Wordless Wednesday

First Day of School for my sweeties!

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Schooling Mom 201 ~~ Second guessing

This week A and Ren started school.  Next week, you'll learn how their first day went.  Andrea and I are going to post about the first days of school at the same time.  So, onto this post.

Have you ever second guessed everything?  I mean everything? I have.  Several times this week I've second guessed our painfully difficult decision to send A to the local public school.  For a refresher to that subject, click here and here.  Anyway, this has been the first week of school and it went okay.

Why the second guessing then?  Well, as a Mom, I ask questions.  I think this may be because A is my first child to experience school.  I'm NOT used to this.  I'm NOT used to procedures, protocols, and the ways of school.  My first glimmer of a second guess happened when I we started on the first day.  A came home that day complaining about the kids being mean to her, the bus was gross and hot and she didn't get to say her prayer before eating.  Her biggest complaint though.  She didn't get to finish eating her lunch.  Now, she does like to talk.  The obvious question was, did you talk too much or did I pack too much?  She said she didn't talk to anyone because no one would talk to her.  She said she didn't finish because they told her lunch was over and she had to go to recess.  WHAT?!?!  How long do they get to eat?  I've taught my kids to enjoy their food and eat slowly to avoid overfilling themselves.  Yet, I assume they are supposed to eat quickly there.  I will let you know that I haven't ask the school about the a limit yet and this is just the complaint of my 5-year-old.

The second glimmer, or rather large fire burning, happened Wednesday.  It was A's second day of school.  The second time she's ever ridden the bus.  It was also an "early dismissal day" for the district.  That means they dismiss school an hour early.  I'm unsure why though.  She usually gets home around 4:15.  So, at 3 I head to the bus stop (which is literally one house away). 3:15 comes and goes.  Okay, buses run late.  3:30 comes and still no bus.  Alright, now I'm worried.  3:40 gets here and I'm now in full-on panic mode.  I call the school who gives me the number to the bus garage.  I call and it's the wrong number.  Seriously?  So, I quickly run into my house and pull my laptop outside.  I look up the main Welcome Center number and call them.  They transfer me to the bus garage (thankfully!). I  give the person who answered A's school name and bus number.  By now, it's 3:50.  The person then says "Oh yeah, that bus was overcrowded with kids so we had to call another one out to divide the route.  She should be home in the next 20 or so minutes." WHAT?!?!?! I was LIV-ID! The school district didn't think it was too big a concern to attempt to call parents?  They assume we will call them?  I didn't even get an apology.  Just a curt person at the bus garage.  My daughter is 5!  She's scared of the bus enough already, let's just play into that fear.  Thanks.

A did finally get home from school.  At her normal arrival time of 4:15.  A FULL HOUR later than she was supposed to.  I am at a loss for this.  To add insult to injury, the bus was late this morning too.

Yeah, I was about to mortgage our house for tuition to the private school after that fiasco.

So, how was your week?

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This is Andrea here and lets just say next week is a must tune in week. It has been a nightmare of a first few days for Evan. Lets just say homeschooling might be in our future.

Wordless Wednesday

This week, Wordless Wednesday is dedicated to A. 

Today is her last day of school.

Her first year of school.

Pre-school.

I'm sad it's ending.

I cried.

I'm THAT sappy.

I know! 

A has enhanced her love of learning.

She learned about school.

She loves it!

Her teachers were wonderful!

The best.

This Mom knows how special educators are.

You're two of the best!

Thank you John XXIII for a fabulous introduction into school! 

We'll be seeing you in the fall....

 

Why we chose private school

I have a lot of topics that swirl around in my head.  This is one of those topics I wanted to discuss.  Why post about it now?  Well, right now is when you need to start thinking about next year, especially if you want your child to attend a private school.  Now that the "disclaimer" is out-of-the-way, here is our family's personal reasons for choosing private school for our kids.

I'm going to be very honest and tell you we didn't initially set out to put the kids in a private school.  Much the opposite.  We began looking for houses in the spring of 2008 and also began researching preschools for A around the same time.  After purchasing our house, we continued looking for preschools, but on a much smaller scale. 

The city our home is in has quite a large school system.  Many of the schools are great, a few are not.  Location of our home didn't seem to decide which of the schools our kids would attend.  Sadly, our kids were assigned to one of the "not so great" schools in our district.  Neither hubs nor myself were very thrilled with this news.  So, we started looking at our options. 

In Ohio, there is something called Open Enrollment.  Open Enrollment basically means that a school district allows children who live outside of the district to attend their school.  These placements though, are based on space and class size.  This was an option, and still is actually. 

The other option was a parochial school.  There are several right around our neighborhood.  While we are not Catholic, I looked up the local Catholic school and found they had terrific recommendations (trust me I did my homework for all the private schools in our area).  We called and ask for a tour.  Stepping into the school a sense of calm came over me.  Sort of like and "aha, we found it" feeling.  A was more than thrilled with the school.  We were too.

Now, fast forward to today.  A is almost finished with her first year at "her" school.  She loves it.  We love it.  Ren is looking forward to attending there next year! 

Why do we all adore this school?  For a number of reasons.  I'm going to be a dork and list them.  Mainly because it's easier, but I kind of have a thing for lists too ;)

• A sense of community.  Everyone is helpful, kind, they ACTUALLY KNOW YOUR NAME!  They also know your kids names (even the ones NOT in school!)


• The teachers are fabulous!!  How many others can say their child was taught in preschool by a certified teacher with a Master's degree?


• The way they teach.  I know, that sounds silly.  Yes, they are held to the standards of the state, just like any other school.  Yet, how many public schools allow their children to pray before eating?  Or integrate Bible stories into everyday learning?  Ours does.  They even start learning a foreign language in Kindergarten there! 


• This one is a more personal one, but it allows A to understand the Catholic faith more in-depth.  Like I said, we are not Catholic, but hubs family is.  I cannot tell you how thrilled his family was when we told them where the kids were attending school. 


• The size of the school was a huge plus.  The building houses Pre-K through 8th grade.  There are loads of siblings!    


• Uniforms.  I know some people aren't into them, but we are!  I think it helps kids learn when they are all dressed alike.  That's just my opinion though.


• Lastly, parental involvement!  They live it, preach it, ask for it and love it!  They even encourage parents to bring smaller siblings to school when they help.  Just to reinforce the sense of family. 

I know this sounds like an endorsement for parochial school or private school in general.  Let me just reiterate that this is OUR families perspective on school.  There are many great things about public school.  Lots of fabulous public school systems out there.  For us though, Catholic school works.  We are very family focused in our house and the school we chose reflects that focus.  We love it!