Decisions, decisions

Just back from our tour of the parish school. Alex chanted all the way home, "PLEASE don't make me go there. PLEASE don't make me go there." Joe chanted, "PLEASE can I go there? PLEASE can I go there?"

I'm leaning toward Catholic school but still uncertain. They have no gifted program, but the public school gifted program is kind of a joke. (I had that experience myself with gifted programs: too many poorly-thought-out units, dragging on for weeks until something designed to be enriching became something to dread.) There standardized testing is a once-a-year thing, and classroom time is (reportedly) not dedicated to test prep. Standardized tests are given twice yearly in my kids' school, and getting ready for the tests has been the primary focus of their days recently.

There was a mental hurdle for me to overcome in regard to paying tuition for grade school. Why shell out that much money for something you can get for free? But I love the idea of faith integrated with education -- loved seeing the images of the Sacred Heart and the little holy water fonts in every classroom, and the posters with quotes from the Bible next to the posters of the multiplication tables. The classrooms are spacious and full of books. I can see them there.

But Alex does NOT want to go. I could tell that we wouldn't be able to have a productive conversation about it right then, so I just listened. "I shouldn't jump in and argue," I told myself. "I'll just treat the feelings respectfully until the intensity dies down." I said aloud, "So you really feel like public school is the best choice."

In a Faber & Mazlish cartoon, he would have said, "Yeah, that's exactly what I think," or even, "Yes. But I guess we could talk about other possibilities." Instead he said "DUH!"

So much for active listening. I'll keep you posted.

Comments

[Maria]

Yeah I've noticed that in real life my daughter doesn't follow the script from that book very well! Honestly, don't those kids do their research??

[pnuts mama]

haha, our darling nephew is singing the same tune about going to catholic hs in the fall- a school 1 out of 5 kids gets into, a school that is a *college prep* vs. the factory local hs he wants to go to. a school that has top everything, a school he will be challenged and nurtured and paid attention to.

after HOURS of discussion with him last weekend in which my poor husband finally said "forget it! if his friends are more important to him than his future, that's his decision to regret!!" we found out from him that his "girlfriend" (please don't get me started) doesn't like the idea of him going off to this other school. AHAHAHA! so much for his having a say in that decision.

his mother wisely told him he has to try it for a year- then it will be open for re-discussion.

best for you. this is so tough.

[Lauren]

May, I say that circumstances beyond our control caused me to stop homeschooling this year and we hastily had to enroll the kids somewhere. My husband put the kibosh on the public schools and after going up to the neighborhood elementary school to prove he was wrong, I fled from the premices muttering, 'Socialist! Socialists! How dare they insinuate that home education is a poor choice because PARENTS! are educating their children!"

There were several days of muttering after that, but we did enroll them in what has been considered one of the best, most traditional Catholic schools around (and less money than several others, no building fund to pay off).

Here are my 2 main complaints:

1)There is much talk about civil crusaders (fine) and little to no talk about the Saints (wait, what?).
In the stead of the communion of saints it has been replaced with "the Church." I love the Church, but the longer we are there and the longer this trend goes on, the more I wonder if this was a way for a more progressive educator to turn the lives of the Saints aside and put a more nebulous, less personal notion into place. We are talking about children here so, it is not as though simply stating that "The Church" says that "we must give to the poor" is nearly as effective as saying, "Jesus told us that when we do for the poor [or the sick, imprisoned, etc] that we are doing for him. Let me tell how St. Francis followed Jesus by taking care of the poor."
And secondly, there is a ton (why yes, I do mean 2000lbs. No, I never exaggerate. Why do you ask?) of homework. I really wonder why I am paying for my children to have movie day or book and bag (bring a book, a toy, and a pillow in a bag and read all day) when then the teacher sends home all the worksheets (Worksheets! not primary sources or even textbooks) they would have completed that day had the been doing their busy work-- I mean- school work.

Public schools (at least!) will let you be free from the establishment at the end of the day to enrich your child's life as you see fit. No SCRIP, volunteer service hours, mandatory cookie baking, and no or very little homework. Some of this would be fine, but this is not our parish and we are very involved in our parish (thus we do not receive any discounts)..