School daze

Jeff, Biscuit and I attended an open house and dinner at a private elementary school this evening.

It seems that a lot of people have a lot of opinions about public vs. private schools, but Jeff and I haven't figured out our opinion concerning our son in public vs. private school.

So when we got a postcard in the mail inviting us to the open house and dinner. We called them and said we'd be there.

Where I grew up, the school system looked at your address and told you which school to go to. There wasn't a choice. But here, where we live, there are TONS of school choices. And with Biscuit having a late birthday, we have an extra year to account for. This time next year, Biscuit will be almost 5, but he won't turn 5 in time to go to kindergarten next fall. So our choices are to let him repeat a year at day care or find a school with a pre-K program we like.

Hence our trip to the private school tonight.

Now if I typed in the tuition rates, everybody who reads this would have the same heart attack I had when I saw them. Honestly, that's why I never would've considered a private school.

But a friend's wife gave me a nice lecture about how I should take every opportunity to make sure Biscuit gets the best education he can get. She explained to me that private schools have scholarships (even for elementary school kids) and financial aid programs. That's something I had never thought about.

Before it starts to sound like I've made up my mind, let me say that I haven't made up my mind at all. And Jeff is just as unsure as I am. From what we saw tonight, Biscuit already has a firm grasp on a lot of the concepts this school's "junior kindergarten" program offers. He knows letters and letter sounds and can recognize a few words. He knows that if you have the word "cat" and replace the "c" with other letters, it will make new words, such as "hat" and "mat". He knows his colors and numbers in Spanish. He knows a lot of basic concepts that were listed on their junior kindergarten curriculum, such as the fact that plants grow from seeds and what we eat is fuel for our bodies.


I was nervous about going. I think I had all these ideas in my head about what a private school would be like -- how the people would be, whether we'd fit in or not and how Biscuit would be treated.

I never considered the fact that I would be a little disappointed in the level of education he'd be getting.

From what the admissions director said, the curriculum does get a lot more strenuous as the kids go along. The school is for grades pre-K through 12th. And I love that the teacher to student ratio is 8:1. That's something he'd never get at a public school.

But this one evening didn't convince me one way or the other.

The teachers and admissions personnel encouraged us to come back one morning when the classes were filled with kids, so we could see what the school is like on a normal basis. So maybe we will.

We've got plenty of time, so we're also planning to tour a few other schools in the area, private, public, montessori and magnet. I told you we have a lot of choices!