Choosing A School

As a teacher, I feel pretty strongly about education in general. As a mother, well, let's just say I am more than a little concerned about the state of public education. And even more so as the registration for Kindergarten looms. I will admit to having a lot of concerns that stem from the fact that neither of my children had what you would call a healthy introduction into the world. Will that affect their learning? Social skills? Growth? Who knows? Statistically, they're already behind the eight ball and I want to make sure they have every advantage I can give them. Most parents do, right?

Next year, the cuddler will be old enough for Pre-K. There are limited Pre-K programs in my area. Most lean heavily on the "let's play a lot and hope to get something out of it" programming. He'll be attending the same one that Lala has attended this year. It's somewhat academic, but with a lot of flexibility based on the class mentality. This year, they focused on art because the kids loved it. The pictures they are drawing now are pretty advanced for four year olds.

Unfortunately, I don't have enough money to pay for Lala to continue at that school. Kindergarten is a full day program and four times the cost of this year. (also, the cost of Lala's program has doubled this year). She's off to a local public school. A public school that as always faces draconian cuts again. Her class will probably have over 25 students. I'm hoping that there will be at least one aid with the teacher who isn't constantly working with children in need of support, but it's unlikely. I'm hoping that she is assigned to a teacher who is able to keep her interested and focused, while supporting the student who don't speak English, who don't recognize letters, who can't yet count... and have a bladder the size of Texas, because no teacher actually gets a break  during the day as music, art and PE have already been cut.

I worry what will happen next year when the cuddler goes into the Kindergarten. He's a boy's boy. He doesn't sit. When he was first placed with me, I was told he may have developmental issues because he wouldn't sit up for them. I brought him home, set him down on the floor and watched him start crawling around. He didn't sit, because he wanted to explore. What is going to happen to him? In a crowded classroom (weren't designed for large groups of kids) with one teacher and a lot of high need kiddies.

Combine all that anxiety with the conversation I had with a teacher today about how there is NO science education at the elementary level any more because they're so focused on improving reading and math scores... I seriously have to wonder what the hell is going on with education today! And I'm part of it! It feels like someone (the gov't? the vastly weathly? uber-lords of the universe?) wants to be pushing kids with parents who care/have $$ into private schools and leave everyone else to fend for themselves/fight for survival. It's like a reality tv competition... only for the lives of kids. Scary no?