Most of you know that we homeschooled Caleb for kindergarten last year. It was a great year for all of us. He loved learning and John and I really enjoyed being intimately involved in every aspect of his education. It was the right thing for our family. Things started to change a bit in the spring. Life got very chaotic with a little brother who was sick most of the time and a growing desire to be with other kids and go to "regular" school. So, we started looking in to where we could send Caleb to school. We looked at our neighborhood school and decided that would not be a good option for him. Next, I looked into the school near where both John and I work and it seemed to be a viable option. Then, we heard about a small charter school very close to where we used to live. While I was never completely clear on how the whole charter concept works, they were under the umbrella of our local school district, while offering an accelerated, international baccalaureate program and maintaining many of the classes that most schools have had to cut due to money (art, foreign language, PE, music, and leadership).
We wrestled with the idea of not homeschooling anymore. To be completely frank, John struggled more with the idea of sending Caleb to a public school than I did. School in general was not a great experience for him and he is adamant that his son will not go through what he did. We came to a sense of peace, though, after talking through the idea that we are not handing our son's education over to someone else and washing our hands of it, rather we are choosing to allow our child to be taught by others in a setting outside our home that we can still be involved with. That's what made the most sense for our family this year.
So, with all the best in mind, we sent Caleb off for his first day at the charter school and that vision of the great, public school education for this year almost immediately began to unravel. Every thing from minor dress code violations to ansy feet that like to tap while doing work (imagine that!) to testing authority on the playground turned into major drama. My gut was screaming at me from the beginning "GET HIM OUT!!!". But, at the same time, I was confused and frustrated, KNOWING that Caleb is perfectly capable of succeeding at this school but coming up against wall after wall in terms of helping him adjust to a classroom and a VERY long day (bell-to-bell teaching from 7:45 to 3:45). How can this be? How can there be such unwillingness to help my child succeed? What are we supposed to do now???? School has already started! Do we move him? Do we home school again? What now???? Where did this angry, over-tired and generally crabby child come from? What happened to our upbeat, happy boy?
Those were just a few of the questions racing around our heads for 2 weeks. At the end of the second week after an e-mail from his teacher that tore me up, we decided that regardless of what the next step was, we had to take him out. So, we did just that. We then spent Labor Day weekend trying to sort out what to do next. That felt like one of the longest long weekends EVER. There was nothing we could do about it but pray. And that we did. A lot.
That next week, door after door opened up. We have been blessed with the opportunity to put Caleb at Fresno Christian School this year. From the very first person I talked to there, it felt right. I read (just about) every word of their handbook, their education philosophy, went and visited the class and met his teacher and everything else possible to develop a comfort level with the school before we even considered putting Caleb there. At every point along the way, we were affirmed that this was the right place for our son. He spent the day in the the classroom today and loved it! He will officially start on Monday. We could not be happier!
So, why put this all out there? Why share such a painful and tedious process with the world? A couple quick things. First, I have really come to believe that no matter what your educational philosophy, it is our job as parents to evaluate our child's individual needs each year. Just because we homeschooled for one year and then went to a brick and mortar school doesn't mean we will never home school again. It's just going to depend on what is right for each of our children each year. Secondly, my mama gut has never failed me and I should have listened the minute it started screaming to get him out of the charter school. Never again will I ignore my gut. Nope. Not gonna do it. And lastly, even if we made the wrong choice right off the bat, it is still our choice and responsibility as parents to do what is in our child's best interest even if that means changing things up or being unconventional.
Well, there you have it! If you made it all the way though this post, thank you! I truly hope that our story will encourage other's out there who may be struggling with educating their children. Next, it's back to recipes and my home made shenanigans!
