School, for 3 of my 4 school age children, goes into session tomorrow. Tomorrow! The summer is over already!? Well, educationally speaking - the temperatures are going to be very summer-like (oven-like) for a few days, with a ridiculous heat index forecast (105 - 110?!) But yes, tomorrow begins another year of getting up too early, herding children through their morning rituals and piling them onto various buses.
My daughter starts fifth grade this year, middle school, so soon. And it's my 14 yr olds last year as a middle schooler. Poor lil Bren is left in Elementary by himself - he's the shy scared one, and isn't liking that idea much.
his school didn't meet all of the NCLB quotas for the second year in a row (no offense, but how can they expect little Mexican kids who barely speak English to read with the same proficiency as American kids anyway?) so we have the option of sending him to a different school - but he's shy and easily overwhelmed in social situations anyway, and being his first year 'going it alone' I felt like he would be more traumatized by the move than benefits could outweigh. The only complaint I ever had with that school was the attitude of the (reverse prejudice) principal anyway, and thank you god, she retired after last year!wooo hooo!!!
My oldest is the one I worry about. He turned 16 over the summer, hates every minute of school, has a lot of interpersonal problems and feels as though the system isn't fair (it hasn't been in several situations with him - and it's snowballed) so he's considering his options. One of which, he feels, is quitting. But, he received a letter in the mail yesterday that offered him the possibility of a scholarship to go to Valley Forge. He's military minded anyway, has always wanted to join the Army, and is very interested.
He sent off for more information, and we've talked a lot about it. I'm not thrilled by the idea of him being in Pa, but I'm less thrilled about him quitting, so if he gets the scholarship and it poses no financial problems for us (if it ain't free, we can't afford it) then I'll have a son in Military School. That's more ironic than most realize. I've threatened him with military school for ages, and now, he's making the choice to go. . . It's a strange world. I'm just glad to see that he isn't turning it down based on the whole "I don't wanna go" argument - it isn't that he is anti-school, it's that he's anti-PUBLIC school, and honestly, I can't blame him.
Now we keep our fingers and toes crossed that we can make it work.
I'm proud of him, not everyone gets the offer, not everyone would be interested. Please please please let this work out for him!
Good luck to him on the scholarship!
ReplyDeleteSchool doesn't start here for another two weeks, but Steven is so ready. Of course, he's only in the first grade, and school is still all about fun.
My sister has him in a great charter school. It's free, but requires a lot of parent participation in order to keep it running. I'm hoping to get Jonas in there when he reaches school age. Of course, the wating list is enormous and the only way to guarantee his acceptance is if I enroll him in a certain Montessori for pre-school, and THAT costs an arm and a leg! I figure that if we start saving now, we might just have enough when the time comes.
I think you're making the right decision for Bren. I'm sure that, regardless of how "poor" the school rates on their standardized tests, etc. that he's getting a decent beginning. Besides, as my brother used to tell me, none of it counts until high-school.
fingers crossed. Please let me know when I can uncross them?
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