[mommytoEli]

did you choose/ will you choose public school, private school, homeschool? what did you look for when thinking about the best educational environment for your child?

[DPline]

We are lucky to have very good public schools that my children attend. I am definetly not cut out to homeschool. I just don't have the patience. If at some point down the road the public school wasn't working for one of my kids we have a couple of excellent private, Catholic schools we would utilize. (Though lately I have been thinking about boarding school for my 10 year old until he gets past this everything has to involve drama stage!! )

[robandjulie]

I always thought we would homeschool in a sort of un-school way with lots of cool materials that the kids would just learn from as their natural curiousity developed. Lots of "field trips" as a family to learn more about things and reading great books and all that. And for all the "oh my gosh, they need to socialize!" panics from my IL's (almost all public school teachers) I point out that (a) my kids spend plenty of time in church social events and community activities and (b) school does not gaurantee socialization. I know plenty of kids and adults that went to school that are completely socially inept.

Unfortunately, we can't really afford the huge set-up for the homeschool the way we'd want it and we found a wonderful Montessori school nearby that is EXACTLY what we want for our kids; it's essentially a private teaching experience with all hands-on learning and very holistic studies (for example: they learn music and history and science all while studying composers and their influences and lives/wives/diseases/foods). The kids learn looming, bee keeping, knitting, French starting in pre-k, and all kinds of stuff in addition to all the state mandated materials. They don't touch computers or calculators until 4th grade and instead focus on writing, learning real math, and using tables of contents and the index rather than google. There are no tests or grades but a sincere focus on accomplishing each goal completely and mastering each task--not just earning a 70 and saying "good enough what's next". They have work to do, but if they understand it they move on to harder material and if they don't they keep working with their teacher on that material until they master it completely. It's child-led and motivated and sets them up for life-time learners who follow their curiousity rather than just checking off HW from their to-do list and waiting for the next task to be handed to them.

Sorry to go on and on, but to the point of the poll this was EXACTLY what we felt was important for their education. I teach at a college and want to scream at all the students who have been trained to not ask questions but seem to just want information spoon fed to them and who only want to know what will be on the test and what the minimum is to get the A they think they deserve just for signing up. I actually had a student ask me if my tests were "pretty straightforward or the kind you have to think about." This is a good college...it blew my mind. I know there are no guarantees, but I hope this system will inspire my kids to continue being the curious passionate learners they already are rather than squeezing them into the "I only think from 8-3 and then I'm done" learners I see most of the time.

Julie

[becky]

With 5 kids I have done all of the above with the exception of Boarding School...although we did visit one with my 15 year old son at one point...mainly to show him what 'would happen' if he kept up his poor attitude!!

Personally, my favorite has been the religious private school...that's where we are now and it's a great joy to be able to freely express our religion throughout the day. I also like that my children go to school with other families who share the same beliefs, goals, and ideas about how to raise children.

[Mommy K]

My older children attend Catholic school & have since pre-K. They live as Christians everyday.
The class size is very small-15 kids in the class. They have had spanish, keyboard & computer since pre-K too.

[Waiting4Celeste]

Originally Posted by Mommy K

... They live as Christians everyday.

I'm curious what this means.....

[becky]

I am sure Kathy will answer, but since I mentioned that a religious school was my favorite, I will chime in about what this means to me.

In a Christian school everything is taught through a Christian/Biblical worldview. When something happens at school, my children and their teachers discuss it from a Christian/Biblical perspective, they discuss how God would have them handle something and they always pray about it.

Christian behavior is modeled by the teachers and expected of the students.

So as Kathy said...they live as Christian everyday...not just at home, but every day, all day long....and the community in which they learn does the same.

When my older children went to public school you were not allowed to discuss God. Your teachers and adults role models may have been 'good people', but they were never allowed to discuss behaviors or situations from a Biblical or Christian viewpoint. This is not how I raise my children...first and foremost they live their lives as servants of the Lord and every action and decision has to come from that point of view.

For our family it is worth the money and sacrifice of private school so that our children have that environment every day.

[JustBarbara]

Debbie - you made me laugh about boarding school. I went to one at age 11 and loved, loved it!! Seriously, I remember as clear as day my mother having a conversation with me and telling me that 'one of us is going to boarding school' and I immediately jumped in 'can I go'? Middle of five kids I was pretty wild, high-strung so the structure of it and lots of sports/drama clubs/ choirs were good for me. My older sister hated it. Anyway, for DS it will be our local public school system - I'm lucky it is very highly rated and will include a mish-mash of children from all over the world with every kind of religion, different colors etc. and some perhaps with no specific religion. I like that - I am doing my best to raise my son to be a good person, good to others - everyone, generous to those who need help, understanding etc. Even now at daycare he is exposed to Jews, Catholics, Hindus, Protestants, Baptists, Agnostics etc. Personally, I think it's healthy to learn about others not just more of your 'own' kind if you know what I mean. We happen to be Roman Catholic and maybe because I moved around a lot as a youngster and was exposed to a lot of different-than-me folks I thrive on it. But I also respect those who feel differently - it's what makes the world go 'round, yes?

When I would regale kids in this country about my boarding school experiences they were shocked 'were you bad'? Nope, just needed and thrived on structure.

[SKL]

Right now I am leaning toward public school, but I have many misgivings. I have seriously considered homeschooling and religious school. I have a few years yet to decide, so I won't vote. But here are some education characteristics that I find very important:

1) Their time is well-utilized throughout the day.

2) They are not fed too much "humanistic" propoganda at an early age. (Later, I don't mind it so much as I can discuss it with them and help them think through it.)

3) They are not exposed to racism or treated differently because of their skin color or background.

4) The school is adding substantial value, meaning I don't end up effectively home-schooling despite the hours they spend in school.

5) Values are not foreign to the school. I don't mind so much if they are not taught Christian ideas (though I would appreciate that), but I expect the school environment to promote mutual respect and responsibility.

6) There is a reasonable amount of economic diversity in the classroom. Ethnic diversity would be great too, but it wouldn't be a deal breaker if a school met all my other criteria.

[Melina's Mom]

It took us a few months to find the school we wanted, we looked for the highest schools ranked for a catholic education, we are very happy with our choice & my daughter was very nervous starting school so the school let her shadow the kindergarden class this year so she will not be nervous comes September & she loved it she keeps talking about it & can not wait to go.. She loves the teacher.. I never thought sending my child to school would involve so much research but I am glad we did it...

[hml1976]

Add me to the list that LOVED boarding school! I went from 15-18 and it was the greatest gift my parents could have given me.

We are in the middle of heavy family debate between elementary montessori school or public school...we'll see I guess. I have to make a decision in the next few weeks!

[Saya]

Well Anabel is about to turn 3, so we have a while to think about this. But our plan now is to send her to our zoned public school when she gets to Kindergarten/elementary school age. We are really lucky that our zoned school is supposed to be both excellent academically and pretty diverse (I just looked it up - approx 50% Caucasian; 30% Hispanic; 10% African-American; 10% Asian.) BUT I'm just going on it's reputation. When it comes time to finally take a tour and make decisions, it's possible we'll decide that it's not the right place for her and look into other options. Would we look at private school at that time? Well if it felt that were our only good option, but that's not the direction I want to go. She goes part-time to a private pre-school now, and I just don't think our pocketbook could stand it for more then a couple of years. But obviously if there are no other good options we'll do whatever is necessary.

My real fear is for the middle school years, when our zoned school is NOT supposed to be great and there doesn't seem to be that many good options out there. . .

[Mommy K]

Thank you Becky, that is exactly what I meant--that they are exposed to prayer on a daily basis, and are taught to approach life as a follower of Jesus.

[DPline]

Originally Posted by JustBarbara

Debbie - you made me laugh about boarding school. I went to one at age 11 and loved, loved it!! Seriously, I remember as clear as day my mother having a conversation with me and telling me that 'one of us is going to boarding school' and I immediately jumped in 'can I go'?

LOL! My son would HATE it (he is even big on spending the night at Grandpa and Grandma's he is such a homebody) but being sent off to "Swiss boarding school in the Alps" is a long-running joke in our house. It is good to hear that some kids like it. In the US it does tend to make people think you were sent away because you were in trouble! Did you go to boarding school in England?

[humanpitchpipe]

My K-12 Christian School experience was a bit different...
-We would get extra recess if we raised our hands (as in worshipping God) during chapel time
-One time we were not allowed to leave chapel until we spoke in tongues (I made something up)
-The Pastor of the church associated with the school had an affair with the school secretary
-Anyone who could pay tuition was allowed to attend the school (including students who were expelled from the local public schools)
-One student who became pregnant was not allowed to participate in graudation ceremonies because it would "look bad"
-Most of my classes were taught by parents who could not afford to pay their child's tuition and had absolutely no teaching experience, but hey they like to sing so they should be able to teach music.
-I could go on and on...
I kinow that there are good Christian schools out there, but the one I attended was not one of them. Just because it says Christian and you pay tuition does not necessarily mean that the quality of the education and the environment will be any better.