What are you planning to do about school? - Page 2

[monpetitfils]

I think a good public school is great if ds does well in it. By that I mean not all kids learn the same way. I did fine in public school, actually more than fine, but I grew up in a town with an excellent public school system and was always a high achiever. Middle school years are tough wherever you are. I am convinced it's just the age -- you know, major hormones, social awareness/cliques, puberty, acne.. all that yukky stuff! :LOL My mother was terribly disppointed in the public school system during the middle school years so she yanked my brother and I out and sent us to private school. I chose the Catholic HS that my cousins went to and hated it. They were obsessed with discipline and I found it to be far less academically challenging than the public school I had come from. My brother went to the swank - costs as much as private college tuition -- private school and it just seemed that although the kids were generally more intelligent and the teachers more dedicated and creative, the student also had more money for drugs and bigger houses to have parties in. So, we both ended up back in the public schools in the honors programs and went on to good private colleges.

I am in graduate school for teaching right now. I am thinking I will start ds out in public school and if it doesn't work for him, I will try and take a job at a private school and see if he can go there too for free or reduced tuition. Some of the specialized schools around here (e.g. the Montessori with the best reputation in the area) will send teachers to a special Montessori program so they can teach there. I have already called about it. So maybe that's an option?

ANother thing, I will try and teach ds to read before school (if possible) or in a supplemental manner if he isn't ready until school age, using the whole language method. I think a love of reading is the bedrock for a solid education and that phonics alone cannot accomplish that.

[PM]

The thing about homeschooling/unschooling is that I'm going to need to keep Iris up on 3 languages. English OK. But I can't (even if I had lived in France for 10 years) teach Iris proper French grammar/writing skills. Not to mention teach her Russian! If I were a a temporary to long-term expat, like CanOBeans, with kids who speak English only at home, then I would consider it. I refuse to teach her bad French or Russian.

Jill - Have you heard of the International Sections of Sevres? Would that be hard to get to for you? Is it Ecole Active the one you don't like?

[snailmama]

We will either do Waldorf Inspired homeschooling(Oak Meadow) or have ds go to a Waldorf School.

[zealsmom]

language etc.

But, parismaman, just because you homeschool doesn't mean that you necessarily have to be doing all the teaching. You can still take classes elsewhere or on anything, like having someone come in for Russian or going to a class that is taught in Russian/French.

[indiegirl]

Two scenerios:

1) Waldorf school through third grade.

2) If somehow I am able to sah, I will homeschool/unschool.

[MarsupialMama]

dh and I are unschooling our one year old son. (Even though we hate the term - it sounds so negative.) With this type of learning it is a life style that last a life time. I was unschooled, and dh was homeschooled/NOT-schooled. He was hesitant at first, because of his expereance, but I was able to convince him.
Growing up the way I did, it's just natual for me to treat my child this way. I want to pass my love of learning on to him.

[MamaOui]

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[monpetitfils]

JMHO, but 2.5 seems way too early to stress over school. Even Mom's who would like their kids to go to pre-school at 3, sometimes have to pull them out and retry later since they are not ready for it yet. I say keep doing what you are doing and trust your instincts.

[Ragana]

We put our daughter in pre-school part time this fall, because she really needed a group of kids to play with. She has no siblings yet (well not until early June 2003!) and no cousins, but she loves kids. So she is really doing well with it.

As for school, we like the Waldorf School here (actually, there is a choice of 2), but I am not 100% convinced of all of the methods and it is $$$$$$. So probably the local public school will be our choice.

[ksmeadowlark]

I am trying to keep my faith in the public school system, bc I really want DS to go public. Most of my family attended private schools or went through homeschooling, but I feel like I got a much broader world view in public school being exposed to many different types of students and educators during. That being said, I do plan to supplement at home, as my mother did with me.

[cnick]

I humbly apologize for my ignorance, but can someone explain unschooling? It sounds like something I'm already doing but would love a formal description.
Thanks!

[mtn. mama]

Homeschool. Love to elaborate but there is a kiddie storm brewing here!

[dfoy]

I don't know yet. Depends upon where we live & it depends upon the child.

My oldest (17, a month away from being a legal 18 year old "adult"!) has done pretty well in public school. I teach at the same school she attends. She is in honors classes, hooked into lots of extra and co-curricular stuff (band, choir, art, etc) and has had a pretty good education. But this is one of the best school districts in the US. It has it's problems, though. One of which is the lack of funding from the state legislature. I'm sure elementary class sizes will be forced to increase to a level that will be detrimental to learning.

My little one will probably go to a Montessori preschool after she turns 4.

[MarsupialMama]

Unschooling is....

cnick,
My understanding of unschooling comes from being unschooled my whole life, and unschooling ds (13 months.)
The way we do it is to let the child have his/her own interests, and focus his energy in what he is interested in, not pushing things on him before he is ready.

Every person has their own learning style, and unschooling enables them to learn at their own rate.

My experience was this:
I was given a lot of time to be creative and imaginative. I had a lot of edicational experiences, such as visits to the zoo, hiking, the orchestra (the Cleveland Orchestra, as well as the one my father played in,) and the art museum!
These are all still my favorite things to do! I had an extreamly large vocabualary at an early age. However, I was 11 before I could truely read. I just had other interests and reading was work for me.
I wrote (or dictated) entire books at a young age, though I couldn't even read them! I eventually decided that I was ready and learned quickly and was reading the classic novels within months.
I think my mother worried that I might never read, but has now seen that I love to read because it was enjoyable for me. Had she pushed, I think I would hate it.

In my "high school" years, I pursued my interests at a college level. I was intersted in things that I would be unable to learn without this way of life. Sometimes I would stay up for hours studying, and the next day just be outside taking in nature.
With unschooling you are always learning!

In unschooling you may have a syllabus (what you expect to learn) but not a curriculum (a planed method of learning.) We used real books, as opposed to text books, but most of all we learned from life!

I think it is also a good way to inpart your interests and appreciations to your children!

I think that this is the only effective way to "teach" A.D.D., or A.D.H.D. children (as well as everyone else.) But that's just my oppinion! I think Dr. Sears agrees with me

I hope that answered your question, but it was probably far more than you needed!

[guestmama9924]

I voted private, but really it is a Charter Montessori school . My 6 yo goes there, so my 2 year old is automatically in ( )

Our Montessori is preschool to 8th grade. After that,....homeschool.....

[iggaboo]

UNSCHOOLING!!! YAY!!! Our son is only 18 months, but I suppose we are already doing it... We are so excited about it, dh and I can't imagine doing it any other way!

Originally posted by MarsupialMama
dh and I are unschooling our one year old son. (Even though we hate the term - it sounds so negative.)

just my 2 cents... imo the negative sounding part of the term is the "schooling"!:LOL I suppose when I was in the younger grades in school I thought it was okay, but as I got older I came to despise school.. The kids were mean, and I was bored.. I did very well academically until I just stopped doing the busy work.. I dropped out in 10th grade with my parents support and got my GED..

anyway, I am just so excited about home/unschooling.. and I feel so lucky that dh feels the same as I do about it.. Yay!!

[angelfromalasaka]

we unschool our 3.5 yo and the 2yo old now, its great and they learn alot !!!!!!!!!! whatever they want to learn we look up and learn
I do have some workbooks too, my 3.5 loves her school !!
we plan on unschooling hs for at least the first 6 years then see

[Aster]

Hopefully some kind of alternative school that encourages individual growth and provides an appealing learning environment with small class sizes. We have a couple of places in mind and will happily relocate half-way across the country in a couple of years to live in our dream community that actually has such schools.

If something happens and we still live here when ds is ready for school we will be home/unschooling.

[MysticHealerMom]

I want to home/unschool - need to do more research before I can say which one for sure - but dh isn't convinced. there are a few logistics issues - like, he wants to go back to school and change careers, too. he obviously isn't getting the big picture that doing the primary caregiver thing is full time, i'm not getting a vacation, here. he wanted to go this route, but doesn't seem to comprehend the extent of the work to be done. To me, it includes homeschooling. And I'm willing to do what it takes to homeschool - he's not sure that he could do it. but i'm sure i could. he's not sure I could, gar.

we had different experiences of public school - I hated it, I don't think he loved it, but he seems to think that the system can be made to work. (??) I don't intend to use my kid to prove a point that doesn't need to be made... For me on the other hand, it sucked, I hated it, it was socially crippling, disempowering and stunted my intellectual growth. Although the school district would have said that was my fault, and my mom's. They just weren't interested in my needs. So, they don't get a chance to meddle with my kids mind.

Broaching the subject slowly w/dh because of the various issues. we were discussing it today. we talked about my experience w/school. He hadn't heard the whole story and was a little stunned that it sucked so much and was a little worried our kid would have trouble socializing. Dunno what to say, but if the kid is anything like me, public school isn't the place to develop it.

sorry to rant a bit. I'm not freaking, as I've made my decision, just have to entice dh to my viewpoint. i think he's on the fence, now. Thanks for the reading references. I've spent a ton of money on books since I started my membership w/MDC - ah, well. Better than browsing at Boarders w/o a recommendation

Lori

[Deirdre]

What I would really like to do is have dd go to a cooperative nursery school (maybe even the one I went to as a child in San Francisco) where the parents are very involved and the teacher is fabulous (same teacher since I was a child).

Then I would like to homeschool or unschool (don't know enough about the differences yet to decide) but I would like dh to be the one at home...he is a special ed teacher now and I just think he would do a better job...he is fun, creative and tends to look at things through the eyes of a child. He is a big kid really and I think he would really inspire dd to try so many different things like finding bugs and chasing lizards and things that I am not sure I would be interested in LOL!!!!!!

But we'll have to see when the time comes as dd is only 19 months old!

-deirdre