Choosing A School
Sixth grade is the first year that electives are offered. Drew wants to take computer applications. I know he loves computers so I listened to him. My problem is twofold. First, and primarily, it is only a one semester class. The other semester is filled with study hall, which I don't want him to have. There is no mixing and matching. If you want computers, it comes with study hall. Period. Secondly, I've spoken with more experienced parents, including one who has substitute taught in the computer class, and I've learned that desktop publishing is the only thing they teach. This means more Word and PowerPoint. He already does well with these and they aren't difficult to pick up on your own. So, I've put my foot down and he's chosen again. In the end, he chose Exploratory. This may be known to some of you as "cycle." It consist of 6 week sessions of 6 different courses, including food / child care, shop, music, drama, sewing and art (I think). I have to agree that most of these classes would not appear to interest him at all. But, I think that they are good skills to learn and if he hates them, they are only 6 weeks. Then, on to something different. Most of his friends also wanted to take computers and all of their parents put the kibosh on it, too.
He also chose band. He's thinking of ditching the horn for percussion. He wants to remain in band because in high school they take a trip to Disney every four years. He believes that it will be his senior year. He also has expressed an interest in jazz band. Sixth graders may play in jazz band but not if you play the horn. You need to play a jazz instrument. He's thinking of keyboard, since he has experience in that arena. He hasn't expressed an interest but in our high school football trumps God community, they are replacing the recreation program with a district funded middle school football team. This team comes complete with cheerleaders, pom-poms (who knew there was a difference?) and marching band. Don't get me started on why we need this but have 26 kids in a class!
The only other options are chorus and full year study hall. I think that he is content with his choices.
One would think that enrolling a child in middle school would put kindergarten in perspective. Such is not the case. I feel strongly that phonics is the way to teach reading. Period. We reside in a whole language district. So, I'm searching for alternatives. There is no such creature as a secular non public school in our county. Possibly in our state. If you want to find one, you better head to Chicago. This makes my search all the more challenging. I'm looking first at curriculum and secondarily at religion. I'm trying to formulate an equation that will return the best solution, taking into account curriculum, religion, class size and cost. Now, I could put up with pretty much any religious instruction but the monkey wrench in the math is that members get a discount. Sometimes as much as 1/3 the cost of non-members. I'm not meaning to be hypocritical or offensive, but for that much money, I could be Lutheran. They're not so different from Catholics. In fact, they used to be Catholics. And I'm not particularly Catholic anyway. I have 3 more schools to visit. Public school registration is next Monday and Tuesday. I'd like to make a decision before then. And in the end, the result of my study may say to enroll her in public school. But whole language? shudder
And speaking of not being very Catholic, this Nun Chuck is hysterical. And don't miss Nunzilla!
He also chose band. He's thinking of ditching the horn for percussion. He wants to remain in band because in high school they take a trip to Disney every four years. He believes that it will be his senior year. He also has expressed an interest in jazz band. Sixth graders may play in jazz band but not if you play the horn. You need to play a jazz instrument. He's thinking of keyboard, since he has experience in that arena. He hasn't expressed an interest but in our high school football trumps God community, they are replacing the recreation program with a district funded middle school football team. This team comes complete with cheerleaders, pom-poms (who knew there was a difference?) and marching band. Don't get me started on why we need this but have 26 kids in a class!
The only other options are chorus and full year study hall. I think that he is content with his choices.
One would think that enrolling a child in middle school would put kindergarten in perspective. Such is not the case. I feel strongly that phonics is the way to teach reading. Period. We reside in a whole language district. So, I'm searching for alternatives. There is no such creature as a secular non public school in our county. Possibly in our state. If you want to find one, you better head to Chicago. This makes my search all the more challenging. I'm looking first at curriculum and secondarily at religion. I'm trying to formulate an equation that will return the best solution, taking into account curriculum, religion, class size and cost. Now, I could put up with pretty much any religious instruction but the monkey wrench in the math is that members get a discount. Sometimes as much as 1/3 the cost of non-members. I'm not meaning to be hypocritical or offensive, but for that much money, I could be Lutheran. They're not so different from Catholics. In fact, they used to be Catholics. And I'm not particularly Catholic anyway. I have 3 more schools to visit. Public school registration is next Monday and Tuesday. I'd like to make a decision before then. And in the end, the result of my study may say to enroll her in public school. But whole language? shudder
And speaking of not being very Catholic, this Nun Chuck is hysterical. And don't miss Nunzilla!
posted by metamom at Monday, January 29, 2007
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