Naturally many people will disagree with me here, and naturally this does not apply to all school districts as there are probably some out there somewhere that offer a fine public education. Our local schools, in my opinion, do not, for myriad reasons. Overall I find today's public education system to be greatly lacking in values. To me, it is more important to be a good person than it is to walk away with straight A's. It's not that I don't think grades are important. I had more 4.0 semesters in both high school and college than not, however it is not the end-all, be-all. I'm sure I did not feel this way when I was the student. After all, as I mentioned previously I am a crazy perfectionist and take great pride in trying to over-achieve. However, with the tables turned now, as a mommy, I would way rather see my children be happy, productive members of society. Do I want them to have good careers? Of course. Do I want them to afford themselves a nice house and the comfort not to struggle to pay the bills? Absolutely. Do I personally believe these things are achieved by pounding a child's young brain with video after video which serve as replacements for real lesson plans; or what about computer classes beginning in Kindergarten? No. I do not believe that these things are beneficial for young children's impressionable developing minds. Period. Is this to say my children never watch TV or movies? No. They do, but in extreme moderation; typically I allow the viewing of one movie per week, or on occasion two or three PBS shows instead of a movie. This limits them to 1-1/2 hours a week. I feel that many parents use the television or video games as the easy way out, instead of engaging their child in more productive and meaningful activity and play. I personally believe that the computer, television, video games, etc. even so-called "learning" ones actually shut our child's brain down...they allow our child to engage in an activity far more passive and imagination-crushing than a toddler, preschooler, or early elementary student should ever have to experience. Watch a child who is mesmerized by a television program or the Wii. They are in a trance-like state. How can that be better than giving them a blank piece of paper and crayons, markers, or paints, and letting their imagination soar to new heights?
I've been searching for several years for an appropriate school for our children. Traditional public education was never really an option for us as I feel it neglects who each INDIVIDUAL child really is. As a mommy I think my children are the two greatest children that ever lived. Please, allow me to be biased here because you know in your heart of hearts that you feel the same way about your children. I feel traditional public education also neglects the parts that are even more important than academics - the social aspects...the learning how to be a good, HAPPY, and productive member of society...to truly be a part of a community. I don't believe a cookie-cutter education is beneficial to anyone, except maybe the bureaucrats who are trying to do what's easy by setting forth guidelines that meet the lowest common denominator of education and ignore virtually all the rest.
This kind of puts parents like me who feel this way in a bit of a conundrum. Homeschooling, Cyber Schooling, Charter Schooling, Private Schooling? And with private schooling will it be at a faith-based school? I worked through these options one-by-one addressing each type. I don't really want to homeschool our children because I want them to be among their peers on a daily basis. I certainly am educated enough to provide them with an education, but I also fear that complacency would set in and they would not provide the same benefits as having an outside teacher would. I am too close to home. I want to be their number one role model, however, they are also so much more comfortable with me that they won't be as inclined to do the work under my direction. For largely the same reasons, adding in that pesky little thing called a computer, which I just find wildly inappropriate for five year olds, Cyber Schooling was out from the get-go.
That left us with charter schooling or a private education. While private education follows much the same academic model as public school, it couples that with a heavy concentration and focus on community and being a good person. Okay, definitely an option, but the absolute least expensive private education you can find is $5,000 per year all-inclusive, per child. I have two kids beginning within the next 14 months, that's $10,000 per year plus gas and lunch money and any other incidentals like class trips that may come arise. I'm a stay-at-home mommy so that's a hefty number to take out of the one salary that supports our family. I am a firm believer that things work out the way they are supposed to, so I forged ahead and registered our son for a private Catholic school not far from us. It was not a decision that I took lightly. I did in-depth research and analysis on half a dozen private schools before settling on this one. Quite honestly, this one was not our first choice, but, for reasons you are soon to learn, it's the one we are forging ahead with for our son.
At the time we registered our son for kindergarten at the aforementioned private school, charter schools were really not on our radar because there are very few of them in our area, and many of them don't really align with what we are looking for in a school overall. None jumped out at us so why waste our time adding something else to the mix. One day a few months ago, still extremely despondent about the school situation, as I walked into our daughter's dance school I saw a pile of bookmarks. The up-facing side was for a kids' consignment sale. Full knowing that I was opening my own children's consignment sale in the coming months (it's open now...please check is out here) I was intrigued to see what the bookmark touted. In addition, I am a marketing guru. My degree is in marketing and I spent many years working in advertising agencies (and still do consulting for one on occasion) so analyzing the logos, the collateral, etc. intrigues me. Anyhow, I digress. I sat down on the couch, put the bookmark on my purse, got my daughter in her ballet slippers and shuffled off into her classroom. When I sat back down I picked it up, quickly read through the first side and then flipped it over.
That is when my world changed forever. Who would guess that the simple act of flipping over a bookmark would change lives forever? That is when I saw the ad for Circle of Seasons, a Charter School coming to our area! As I mentioned earlier, I believe in divine intervention and when I was at my lowest point in the school search this new school surfaced. Immediately upon arriving home I looked up their web site and couldn't believe the luck! I pre-enrolled both of my children that very day and started doing intense research on the school's teaching structure, philosophy, and overall modus operandi. Pure delight! My every sense was filled with nothing but pure delight. I fell in love with Waldorf Schooling/Teaching Methods. They don't believe in multi-media as an integral part of young children's lives; like my own ideology, they focus heavily on creative activities, nature, and the world around us as the way to grow and learn. My kids have never played a video game...and in my opinion are better for it. They play outside, do arts and crafts, and read. When I found Waldorf, it was like a dream come true. I felt like someone took all of my ideals and put them down in an educational model that made sense.
As I mentioned I only learned about it a few months ago but since then I've done fairly extensive reading and am completely enamored with it. I feel it is the answer for my children. I wish it was available this year for my son to start Kindergarten, but alas, that is not in the cards. The school plans to open in August 2013. I did see a Waldorf Connection homeschooling program online. If I thought I could do homeschooling for Kindergarten without my boy feeling really deprived of the going-off-to-Kindergarten experience I'd do it for just this one year, but...he talks about "going to Kindergarten" every single day. He loved leaving home to go to Pre-K so I know he'd miss it immensely. He will be going to our second choice private Catholic school for the following reason. Our first choice is not affiliated with our church. We love our church. We would only leave our church to attend that school if it was our long-term plan. Since we fully intend on sending both children to Circle of Season Waldorf Methods' School, we will send him to our second choice school and retain our membership in the parish that means so much to our family...the parish where our babies were baptized and have attended for their whole lives.
Now our greatest fear is that the school will either not be approved, or our children will not get in. It seems they are going to work to admit most or all of the children who formally enroll because they have a large facility capable of handling multiple Kindergarten and first grade classes. Our deepest desire is to send them both in 2013 - our son to first grade, and our daughter to Kindergarten. I don't think we could offer our children a better, more unique opportunity than a school that recognizes and appreciates them as individuals and focuses on real-life, hands-on learning like art and music appreciation, and utilizes true-to-life examples to demonstrate the lesson plans - be it science or history. It truly seems to me a better way to learn and retain that knowledge for the long-term rather than traditional methods which are often gone the minute the test is over. It is vastly different than a traditional education in that there are no textbooks; the teachers all memorize lesson plans and work with the students rather than lecturing at them with their nose buried in a book. It's much more interactive. Students typically do not have tests or homework. They spend much of the school day doing hands-on activity: planting vegetable gardens, drawing journals that depict what they learned in that day's lesson plan, taking hikes through the woods, etc. I also love that they do not skip subject matter on a daily basis. A child will not hop from math to science to history to reading. They will focus on one subject exclusively for several weeks before moving on to another subject. It's all very hands-on, gentle, child-centered learning that focuses on the community, being a good person, and growing a deep love and appreciation for school. Every child has different needs and every family has unique needs, but for us, this is a dream come true.
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