I think the toughest part of being a parent is the realization you’re making choices for someone else. At this point in my kids’ lives, I’m the one deciding for the most part what we’re doing on the weekend, what activities we can fit in the schedule, where they go to school.
My husband and I talked a bit last night about that last piece. He has been in the same neighborhood school for four years, two in the preschool program for children with language delays and two for kindergarten.
I’m in my second stint as an education reporter, I know there are many different education formats out there: private, public, public-charter, Montessori, student-led instruction, teacher-directed instruction, traditional and back-to-basic.
But I haven’t seen a survey anywhere where you click answers to questions to help decide what’s best for your own child.
When I picked this school for kindergarten (it wasn’t an instant decision by any means) I drove around. I checked out two Montessori schools. I checked out the neighboring district’s schools. At that time, private school was not an option.
In the end, I got what I wanted: Our neighborhood school placed him in an integrated kindergarten with typical peers, but a smaller student-to-teacher ratio and a continued Individual Education Plan for speech services.
While he had a great experience that year, his dad and I asked to hold him back for social reasons and the staff agreed without hesitation.
Now we’re at the end of another kindergarten year. He has really flourished and was mature enough to tackle the material this year and still be challenged. And here we are again: facing another school year.
Every time I enter a school for a story assignment or just to meet with teachers and talk to them about education, I find myself thinking whether or not I can picture one of my children there (my daughter is 4 but misses the cutoff and will spend next year in a pre-kindergarten program at the church preschool she attends).
Sometimes it’s obvious: Nope, this one won’t work for my son. Yup, my daughter would love this. Nope, they would KILL me for putting them here.
But more often than not it’s, “Well, maybe…”
It’s not anything anyone is doing wrong or right – it’s just a tough decision.
And that’s the catch: I have to make a decision.
(Besides, I don’t think they would much like driving from school-to-school to check it out. And there is probably some truancy officer who would have something to say about missing school. Not that I would know anything about that.)
The truth is, I’m a bit worried about class sizes as he gets older and into higher grade levels. We were blessed this year because his kindergarten has a teacher, a teacher’s aide and 21 kids.
I don’t know how it’s going to pan out. I’ve like both the first-grade teachers at our school - a lot. And yes, once again, he has an IEP for continued speech-language services.
But every now and then I wonder: What about this? What about that?
And, I told my husband: What if we make the wrong choice?