School

I ran into B-'s mom at a bridge building lecture given by G-'s dad on Tuesday.  This weekend is a balsa wood bridge competition.  Even though Bohdin won't participate I though he might like to learn more about it.  There were quite a few kids there.  Nyla played with R- while Bohdin was in class.  I mentioned to B-'s mom that we would be moving this winter.  As she and I were talking she brought up the idea of enrolling Bohdin and Nyla into public school just for the fall.  It would give them a chance to see what it was like and give me some free time to pack.  It sounded like an intriguing idea so I explored it further.  The deadline for enrollment application was in two days so I had to move quick.  The entire county is not known for its stellar schools and our corner of it is among the worst.  One is allowed to apply to any school here regardless of where you live but I didn't want them to have a 1.5 hour bus ride each way like the girls across the street.  I also didn't want to have to drive them 30 minutes to school.  I chose the two best in our area and decided to go visit the closest one.  A neighbor down the street had raved about the school last year.  Bohdin is pretty adamant about wanting to stay at home.  He says he enjoys the freedom to do subjects in the order he wants.  Nyla I think might like school so I was actually more interested for her sake.  We went close to the end of the day and were given a tour by the counselor.  She was very nice and showed us all three kindergarten classrooms. The first was watching a video but it seemed like they were doing something interactive with it that kept the teacher busy so I didn't talk to her.  The next classroom the kids were playing at various stations.  I asked about the reading instruction.  They do a combination of whole word and phonics.  I'm not in love with the whole word method because it is really glorified guessing.  That's not the way to read.  I did like that they separated the kids by reading ability in the class and sent home different books based on reading level.  The next class was watching a video also but I don't remember for certain.  The kids were friendly and said hi to Nyla.  I asked further about academics.  She said they do simple addition.  Just for the heck of it I asked to see a first grade classroom so I could see what Bohdin's peers were doing.  They were watching Magic School Bus and Bohdin walked in and started watching with them.  I asked about math since this is where Bohdin is most advanced.  The kids that day were working on simple addition like 5 plus 4 and learning their facts to ten.  They had been working with dominoes that day and understanding that equals means the same as.  By the end of the year they are expected to know addition facts up to 20.  Bohdin just finished up three digit subtraction with renaming.  I asked what she does with advanced kids.  They get to play computer games.  Recess is 20 minutes and they have recess most days.  Art, music, gym, and something else are once per week.

I was really underwhelmed.  Bohdin can plat computer games and watch videos at home.  In addition he would still be learning more.  There are really good public schools out there but this was not one of them.  I felt much better about homeschooling after the visit.  Everybody was very friendly but I also expect an excellent education.  I might revisit the idea when we are in Kansas.  The schools there are supposed to be quite good.

Yesterday we met up with some other homeschoolers at the park.  Nyla made a new friend so I hope we'll see her again soon.  Bohdin tried to play with her 5 year old brother but they had some difficulty clicking.  I always tell Bohdin that to make friends he needs to be friendly but he still needs more work.  A busload of elementary school kids came and mobbed the playground.  The homeschooled kids mostly went off into the forest to play there but Cora had no problem with the large crowd.  She climbed up and went down the slide next to kids that were nearly as big as me.  I saw one boy there just hanging out with his eyes sort of downcast and not interacting with anybody else.  That's the kid that Bohdin would be in school.