Post interview decision re schooling

[Tanikit]

We went for an interview at the school my DD is due to start next year in kindergarten. The school seems very friendly, they follow the beliefs we have and things seem well organised including having more than enough facilities for sports and other extra curricula activities.
Most of the parents I have spoken to say that their children are happy there. I did ask what they did with children who are advanced and they said they have a 3 people who deal with special needs one of whom helps the gifted children - however it is outside of school time so basically it is additional work and they still have to work the same curriculum. Grade skipping did come up though they are not very keen on it - right now it would not be wise for my daughter to skip grades as while she is very academically advanced (the work on the board in the grade 1 classrooms is work I covered with my daughter more than 6 months ago and she is still 2 years away from learning it at that school)
she is not able to sit still for the length of time they would require of her and in many ways she is still very little to be exposed to what children essentially 2 years older (she is born late for her year) than her would be speaking about.

We have about 2 weeks to decide whether to place her or not and in the end it comes down to money because it is a private school - we must pay a large deposit now and again at the end of June and yet again more money in December to secure her place and then the fees which are pretty high and will stretch our budget with one child - never mind what would happen with two there. There are no public schools in our area that I would even consider at all.

I am still trying to consider all the pros and cons of each. They know we are possibly thinking of going the homeschooling route and are not anti homeschooling - in fact they have a homeschooling team in sports at that school. Basically I feel that this is going to be a bit rushed and mostly in the end about money - I mean when I think what we will be paying in school fees over a year and consider the type of curriculum I could buy with that money it is quite scary. And more so because of the asynchronicity with this daughter of ours. They did ask that if we put her in the school and then decide later to pull her out that we give them at least a terms (4 months) notice so they can fill the spot and they also said that getting her in in later years can be done but could be difficult as the school is very full.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this - will let you know when we do make the decision.

[c4andy20]

Hmmm... That is a really tough decision. As long as you are confident they will accommodate her learning needs, and are willing to spend the money, then I say go for it. If it doesn't work out you always have the option of pulling her out and homeschooling. If, however, you are not sure  about their ability to sustain her attention and work at her level, then I would advise you to save your money. You could buy a ton of great homeschooling materials for a fraction of the cost of private school and your DD won't have to go through the stress of not being academically challenged.

I made the mistake of putting my oldest DD age 9, in a school that made her stick with their curriculum and would not work at her level (she was doing 2nd grade work by then). It seriously traumatized her and at the end of Kindergarten she hated reading and anything to do with learning. I had to pull her out. She is ok with learning now but it took a long time to get over it.

I have applied my 3 year old to 3 public Montessori schools(it is a lottery to get in) because they start off at preschool and go straight into kindergarten. Right now she is doing kindergarten work so I am worried about what level she will be at when she reaches kindergarten age. They say they can to work with advanced kids because of the multi-age classrooms. If she doesn't get into any of the Montessori schools I will definitely be homeschooling her, because I refuse to put my children in any of our neighborhood schools. We live in Chicago, they are horrific!   And private school is out of the question because it cost anywhere from $10,000+ per year here. I have 3 children so that would be way too much $$$.

[Mandabplus3]

Reading between the lines...I don't think you will be happy with this school. They have said in you first interview that she will have to follow the normal corriculum. That's sounds very set to me. If a school was even remotely likely to adjust to your daughter they would have been talking to you about providing extention during class time, and working at her level etc. They aren't even pretending they will keep you happy so they definately won't budge on the corriculum. Why pay all that money and not get what you need?
In your case I would home school for a couple of years then look into grade skipping. I also wouldn't be too concerned about the school being too full. As the years go by in private school people pull out, usually due to money stress, and the numbers drop a bit. Ask for the enrollment numbers in grade 1,3,5 and see for yourself how popular the school is. A quick call to the office will give you the numbers.
You have a difficult life changing decision to make. I just would spend the money if I wasn't getting something for it. My kids attend a private school and their education is good...not great ( which is what they really need) but the school is full of beautiful lovely children and caring parents. But more important I don't pay a lot, so it feels like value for money. Will you be getting value for money? Or will you resent the expense over time?

[Tanikit]

Mandabplus3 you are right they are not going to adjust the curriculum which will probably be problematic. In this country there are now 2 gifted schools - nothing is offered in other schools, however the 2 schools are very far away from where we stay now and even more expensive than the private school we applied for and I am not sure I like the idea of them.

The schools around here are very full - the school we applied for is full grade 1,2 and 3 and have one space open in grade R/0 at the moment.

I am getting so much conflicting advice - and I do keep saying that I do not want to pay that amount of money for my daughter to go and play and then have to pay even more so they can give her extra work which is supposed to keep her happy. Still waiting for my DH to give his opinion but he seldom says anything and may be waiting for me to make up my mind - I would prefer for her to be homeschooled and have an actual budget that I can draw on for the materials as I suspect she will be one of these children who need new material often (I cannot buy a full curriculum for her in any subject as she is so all over the place)

[mother of faith]

I homeschool children with our community outreach and then see them go back to school in the grade that their age says they need to be in however I see the school's inability to advance my child so I ask if the teacher could advance the work for my child in some schools they do have like an 'A' class, "B" class or 1 or 2 class that privately give work according to the child' level. I was one of the staff that modifed work to a higher level for students it was the same work just at a higher level as everyone else. the students had no idea that their peer was even doing differnet work for it was modified to look just like the others but differnet. however a lot of schools can not offer this due to the money issue. I also have found that student who return to public school get bored, doesn't due well because the level of content has already been presented so the failure to strife comes about or in other words the child doesn't want to try anymore then when the child needs to try the child doesn't. however i have had some success with some students going back into public school and doing well not advanced but well. I have a child now who was homeschooled for 2 years and decided that the child needed more social interaction however this costed the child to go back 2 grade levels in content, the child now suffers from failing grades because the child has given up. the child tested 2 grade levels above but the school couldn't accomadate the child's level so the child now is behind and is making some behavior problems according to the teacher so the parents have decided to return the child back to homeschool were the child can be advanced as needed and go to college at 15. I actual have students right now going to college and technical schools at 15.this is a hard choice for many to do. I couldn't tell you but make a pro and con chart and go from there. make a list of what your child needs and what the child has accomplished and her goals for the next few years and of course your families needs as well. very hard to decide.....

[Mandabplus3]

Computer gremlins have stolen my carefully thought out reply soo I shall try again sigh
Yep conflicting advice is very common in education and even more commen in home schooling
Firstly it is perfectly normal to have young kiddies education all over the place. I have seen many children in grade 1 doing very basic addition and reading at a high school level. Te best idea for homeschooling these kids is to buy a corriculum that allows you access to all levels at once. We love IXL math for that. It's linked to the countries school corriculum and my kids can work through their age level, above or below as needed. ( so we payed once and they all use the same subscription Lol) mine go to school so I also use it to keep the school honest and up to scratch. I have meetings with the corriculum coordinator if I think they missed something or they are giving problems that are too easy. Yep I am a pain in the butt  ( actually the current corriculum adviser loves it I save her work in the long run)
Schooling is a changing need. I enrolled my first daughter into their school knowing it was right for her at the time. Now..it may not be for much longer. I may be looking to another school for more challenge sooner than i anticipated. My kids also need access to more resources than most...6 year olds reading need different books than 12 year olds reading at the same level...so I often have to pre read her home readers ( oh yes there have been dead bodies and suicide and murder..and that's a Christian school!) My point is make a decision that is right for your daughter and your family now and thinking only ahead for a few years. Trust that by then you will know more, have learnt more and different opportunities will be around. Don't be scared of the possibility of missing out later if she will definately miss out now!
If you have got this far in early learning to date, home schooling will be no harder for you so make your choice with confidence in your own ability to teach also.
How happy will she be at school? My oldest would never have been happy home schooled, my youngest would happily never leave my side, I am his best friend.
Just more to think about, sorry 

[Tanikit]

Well now we are in even more trouble with this schooling issue and it is the school's fault (which hopefully will mean we can get out of the trouble) They say they sent us an email on 30 March to say that DD had been accepted into the school and that we had til 26 April to decline the position. Neither my husband nor I received that email and the school says perhaps it was a server error on their side. I finally asked what was going on this past week since I knew we should have been contacted but I thought perhaps due to the school holidays that things had been delayed. They said in their letter that if we declined the posiotion late then we would have to pay the first terms fees but since we never got the letter they surely can't hold us to this. Nonetheless we will have to inform them very soon then or pay the full deposit by the end of June.

At one point my husband did say he thought she should be in school. I do not know what he thinks now. I still think homeschooling will be better for the entire family as to afford this I would have to work more and put DD2 in a school which would increase the fees drastically.

A few months on since the last post my DD has advanced in Math and is reading almost any picture book regardless what words are in there, but does not have the stamina for longer books. Her handwriting has come on nicely and she is writing a sentence a day. She is more keen to read for information right now and will read easy riddles to solve them correctly.

I plan to talk to my DH tonight about this. The only other option I feel we could try is to put her into the school for a trial period (I think 6 months is about the minimum we could do) and then see how it goes.

[Mandabplus3]

I read this much happier for you. Your thoughts are in order now. You will be able to make the right decision now.

[Tanikit]

We have decided to homeschool - we turned down the school placement today. There are a number of issues we will need to discuss now and make decisions on regarding more formal homeschooling, but I am happy with the decision and also feel less worried now about doing more advanced work with my DD as I do not have to worry about her being bored in school. I also want to decide whether to make the start of school special next year or just to carry on as we have been doing the last few years.

Thanks for all the advice and support.

[seastar]

Tanikit - I've been following your dilemma for the last while and I am delighted as you seem to have made the right decision for you and your family.
Happy teaching!

[Mandabplus3]

Yay! So pleased for you. You always know you have made the right decision if it feels right oh imagine what you can teach now! congratulations.

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