Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Neurotic to the nth degree

To elaborate on my last post, our school district isn't bad. It is average. When we first moved here, everyone raved about the school district (which made me really happy). However, when I actually looked up their test scores, the elementary and middle school scored average across the board. Which isn't bad. It is not awesomely great either, but it is not bad. But because I want my kids to get an excellent education, I started looking into some of the private schools in the area. I encountered several problems. First, they are all religious. Second, private schools are not required to give the same tests as public schools, so how do you know which schools have the best academic program? And third, they are all expensive. The first school I looked at listed tuition as $3,000 per year for a Catholic student (which seems reasonable) and $6,000 per year for non-Catholic students (which is just ridiculous). Would it be okay to lie and say that we are Catholic? In addition to this confusion, I have my husband constantly whispering in my ear about home schooling. But as I discussed yesterday, I have my doubts about home schooling too.

I am confused. I have too many options on the table, and I can't seem to eliminate any of them from the running. I guess I have been leaning toward the homeschooling route, because I respect my husband's opinions. And if he is willing to support our family with one income so that I can stay home to teach our children, how can I say no? "Oh honey, I know that I have a degree in teaching and that we can afford for me to stay home to teach the children, but I prefer to let other people do these silly things. Thanks, but I don't want to spend my day teaching our children." I just can't seem to refuse him. We have talked about socialization, and he insists that our kids will not be socially awkward, because they will be active in extra curricular activities and sports. But I have my doubts.

Gah. Okay, I am going to stop thinking about this right now. I am going to give myself a panic attack.

5 comments:

Jen said...

Don't panic! You have time to decide! Plenty of time to work yourself into a tizzy. You could always send them to public school, see how it goes, and if it doesn't work out switch to home schooling, right?

amanda said...

honey you are fine. seriously. you have time. breathe. deep breaths.

although this is coming from me who lost at least a weeks worth of wide awake sleep bc of stressing over silly bday invites.

clearly i am the neurotic one.

Lainey-Paney said...

Hubby has talked to me about homeschooling as well. The thought is completely overwhelming to me.

Just this year, we started Gage in a 2 day a week pre-school. It's religious based---affilliated with the Methodist church. We love it.

Looked at a Catholic school. We're not Catholic, but there were just some fundamental beliefs that I'm not 100% on board with someone putting into my child's head. I can't go that route. I just can't.

We are Christian, and the school that he attends has been great so far.

The private school prices: the one school out here that I just LOVED & wanted him to attend---comes out to about $600 a month for PART TIME! Are you kidding me!? So...not now.

Looking for school rankings? Look at this website: www.greatschools.net & see if some of the ones you are interested in are ranked on there...

As far as private schools go, or homeschooling curriculum---I've HEARD that the Abeka curriculum is usually averaging one year ahead of public schools. I haven't personally researched it, but that's what I've heard.

Is it possible----just possible---that while the kiddos are young, you could try a 2 day a week preK or Mother's Day Out program, and then supplement at home with some homeschooling materials---just to see what you prefer, and what your kiddos prefer?

And---finally (as if this response hasn't been long enough!), have you checked with your public school to see if they have any type of PreK homeschool program? The reason that I ask is because DISD (Dallas ISD) where we live has something called the "Hippy" Program. I can't remember what it stands for, but it's completely free. We are not really the target group for participating, but it's free, and we live in the ISD, so we can participate if we want. The goal of the program is to get parents involved in the learning process with their kids; get them used to doing school work together; and better prepare them for kindergarten. Their target population are the lower socioeconomic families, and primarily the Spanish speaking only families. So anyway---you agree to participate & they give you workbooks, and materials, etc. And did I mention that it's FREE? So far, the data that they have relating to the program (so I've been told) has shown that the kids who participate in the program are better equipped when kindergarten starts.

Okay.......there's my $0.02.
:)
~Laine

Lainey-Paney said...

Oh...another thought that hubby & I have had about private school.
The one we loved (but don't want to pay for), we think would be great for the elementary years. But, it's a very SMALL school. We want Gage to be able to participate in say...organized sports, or band, or whatever he wants to do....the small school is not able to offer that. So...anyway...we just were thinking about him going to one school, and the transitioning into public school...and how would that be? etc. You know---probably the same things you're thinking about!

And there is all this pressure to get it "right" right now, when they're just BABIES!

Clare said...

don't panic, you have a while to decide...just sit on it, talk to more people in your neighborhood, and just see what you gut says!