Friday, November 21, 2008

Public School?

My daughter informed me the other day that she wants to go to the public school next year. I think she was afraid we were gonna freak out on her or something cause she waited until hubby went off to work. No freaking out! At the end of ever year we give them the option of home school or public school ... they always seem to know that they will learn more at home in less hours then they will at the public schools.

This year ... we'll have to compromise though. After daughter came out saying she wanted to go then son came out saying the same. He's since changed his mind but daughter is still holding firm. We told her we will have to go to the school to see what their learning ... if it isn't up to par with what she will be learning at home then I'm sorry ... she won't be going. I want a better education for her then what the public school systems have to offer and IMO I believe sending either on to school for a less stimulating education is child abuse. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Anyway, I get the feeling that it has more to do with them wanting more friends then what they currently have. I admit it, I've been slacking in the socialization part of home schooling. We used to go tot he youth service center for somputer/PE class but I took them out of it this year after they complained of having no real kids their age last year. Daughter was taking lessons with a buddy but her buddy dropped out ... then their girl scouts ... I let her drop out when she completed brownies but I knew this was her way of getting her friend interaction. Dumb on my part. So I'm rectifying the situation ... I'm looking into a home school group. We have a cover school but it's located all the way in Birmingham so we don't go on field trips or anything like that cause it's a 3 hour drive. I'm also getting them back into the church activities so they will be around kids like them & girl scouts is back on the table. That is if I can ever get someone to contact me. I've contacted 3 different people for information on how to get her back into the program & NO ONE has contacted me yet. I sent the e-mails out on Monday. Doesn't anyone check their e-mails anymore?

Ok, so I vented enough this morning. I'm gonna have to get with the school to see what their curricula is so I know what I'm doing next year with daughter. Son told me this morning that no matter what daughter does ... he's NOT going to the public school unless I have to take a job & he has no choice. If you are in my area & know of any good support groups ... I'm willing to look into it. We need kid interaction.

3 comments:

Estela said...

Trying calling. I find with GS, it's easier to get someone on the phone than to get them to respond to an email. What about afterschool programs? Also.. have you checked to see if the kids can do only certain classes in the public school? Like Art and PE.. Some systems allow that, others don't.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure where you live, but the national girl scouts headquarters is in New York and that is a good place to start, they can direct you to your state headquarters etc. http://www.girlscouts.org/who_we_are/
My youngest did brownies for three years and just went up to Jrs (4th,5th and 6th grades) and she still loves it. The troupe has remained the same (about 10 girls) for this whole time except for the addition and subtraction of a member every year. I LOVE girl scouts, we have had so many opportunities through girl scouts to try things we never would have tried before. Like the zipline when we went to camp! But the best part is the friends of course. Did you know you can start a troupe with just two girls? Or your daughter can become an independant member. My oldest daughter is an independant member so that she can go on all the field trips with us and she likes helping with the younger girls and they love her.

Well what I would do is call the school and ask for a tour, and possibly meet the teachers of the grade your daughter would be in. Make sure she understands what is involved, getting up super early...dealing with not so nice people along with the nice people, and homework in addition to the 6 hours at school. Just go through the motions of showing her the school getting the paperwork and see how she feels at the end of it.

Also when I was working as a spanish translator I audited a spanish class held at Homelink in our district, to brush up on my spanish. The kids there were all homeschooled except for a few special classes their parents wanted help with. There always seemed to be 2 or 3 kids of each age group in the spanish class. Do you have Homelink in your district or something like it? You could just maybe sign her up for a couple of classes.

If its all about the social aspect also try sports at the boys and girls club (my kids do volleyball there in the spring and fall very inexpensive and they also do basketball there) or a local city swim team or soccer team. Dance class, gymnastics, usually all these are held as group sessions.

Estela said...

I'm sure this isn't the first one, but I've awarded you the Marie Antoinette "real people, real blogs" award. Stop on by! Hugs.