School Visit #1

Jonah has informed us that he wants to see what other schools are like (besides homeschooling and Montessori), and I want to honor that, so we're working to schedule visits to the other area schools:  the local Christian school, the local (what I like to call) Ivy League Private School, the local charter school, and the local public elementary school.

Yesterday, we ventured out to the local Christian school.

I have been inside the school before because a friend of mine used to teach there and I have also attended several events in their facilities, but I had never observed the workings of a classroom, so yesterday, that's what we did.

We sat in with the kindergarten class for almost an hour and then visited the first grade room for a few minutes as well.

I was not impressed.

I love the idea of my son getting a Christ-centered education, but I felt the instruction was VERY rigid. 

I was upset that the poor little boy who raised his hand and asked to go to the bathroom was denied because they had just recently visited.  He asked again, and she allowed him to go - but I just don't see the point in that.  And I have taught in the public school system.  I never let kids go to the bathroom while someone else was already AT the bathroom, but if they had to pee, then I allowed them to go.  I also didn't allow train runs to the restroom - one kids asks and then another and then another and then another - when that happened, I would put a stop to it, but one child asking innocently to go to the restroom at the age of five - I just don't understand what the big deal could possibly be, especially since ten minutes later, she allowed it. 

She seemed nice enough, and the children were engaged, for the most part, in their lessons, but I just felt uncomfortable in the atmosphere.

Jonah had an okay time.  He got a little frustrated with the reading lesson because they are learning a completely different system than he is learning at Montessori. 

At Montessori they teach a "whole language" idea, and it just makes more sense to me. 

I learned the way they teach at the Christian school, but I am learning MORE and BETTER now through my son's instruction at Montessori in all subjects than I learned in the traditional classroom. 

One of the biggest reasons I had sought out the Christian school was because I'd really like to meet more parents who hold the same value systems that we have as a family and people with whom we fit in.  At Montessori a lot of the parents have a lot of money that we don't have, and I feel left out of the loop much of the time.  I don't know if it's really a money issue or if they just think we're weird or what, but I'm having trouble making friends with the other moms, who seem to already hang out together a lot.

The other day, I took the kids to the playground after school and all of the other boys' moms from his class were already there, sitting around a picnic table together and chatting while their kids played furiously on the playground behind them.

I wasn't sure what to do.  They looked up and recognized me, and one mom said hello, but I felt SO left out and out of the loop and just like a loser!

Jonah was excited to see his friends and ran to play with them.

Of course, eventually, he went to the "big kids" playground area and involved himself in an elaborate imaginative game that the other kids got bored with in about five minutes.  He opted to stay there, playing alone, instead of playing with the other kids.

Maybe that's why we aren't invited.

I don't know.

Today he has a birthday party at a girl's house from his class.

I'm hoping we can make a good impression or something.

I guess I missed that parenting class where they explain how these things work.

Maybe I should put an ad in the paper:

Non-traditional, Christian mom of G&T son with auditory and emotional sensitivity issues seeks other moms with like minds and situations and understandings of food allergies, adventure seeking, and the desire to live in an RV.

Either way, I consider the Christian school visit a bust.

Thinking.

Been thinking a lot about the kids and their education and all the dreams that Michael and I have when it comes to life.  Finished A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson and was unfortunately disappointed. It started off SO WELL and then...just sort of dies off into facts and figures and how he doesn't finished the AT but hikes 847 miles and that would be impressive if he wasn't striving for a particular goal. 

Reading the book got me thinking a lot about what I want to do and why I want to do it and who I am as a mother and a person and a woman and all sorts of dangerous things.  :-)

One of my dreams is to homeschool my kids.

I never thought I would say that.  Fifteen years ago I would've looked at you as though you were insane. Ten years ago I would've lectured you about how much better the public school system is.  Five years ago I would've told you I'd never have the time.  Today it's what I wish I was doing.

I love Montessori.  Don't get me wrong.  It is good.  It is good for Jonah.  I am not sure how we will continue to afford it and add Maeryn to the mix. There is another school out there I'm interested in as well - but there is NO WAY we could ever afford that one - not unless both children got a fantastic scholarship there.  I get their newsletter every so often and feel sad that my kids aren't a part of such a fabulous learning community.

But Michael and I want other things too.  Education is VERY important to both of us.  But so is adventure, in case you haven't noticed.

We both hope that after we pay off most of our debts we can spend at least a year traveling in an RV all over the country.  We feel like we'll find the place we belong, first of all - we'll just know, if we can have that RV year.  We want to see more things.  We want to teach our children by experience and example.  We want to learn from other Christians more about Christianity.  We want to have that ultimate adventure. 

I am supposed to start looking for online teaching positions and it has utterly slipped my mind until now, so I'm glad I'm writing this somewhat disjointed blog.  That way we would have income on the road. 

Regardless, we have been tossing around the option of unschooling.

I know there is a lot of critique floating around about unschooling, but having read a lot of literature by John Holt and read several blogs by unschooling moms, it's something I'm interested in for my children.  I am certain that I am not interested in complete and total radical unschooling, where children set their own rules and decided every little thing about their lives, but I am very much interested in learner driven education, with parent as facilitator and mentor. 

We'll see how it all pans out.

I'm mostly hoping that something actually happens and we don't just end up sitting idly. 

I feel like we've been doing that long enough.