That’s probably one of the more popular questioning once your preschooler reaches official schooling age. And for months, we’ve been hemming and hawing when answering this question. The assumption by most is that we’d send Jamayia to our local church owned & operated school. Upon seeing that we’re not exactly jumping up at that idea, the next question is usually asking if there’s a public school in the neighbourhood. And, the odd time, we’re asked if we’d ever consider homeschooling.
So, the official answer—we’re going to homeschool. We feel that it’s a good step for Jamayia and her learning style and abilities. And the follow up visit with the child development pediatrician helped to solidify this decision.
Our local church school belongs to a greatly respected, world-wide educational system. The tuition rates tend to be lower than other private schools. The teachers and staff generally have a fantastic reputation, showing not only care but love towards their students. And the biggie—the freedom to talk about God and His love and incorporate Christian principles into the regular school day. In our city though, funds tend to be limited and that reciprocates onto the resources. If Jamayia (or any other student) ever has a specific, legitimate need (which she might), I’m not confident that she’d be able to get the support that she needs at school. Their staff is very, very busy. They don’t have the funding for a plethora of teacher’s aides and resource workers. As it is, teaching one grade is taxing; and the classrooms there are multigrade, two per class.
Public schools tend to have better funding and better access to resources for all kinds of needs. There are many caring teachers and staff too. There is a school within walking distance from our home, and it even offers a French immersion program—that’s a huge attraction for me! But it’s overcrowded and they’ve already attached a couple portable extensions, with the plans to add more. Plus, at this young, innocent age where pretty much all of life’s molding happens, we’d like to limit the spiritual conflicts until Jamayia’s better able to understand more and make a decisions for herself. I know of Christian families with children attending public schools who have a regular struggle. It’s as if they need to deprogram their children and reprogram them each day.
That left us with homeschooling. It becomes an option for us especially since I’m a stay at home parent. If both Jonathon & I were working, then we’d need to look into the private or public school options. But at home, we’re able to teach her and shape the teaching around her needs. She’s more hands on, we’ve discovered and so the typical, language based learning will only go so far for Jamayia. I’ll be able to incorporate French too (I went to French immersion from K-12 myself and graduated with a French diploma in addition to my high school diploma).
Now we’re collecting info on good curriculum and I’m also looking for organizational resources (ie: storage bins, etc). I know a few homeschooling families in person, so I’ll be picking their brains.
I guess now’s the time to invest in a printer and computer…