Off to Public School

My friend Karen prepared this post. I want to put in the disclaimer that her daughter fell and suffered a pretty harsh concussion last weekend before she had a chance to finish, so it isn't exactly how she wanted it to look. But I thought what she said was really good and wanted to share it with you all. And after a few scary days of no short term memory, it looks like everything is going to be okay.

Sending our two girls to public school was not the original plan for our two daughter’s educations. Both my husband and I had attended public school. Our experiences with public education varied greatly, his being good and mine was, well, awful. It was through our Sunday school class that homeschooling was introduced to us. We absolutely loved the way our Sunday school leader’s children behaved and were taken back as to how much they loved the Lord. Both my husband and I definitely wanted that for our future children. With the former introduction in mind, we opted for the home school route with the understanding that we would only commit to one year at a time.

When our oldest reached 3rd grade, our strong willed child was tired of being different from her friends who went to “real school”. In addition to our oldest discontentment, I was frustrated with the lack of time & money to provide our two right brained children with music & art opportunities. We had discussed the real possibility that home schooling might not work for us and had decided that private Christian school was not the answer due to the outrageous price and driving distance. Knowing ahead of time that we were only committing one year at a time to homeschooling, we had our “insurance policy” in place by previously moving to a school district with which we were both comfortable sending our children.

We loved most of the teachers and the few that were difficult we taught our children how to respect them regardless of “feelings”. We wanted our children to learn to respect authority even if they didn’t completely agree with their opinions. As for the lack of Christian atmosphere, it did take some toll on the girls as they watched their friends throw their lives away with drinking, drugs, and sex. On the flip side, both of them have had the chance to witness to their friends verbally and with their life stile.

Did public school give our daughters a good education? Yes, the school gave them an amazing education. We never wanted the school to raise our kids.

If you are considering public education for your child/children, I can’t stress enough how important it is to choose a school district wisely. Make the effort to talk to other parents who have older children or children who have graduated from different school districts. Weigh the pros and cons very carefully before making a decision.