Learning…

This picture looks a bit like I imagine homeschooled kids look–the matching outfits, the focused concentration on the kids’ faces, and the intense learning (well, except for Sam who seems to have his father’s love for books–or aversion, as the case may be).
Of course I’m perpetuating homeschooling stereotypes by these statements, but that’s only because I feel inadequate. God bless the parents who homeschool (and do it well) because I couldn’t pull it off. My grasp of math really ends with long division, and I do not want to be my kids’ authority in every single way.
Which leaves us with two schooling options for our kids: private (my personal history) or public (which is M’s).
You’ll be somewhat relieved that I have exhausted the pros and cons of each already. Literally. I’ve cornered anyone with a kid, a teaching degree, or a past as an elementary-school student to ascertain which option is better.
And, finally, we did make a decision–well, the decision is to not decide yet completely. As far as next year, Catie will attend our local public school, and the twins will stay in private. But, after that, we’ll decide on a kid-by-kid, who-needs-what-and-when basis.
Because, as rich as my history is in private education (elementray school and college and a degree and job history), M’s is equally rich in public. And speaking of rich, there’s his point about price. We do live in a county with high taxes that we already pay to support the excellent public schools. Until they pass that whole voucher program, writing a four digit check each month to fund a different kind of excellent education does seem a bit excessive.
And that’s just the logical parts of the discussion (well, M. is always logical, I have the gift of injecting emotion into every discussion). When personal histories come into the decision, which if you’re reading closely, you can see that’s been the case for me, so do stereotypes. As a parochial-school student, I had an image of public school kids: they rode loud, smelly busses, had Winter Holidays instead of manger scenes, and picked on innocent kids like me.
M’s opinion of private school kids when he was in public school? About the same. Too innocent. Too sheltered.
I really try not to pass my stereotypes on to my kids. Just because Catie has an aversion to school busses, believes the emblem at our huge public high school must be a cross, and tells the neighborhood kids who haven’t heard of her private kindergarten that it’s because “it’s small and we learn about Jesus.”
Yes, some time in public school may make her a more well-rounded kid after all. And, for now, the twins will still get their manger scenes and can hold their noses at bus exhaust. At least until they’re old enough for public school. Then, we’ll reevaluate.
So, apparently I haven’t completely exhausted discussion on the topic.
Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments.