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| First Day of Pre-School |
K-dog is five, the wonderland of early childhood is ending, and the structure and order of school age is upon us. The time has come. There is a flurry of open houses and applications and registration deadlines right now. My husband and I are really wondering what will be best for him. Even, what is best for our family?
Because of his birthday, late October, there is first the question of weather he should go to kindergarten again, or onto first grade. We have had the good fortune of a Waldorf Early Child Center that was very close to us. K has loved it, our family has loved it. It has been a nurturing and creative environment. It seems that going into a Waldorf school would be the logical option. Of course, the expense and, for us, a long bus ride and some other negatives that require some thought. As, at least, mediocre parents we have to research some of the other options. This should be easy; my very own mother was a kindergarten teacher for 30 years. I have an “in”. I could make decision matrix coming on; my father was a mathematician. I cannot just leave it to the numbers; my heart is in it.
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| A school loving kid |
Realistically, I am not sure how much it will really matter. K-dog is the child of lots of privilege. He nursed until the, eats organic (mostly), sleeps in a safe warm bed, both of his parents went to college, we read to him at least 30 minuets a day, heck he takes violin lessons. We could send him
to the woods for 4 hours for 5 days a week and I am sure he would learn to read. (Did I mention that was an option?) This really has to weigh on parents who do not have so many choices. School is not just an education. It will make K-dog, and all of us part of a wider community. He will be there most of the day, most of the week. Mostly I want him to love school, as much as I did as a youngster.
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First Day of Kindergarten
What's next? |
We've been talking about all this around our house. Of course, K has been listening. When I dropped him off at school today first thing he told his teacher was, "When I get bigger, I'm going to go to school with lots of desks!" Its coming if I'm ready or not!
How did you decide where to send your child to school?
3 comments:
Oh, this is where we were a year ago! We weighed a play-based integrated curriculum at a progressive private school with a diverse student body and no standardized testing against a homogenous, worksheet and toe-the-line public school 10 minutes from home and opted for the far away private school because we want learning to be a joy. It is. But the hour roundtrip drive has impacted the rhythms of our family life and make community-building a challenge.
Best of luck with your next adventure!
Exactly my debate!
I just realized he's wearing the same backpack in all three pictures. Now I'm all nastalgic and misty.
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