DS sold 5 dozen eggs at church today. That's $10 more for Haiti.
He decided to increase his donation to $2 per dozen. We ran out and could have sold several dozen more. I spoke with the girls and they'll try to do their part.
We've been wrestling with decisions regarding school for him for next year. He is having some issues at public school. He frequently has a tough patch in late winter/early spring where he just has a harder time focusing, as if he's a little burned out. I've been doing a lot of talking and thinking. It occured to me after a conversation with his teacher about upcoming testing that maybe it isn't just him, that the atmosphere of the school changes as the pressure of testing hits. The teachers are under the gun to get the kids ready for the tests. The administration is under pressure to get those test scores up. It's nuts. I work in the system. I see it happening. DS is in a 2nd grade class with 25 other students. They work at tables elbow to elbow. He's very much a creative hands on learner and suddenly he's got worksheet after worksheet thrust at him. He summed it up pretty well on Friday. "As soon as I'm done with my work, she gives me
more!" I bet she does! His reaction is to start daydreaming or getting involved in whatever is going on around him. Then she gets annoyed with him and makes him take the work home to do here. He does anything he can to avoid it and melts down ruining everyone's evening. Ugh. This has really only been this bad the past two weeks when the whole emphasis of everything has been "Let's get ready for testing!" They don't even do the CT Mastery Tests in 2nd grade but we have to start getting them ready NOW NOW NOW! All this and we actually have been happy with his teacher. She will tell you herself that she's a little ADHD but she has been so good with DS to this point, understand his busy little body, that he isn't ADHD, just active with a particular learning style. She just can't cater to that in the present situation.
So this has led to discussions with various people. My mom who taught for 35 years, other public school employees who have had kdis in the system or in private school, our priest and his wife whose kids went to private school. We have limited options here in our district at this point. 4 public elementary schools with scores so low that we have a choice to send to any of the 4. Due to budget cuts last year there are 25-26 kids per class from 2nd grade through 4th. All paraprofessionals were laid off last year unless they were one-on-one with students with special needs. Art was reduced to half an hour once a month. They still have PE and music but I think there's a good chance we'll be looking at cuts there this year since there really isn't much else that can be cut. Other choices include the private Montessori elementary school with a tuition of close to $7K. Not an option for us. He went to another Montessori for Pre-K through K and it was a great fit for him but we just can't do it with that tuition! There's the local Catholic school which we are going to be looking into. That was a topic of discussion with our priest after church today. He is the director of board of the local "no freeze" shelter and one of the women on the board has a son in that school. Some how they got talking about it and he thought of DS. He was at a fund raiser with her today after my conversation with him and when he got back he told me she'd be happy to talk to me. Catholic Schools Week is coming up with opportunities to visit and for DS to shadow another student to see for himself. Average class size-12, less than half what he's in now. There would still be tuition, but less than half that of the Montessori school. If it seems like the right fit we'd make it work. There's the difference in religion, since we are not Catholic ourselves. I've known other Protestant kids who have gone there and it shouldn't be an issue. The magnet school our town voted for should have its ground breaking in April and wouldn't be ready until DS's going into 5th grade. It will have Environment/Culture theme and would be right up DS's alley as far as interest BUT there are forces in town trying to undo it all and I'll believe it's going to be built when they actually start. AND it enrollment will be by lottery so there's no guarantee he'll get in.
There's a charter school a few towns away that we could try to get him into but it's the kind of thing that if he wasn't there for kindergarten chances are slim since there's a long waiting list.
And no, home schooling is not an option for various reasons. He and I would not do well together with it and I have to work. I think he can do great in a classroom. We just have to find the right one!
A lot of people in our town move out when their kids hit school age and go to another close by town with a school system with a much better reputation. Also not an option. We're not in a position to be moving and we actually like living here. Our taxes would go up significantly. We've given it two years hoping that public school would work and it just doesn't seem to be the best choice. I've contacted the principal of the Catholic school and will call the mom from the school tomorrow.
I really really need to get out the seed catalogs and start planning. Once the Pinewood Derby project is off my workbench I can start thinking about setting up the grow lights and figuring out how to keep the mice from eating all the seedlings this year. Ooooo that made me soooo mad! All that work and they ate everything!
4 day weekend for the kiddo, I have professional development Tuesday. Not so nice weather for tomorrow so a good time to do some planning!
It's an ongoing lesson, that's for sure!
