(First and foremost, so you know, this post was not endorsed.)
Well, to be honest, like most parents choosing what college they want their children to go to from the time they are born, or the sports teams their child will be affiliated with, I was honestly just thinking about the schooling options from preschool on. I went through un schooling, child care into public brick and mortar schools, to homeschooling, to public homeschooling.
Consider:
1) Your Location
2) The schools around you
3) Your Children
4) You!
1) Where are you located?
Location is everything. Are you rural? Are you in a city? Based on your location, can you get to enriching activities easily? If you are rural, some options are more or less available. For example, natural sciences flourish here. Agriculture, awesome science experiments that can't be done in a city. A city is great for more museums. Less for doing that soda bottle rocket you have always wanted to do. Also, with location comes schools.
2) The Schools Around You
How many schools are around you?
You can easily google schools in your area. You have the options of public school, private school, public charter school, Montessori, and many more.
What are their scores?
You can go to Great Schools and see how all the schools in your area rate. You can see test scores, overall rating, parental approval based on the star system.
How do you apply to these schools?
You can contact the school and see how to apply.
Our school system to me is whacked. I see why they did it they way they did but still has so many flaws in the system. I apply each year to give myself the option of public brick and mortar school for my kids. Just in case. Because if they get into an amazing school, why not?
Here in Washington D.C., they have L.A.M.B. (Latin American Montessori Bilingual School). Yes it is a public charter school and boy are the waiting lists a mile long. And if you have a child that is already in K? Well forget about it. You have to get them early or not at all. The kids progress each year and eventually they will be taught primarily in the other language, in this cause, Spanish. In D.C., they have schools in most every language. Mandarine, Korean, Japanese, Hebrew, Italian, French. It is very amazing. But they are so hard to get into. Although, you can always put yourself on the waiting list.
For the normal brick and mortar schools in D.C., the D.C. Public School system works for some and not others. They do a lottery system. You know what that means right? Yep. They put my daughter and son in different schools and they were not remotely close at all. I would have spent all day traveling to drop off and pick up. And the schools were not the best schools or Tier 1 at all.
3) Your Children
Just like trying on shoes, you should consider what 'size' school fits your child best. Weird analogy, I know, but it works. Honestly, the questions you ask to see if 'the shoes fits' is different for each child. Even if you are like me and have 3 kids, 'the shoes fit differently' for each child. My eldest is a huge reader and was reading by age 4. My second is still learning to read and is 5. My youngest, obviously can't read yet, but is trying. My daughter, the middle child, is really good in math and the arts. So that is her strength.
Remember: You may have one child go to a brick and mortar and the other homeschool. Again, does the shoe fit best for them? You may change halfway. That is ok. Just as they grow out of clothes as they grow, so do their needs change as well. Be ok with that.
I will say this for mine. My eldest, doing the state measurements for testing for his school, figured out his scores. I expected him to be good in reading but he was out of this world! He, at first grade, was scoring sixth grade reading and third to fourth grade for most everything else. Would the best 'shoe' for him be public brick and mortar? I don't think so. Does that mean it is easy to homeschool him? Oh gosh, no, but it is worth it by far. I would not change it for the world. My daughter, I chose to homeschool because I was homeschooling my son and the 'shoe' would fit either way. It was hard to begin with but she is getting the hang of it and is doing very well. I am glad because her scores first were low even though she could do some things very well, just was not scoring well on what they wanted her to learn. It made it very easy for me to know what to help her with and that one on one attention, let's face it, does not happen in brick and mortar. So the one on one in home merits high value.
1) Your Location
2) The schools around you
3) Your Children
4) You!
1) Where are you located?
Location is everything. Are you rural? Are you in a city? Based on your location, can you get to enriching activities easily? If you are rural, some options are more or less available. For example, natural sciences flourish here. Agriculture, awesome science experiments that can't be done in a city. A city is great for more museums. Less for doing that soda bottle rocket you have always wanted to do. Also, with location comes schools.
2) The Schools Around You
How many schools are around you?
You can easily google schools in your area. You have the options of public school, private school, public charter school, Montessori, and many more.
What are their scores?
You can go to Great Schools and see how all the schools in your area rate. You can see test scores, overall rating, parental approval based on the star system.
How do you apply to these schools?
You can contact the school and see how to apply.
Our school system to me is whacked. I see why they did it they way they did but still has so many flaws in the system. I apply each year to give myself the option of public brick and mortar school for my kids. Just in case. Because if they get into an amazing school, why not?
Here in Washington D.C., they have L.A.M.B. (Latin American Montessori Bilingual School). Yes it is a public charter school and boy are the waiting lists a mile long. And if you have a child that is already in K? Well forget about it. You have to get them early or not at all. The kids progress each year and eventually they will be taught primarily in the other language, in this cause, Spanish. In D.C., they have schools in most every language. Mandarine, Korean, Japanese, Hebrew, Italian, French. It is very amazing. But they are so hard to get into. Although, you can always put yourself on the waiting list.
For the normal brick and mortar schools in D.C., the D.C. Public School system works for some and not others. They do a lottery system. You know what that means right? Yep. They put my daughter and son in different schools and they were not remotely close at all. I would have spent all day traveling to drop off and pick up. And the schools were not the best schools or Tier 1 at all.
3) Your Children
Just like trying on shoes, you should consider what 'size' school fits your child best. Weird analogy, I know, but it works. Honestly, the questions you ask to see if 'the shoes fits' is different for each child. Even if you are like me and have 3 kids, 'the shoes fit differently' for each child. My eldest is a huge reader and was reading by age 4. My second is still learning to read and is 5. My youngest, obviously can't read yet, but is trying. My daughter, the middle child, is really good in math and the arts. So that is her strength.
Remember: You may have one child go to a brick and mortar and the other homeschool. Again, does the shoe fit best for them? You may change halfway. That is ok. Just as they grow out of clothes as they grow, so do their needs change as well. Be ok with that.
I will say this for mine. My eldest, doing the state measurements for testing for his school, figured out his scores. I expected him to be good in reading but he was out of this world! He, at first grade, was scoring sixth grade reading and third to fourth grade for most everything else. Would the best 'shoe' for him be public brick and mortar? I don't think so. Does that mean it is easy to homeschool him? Oh gosh, no, but it is worth it by far. I would not change it for the world. My daughter, I chose to homeschool because I was homeschooling my son and the 'shoe' would fit either way. It was hard to begin with but she is getting the hang of it and is doing very well. I am glad because her scores first were low even though she could do some things very well, just was not scoring well on what they wanted her to learn. It made it very easy for me to know what to help her with and that one on one attention, let's face it, does not happen in brick and mortar. So the one on one in home merits high value.
4) You
Yes, you. You should care about you. I know, put your kids first. I do, trust me I do. I care less about me 95% of the time, in all honesty. As I write this, I am homeschooling at the same time, and writing this in between lessons. And I am still in a bathrobe. Ha.
The question is, can you do it? If you are single parent, this is not always an option. Or if you are 2 parent family but don't make enough money if one parent stays home or can't work from home, you can't do it either. It is not feesible. Do something you can do. You don't want homeschooling to be more work and bring more stress then the school itself. If that makes sense. On the flip of that, if you are like me and have 3 kids, you know you can not put kids in child care either. If I worked, all my income would go to putting one kid in daily full time child care. I could not do that. So, homeschooling makes sense both for my kids' sake and for the financial aspect of it.
Can you put up with fits and bits? I am telling you, teaching is hard work if you are a parent too. Put in the hard work and it will more than pay off.
What did I choose to do?
Find out all the questions and answers for the online school we do on the article
"How I Chose to Home School: All About K12".!
I chose to go with K12 as my (public) homeschooling option. Technically it is a public online charter school that we are going through, but to me, it is very much homeschooling. More like public homeschooling. They give me the lesson plans (just as if I had bought from them) and I teach it to them at home.
Find out all the questions and answers for the online school we do on the article
"How I Chose to Home School: All About K12".!
I chose to go with K12 as my (public) homeschooling option. Technically it is a public online charter school that we are going through, but to me, it is very much homeschooling. More like public homeschooling. They give me the lesson plans (just as if I had bought from them) and I teach it to them at home.
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