Wednesday, March 14, 2012

The One in Which I Torture Myself.

Library Time

I still have that whole education dilemma rattling around in my head. Although, really, violently clanging would be a more accurate description at this point.

When we last left this discussion, Casey was going to turn five, and I was deciding whether to home school or enroll him in Kindergarten. My primary concern was that, with his Fall birthday, he would be almost six when it came time to start public school. And I had no interest in delaying his education until he turned six. Which is why I was considering home school.

So an indecision was made. Which is to say that I decided I wanted to home school Kindergarten when he turned five, then see what happened from there. But then I never actually went out and bought the curriculum, or did anything to formally begin his home schooling.

Except. Well. Education is kind of in my blood. So even though we haven't developed a formal structured schedule of any sort, I've still actually managed to teach him all year. And it turns out, we're pretty well done with Kindergarten and are treading into First Grade territory at this point.

So my quandary now isn't whether to home school, because between him expressing an interest in attending school and me working at home with three other kids, home school just isn't on my radar as something I could handle without completely going batshit crazy.

My current dilemma is whether to put him in Kindergarten with kids his own age and hope he's not bored (and) or an arrogant brat. Or, try to get him accelerated into First Grade. Also. ALSO. Our school zones may be switched up. So, do I start making headway with the administration at our current school only to have all my work be for naught when we end up at a different school, or do I wait (possibly until it's too late) to see where we are ultimately zoned.

By the by, Kindergarten registration is in two weeks.

AND. To add to the madness that is going on in my brain, I was introduced a charter school near our house today. I had written it off, thinking it was brand new and listening to my sister's sage advice about steering clear of recently established charter schools. Until I met a mom on the playground this afternoon (and of course, by playground, I mean McDonald's) who raved about this charter school. Turns out it's actually been around for quite a while, just a brand spanking new building for what appears to be an amazing well established charter school. You know, because I need *another* option to add to my repertoire of impossible decisions to be made.

I filled out an application to submit in the morning. Also, I wrote a letter to administration about my ridiculous problem of accidentally over-educating my child. But, even if they give me all the right and perfect answers, it's still a lottery to get in. And, winning lotteries is not my strong point.

So, basically, may I please have a glass of wine and a padded room? Because making decisions on behalf of other people, you know, more specifically, decisions that will lay the groundwork for the absolute rest of their lives, as in forever and ever AMEN, is epically harder than making decisions about my own.

Which is probably why I am so unbelievably bad at picking baby names and always resort to stealing someone else's.

I need my Mommy.

Wah.


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5 comments:

paula48183 said...

I don't know about Florida, I live in Michigan. Having worked for public, and charter schools here I would say public all the way. (or private if that's an option) there is a lot going on behind the sceens at a charter school that you don't have at a public school. Unless your public school is in a terrible neighborhood or a badly run district which can happen (my friends work for Detroit public and that a hot mess and a whole other story) I recommend public. Most people who love charter schools have children in elementary. Middle and high school have a lot of problems, most people take kids out by middle school . Not sure if this helps. Just giving my opinion :)

Pam (@iwriteinbooks) said...

Ah, sigh, we're doing the same go'round but ours is private v. public. Kai's been at Goddard...our Goddard...basically large scale homeschooling, since he was 18 months old. He's reading. Hes counting. He;s singing and dancing. Our issue is less about overeducation because if it's a good program, there won't be such a thing...he'll always be challenged. OUR problem is that the public school THING is so based on tests and doesn;t allow for enough creativity. We have some really kick butt private schools near us so we'll probably be headed in that direction, sadly (says our bank account that likes being fat and happy...)

TwinMomMichelle said...

So my mom was a pre-school teacher and I have a September birthday. I tested into Kindergarten at age 4 and graduated from high school at age 17. My mom actually asked to hold me back a grade for three years simply because I was emotionally immature. The teachers kept telling her that I was too smart to hold back and that I would eventually catch up in maturity. Pretty sure that never happened. So based on my personal experience, I think it's better to be with the same age kids and then maybe talk to the teacher about supplementing your smarty-pants with more challenging activities.

Krista Neil said...

Sorry I'm for public school as well. I also have a child with a fall birthday, and hate that she will be almost 6, but I got my degree in (public) elementary education, if your teachers do not know how to integrate/challenge all levels they shouldn't be teaching, or you can help them out :) Charter schools the teachers don't even have to be certified! That's not ok. OK so most are, but still. They asked me to teach music at one, and I'm not even certified to do that, come on!

mary hagemann said...

being 6 in kindergarten is an advantage that will keep on giving every year. All 4 of mine are sept and nov. and they are emotionally and physically age appropriate. Think of the leaders they will become being the oldest.

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