based on prayer, thought, and research. You'll figure it out in plenty of time. And although I'm sure you don't want to move your child around from school to school, remember that none of the education decisions you make now are permanent.
One quick comment. My kiddo goes to preschool (he's 3) and did so last year as well. I am still a stay at home mom. 3 hours two mornings a week with one child being away from me does not remove that designation. Don't know why that got my panties in such a wad... but it did.
I went to both as well: public through 6th, then TCA 7th-12th. I wouldn't trade my time at TCA for anything.
That being said, we're going to go public for our boys unless we see reasons to do otherwise.
Our big dilemma will be whether or not to redshirt our summer-birthday boys (delay K by a year).
Lindsay, I am glad I don't have the "redshirt" decision to make. It is a tough one. Both my brother and I are September birthdays so my mom and dad had to decide what to do. I was the oldest in the class. Will skipped a grade and was the youngest. It is a tougher decision for boys.
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