When Tony and I decided to start a family I assumed when the time came our child would attend the local public school. It's a wonderful school, highly rated, etc., etc., etc.
But...here's the thing...I don't think it's a good fit for Lily...for us. Um...have I mentioned that I can make simple things difficult???
The school has 6 kindergarten classes. Six!! And...it's full day! I don't want Lily in school full day...not yet. Honestly...not ever!!
The school has a maximum capacity of 660. Their current enrollment is 720...and growing!
As I've mentioned before, Lily is pretty sensory sensitive. In an environment like that Lily will be completely overwhelmed!
I know what you're thinking. Oh no, TJ's going to homeschool Lily!
I'm not going to lie to you, the thought has crossed my mind more than once. If I thought I would be a good homeschooler I might even try it. I just know that teaching isn't my strength. Besides, as much as I love to spend time with Lily I think it's healthy for us to spend some time apart.
You may all now breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Tony and I can also breathe a sigh of relief. We've found a small private Christian school in our area that we think will be a good fit for Lily and our family.
The environment at the school is warm, loving, and nurturing. Current and former families RAVE about their experiences at the school.
There are approximately the same total number of children in grades K - 8 at the private school Lily will attend as there are in the kindergarten program alone at the elementary school!
Then when we learned that there is actually more ethnic diversity at the private school than there is at the public school that sealed the deal for us. Unfortunately, we're not talking about huge percentages of diversity...but it is better than I thought it would be...and better than our neighborhood school.
We have visited Lily's new school several times and we believe Lily will thrive in that environment. Lily is so excited about starting Kindergarten there in the fall...and she gets to wear a uniform!!
Last week Lily went for her Kindergarten Readiness screening. We received the screening results back and the comments were quite lovely. It came as no surprise to us that Lily is more than ready for kindergarten.
Now, if we can just get Mommy ready!
1 comment:
Ah, TJ, you bring back so many memories for me. Our public school system, unfortunately, was in terrible shape when my sons were ready to start school. And Geoff's one year of half-day Kindergarten at our parish school turned out to be a repeat of all the skills he had already attained in the two years he spent in our local Lutheran pre-school. So, when it came time to place Jeremy in Kindergarten, we placed both boys in the Lutheran school. With rare exceptions, it was a warm and loving environment in which Christian values were taught to the kids as well as their ABCs. You can imagine how popular I was in my parish when I put my kids in their competition's school instead of the Catholic school! But we have to do what is right for our kids and, at the time, I thought the Lutheran school was the best for my boys. In retrospect, I think my boys would have benefited from the more disciplined atmosphere at the Catholic school, and Jeremy might have received better assistance for his learning challenges in the public school. Still, overall, I think we made the best decision we could at the time. And that's all you and Tony can do for Lily. You're not making a simple thing difficult - making life-shaping choices for our kids IS difficult. And I think you're doing great! Cousin Eileen
Post a Comment