Ok so no pictures today, but I promise I will post some next week! Right now I need advice, and opinions on schooling!
We had Mason's open house last night and found out that there may be a large influx of children coming into his school. The class sizes could be as large as 25 or more children, which seems terribly cramped. There are a few issues we have with his school anyway, but things I have been willing to overlook due to the fact that we adore his teacher, we like the ideas of the school, and the class sizes have always been under the DESE guidelines.
I am not against public education, let me just say that first! However, I am very concerned about the issues that will come with larger class sizes, teacher moral, and overall school quality. I have never felt the need to judge a school due to its test scores, because for my part the test can go into the river! A good teacher should not be judged according to some test, if you want to know if the teacher is a good teacher watch him/her in action. Visit the school, talk with the principal, and talk with your student.
Now with all this being said we are at a crossroad! Ryan and I are considering our options for schooling next year they are: change schools in the district, home school, or possibly private school. There are of course pros and cons to each, but I am still unsure which would be the best for our family!
If we go the private school route there are several in town, the biggest draw back for me is the cost! The only other issue I see is the lack of diversity. I do like the idea of a college prep school or a christian school, but again I am not sure.
The homeschooling option is not everyone's favorite idea and to be quite honest I am not sure either. There is tons of resource material out there for homeschooling, and a couple groups here that we could become apart of. I am trying to look at this very carefully because I truly want them to have the very best education possible. However, I am not sure I am capable of giving it to them. I have tried to think realistically about this and I think I could do it, but do I want to??
The nice thing about living here is we have tons of resources and activities that the kids could be involved in regardless of where they go to school. Mason could still be in football, basketball, baseball. There is gymnastics, dance, and even cheer leading for Ryley and Jodie. We have swimming, and music lessons plus a host of other things we could be involved in.
So what do you think? Please don't be shy about opinions, trust me when I say all the advice will be welcome and you will not hurt my feelings in the least. We know that at the end of the day this is God's decision and he will make it clear in time!
Thanks for reading my scattered thoughts!
4 comments:
Two Cents - take it or leave it!
1. Private school cost prohibitive, and not enough added value to justify the expense.
2. Homeschooling - If you're going to do it, MO has some of the best laws for it, and Columbia does have great resources.
However, I sincerely believe that children need to be out in the world - interacting fully with children and other, trusted authrity figures because in the long run it better prepares them for adulthood.
After just one year in our public school, I can't imagine denying my children all of the wonderful things they get in school. Plus, at the end of the day I believe that Mom should be Mom...and that kids not only need, but deserve to have lives of their own that are seperate from us.
3. I don't know how easy/difficult it is to move to a different school, but I believe it's worth looking into! In fact, I'd like to nominate our school as the best in town!
4. Just out of curiosity, you said there 'may be' an influx. Do they not know for sure? I don't think I would worry about it unless and until I had more concrete info.
5. Finally, I've looked back at my class photos as a kid, and I think the quality of the teacher matters a whole heck of a lot more than the class size. If your school has phenomenal teachers, I would be inclined to stick with it.
I'm sure none of this helps, and I know my opinions on the value of a good public education - especially given the very large number of public school teachers (retired and current) that I socialize with - is very well known. So take it all with a grain of salt!
I don't know who KPiep is, but she brings up many good ideas and makes intelligent comments. You already know how I feel, so I won't bore you with added verbage. I will keep you in my prayers and ask for wisdom for you both to make this important decision. Praise God that you have a husband who provides for his family, so that you have other options to consider. Love you all!!!
Stacy,
I have not been down this road. As a matter of fact, Zoe is going to preschool for the first time in a couple weeks and I am debating sending Link as well. That said, on one hand you were a teacher so if you chose to homeschool, you could do it and you could do it well. But what if the girls want to do basketball and baseball and Mason wants to do dance? Okay, okay, seriously, what if you just keep him in public school for now, try the bigger classes and watch to see if he gets left behind. You never know til you try it... I think the Rogersville school classrooms will be big as well so maybe I'll be asking the same thing when Zoe gets there. Good luck!
Hmmm...interesting comments. Right off the bat, I would say NO!!! to homeschooling. I know you love your kids to death, but can you seriously imagine being with all of them, every minute of every day? Now, with you being a teacher (and we both know how extremely intelligent and wonderful teachers are!) you would be totally capable of teaching them from an academic standpoint, but I just think you might get burnt out in the long run. I have a friend from college (Lindsay-don't know if you remember her) who is a teacher, but she and her husband have decided to send both her boys to private school this year. She is paying big bucks for it, but she says after teaching for the last 8 years and seeing the decline of the public education system, that she wants better for her boys. Personally, I say stick with good old public education. It may be extremely flawed in many ways, but what isn't in this day and age? And the best part-it's free! Just my thoughts, but my little ones aren't in school yet, so one day my thoughts may change. Who knows. Like you said, only God.
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