Comments on: School On My Mind

By: Rachel @ RaJenCreation

Rachel @ RaJenCreation — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:45:46 +0000

@Lisa, HA! YOU can pick my brain anytime! We can have a whole conversation about the madness that is Schools In An Urban Area. Over margaritas. While the little ones play out back.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:45:21 +0000

A play date with Mateo and Harper would be lots of fun. Seeing S&J with an older kid this weekend was really interesting and made me think I need to do more of that. Although, I will try to resist the urge to pick your brain about, umm… everything!

So this post sent me into a bit of a tizzy, but it has been building anyway. I’ve committed to figuring out preschool when S&J turn one. For elementary school, we have always planned on public school. Then last week I learned that kids as young as kindergartners can eat all kinds of junk food from the school cafeteria at lunch time and just debit their account. Are you kidding me? And we wonder why ADHD is an increasing problem. This has, of course, added to my consternation. Have you found good resources for evaluating all of the options out there besides going to all the schools themselves? I’m a little befuddled about where to start to get some solid information.

By: Kate

Kate — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:51:03 +0000

We don’t have kids yet, but I teach at a really large university…I teach both large group lectures as well as small groups of 8-14 students. Don’t know if this is of any help to you, but I can’t tell the difference….this might be because the college-bound kids from any educational setting tend to manage well at university. Most of my students come from secular public schools, but I’ve had some private school, many public Catholic school, and a few homeschooled (one of whom took such delight in making connections between seemingly disparate topics and sharing incredible tidbits of trivia – her classmates were dumbfounded by her, and loved her). So, maybe the key is really knowing the strengths and needs of each of your children and finding the right setting for them.

By: tammom

tammom — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:53:46 +0000

We’ve gone from awesome Montessori & private school schooling to homeschooling to horrid parochial schooling to public schooling – and neither myself nor my husband are completely happy with where we are now – but, the KIDS are, and that’s what fuels our choices. Montessori was wonderful for my 2 older girls, awful for my son (not structured enough). We lived in Utah for 7 years, so our desire to get them into a non-religious private school helped make the private school decision for us (not so many Lutherans in northern Utah). It was FABULOUS, again for my girls, not so for my son. We eventually pulled them all out and homeshcooled them for 9 months. Then, we moved back home to Texas, and enrolled them in a Catholic school – horrid, miserable results. After pulling the son out yet again (and the principal being fired), the girls and I talked and they wanted to go to the local public school. Mind you, my husband has a PhD in education, so whatever we did wasn’t going to make him happy – he wanted to homeschool all of them. Our son – off the charts – 99% on his SAT scores in first grace (he’s in 4th now), but very immature. He does exceptional being homeschooled by his dad because he gets to learn at his pace, with his style and has his dad all to himself for the school day. We live in podunk-ville in the Hill Country, so the school the girls attend is very, very small (20 in a graduating class is doing pretty good) — but, there are positives beyond that huge negative of “teaching to the TAKS test”. First, half of the school population is from a local children’s home (orphanage/foster group home), so they get the diversity that we craved in Utah. Second, they are very close to their teachers – hugs are not banned and they all see their teachers outside of school and have fun with them on a personal basis, which increases their positive attitudes towards the teaching & administrative staff immensely. Finally, they get to be with their local friends – which for girls, is ever-so iimportant. All of them have their own extracurricular activitities that they participate in – Cub scouts, Girl Scouts, art classes, music classes, church classes and cheer squad. Our oldest got the highest scores on the TAKS test in her grade last year, took art classes from a renowned artist during the summer and has just entered high school. Our middle daughter thrives in her music and wants to get involved in sports (though she’s the blondest brunette you’ve ever seen) – and is very close to earning her Bronze award in Girl Scouts. Our youngest daughter was on the A honor roll all year, and received a $200 check from a local community philanthropist for perfect attendance last year….and she’s being quite smug in her membership on her cheer squad team. Our son has learned about rockets and astrology, is currently learning Greek & Latin (his choice) and loves his scouting and church activities. We also host a science club for other homeschool boys that helps them get together and enjoy the sciences with a Professor in the sciences.

Long story short (HA!) – we had to do what we all could live with. It may not be the perfect choice in OUR eyes (as parents), but, we’re not the only ones who should make such a decision. My husband and I were both bored to tears in school, and we don’t want that for our kids. They are all extremely smart (ummm, perhaps two intelligent people should think more about pro-creating when IQs are way above normal), but they have learned to be smart in their own environments, while still being able to enjoy their educations, their friends, their teachers and expand their horizons beyond school. I think it’s more about the all-around education a parent gives a child … more than just school … that makes for success.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:38:05 +0000

We just switched to homeschooling in our home. Our oldest daughter was entering middle school and was terrified. She was getting bullied in elementary school for being artsy and “different”. She loves Shakespeare, draws constantly, and is extremely intelligent and mature. The other kids didn’t get her and she paid for it. Our middle daughter is in 2nd grade now. She’s really smart but has a difficult time learning in the lecture/reading style of teaching. She has some ADHD symptoms and works better in a hands on 1-on-1 environment. Our youngest is just 7 months old and we’ve already started talking about homeschooling her. Our daughters are involved in Shakespeare Acting Classes once a week, Girl Scouts, Soccer, Church, playdates, community service, and time with family and cousins their age. We are a gay couple that is fairly middle of the road. We aren’t hyper conservative religious folk and we aren’t granola “wackos”. We just chose to school our children from home. We have montessori type materials for the 7 month old to learn from as she gets older. She use that method for our 2nd grader as well. It’s important to discuss these things early…so you get you and your partner on the exact same page before all of this jazz starts because once it does it’s like a snowball rolling down a hill FAST!