Friday, February 13, 2009

Pretty Much Sums it up

I have been pondering educational options for my child, since before he was born, I think in fact before I was married to his father. I'm pretty such I remember talking education options with his father before he was my husband, before we had confessed our undying love for each other, and before we ever started dating. I'm not sure if I got that order right, maybe we confessed before dating who can remember. Anyway, so this post from Pioneer Woman pretty much sums up everything I've ever thought.
Here is the short of what she said,

What I think is this:

1. Some people COULD homeschool who don’t think they can.
2. Some people DO homeschool who probably aren’t the best suited for the job.
3. Some people think PRIVATE SCHOOL is the answer to all their prayers, when really, the public school in their area is just as good.
4. On the other hand, some private schools do provide a great education.

If we buy a house in this part of this valley, then for my son we are swaying toward Spanish Immersion Charter School. I asked my husband what if the next child isn't as smart and doesn't know how to read before kindergarten than Immersion wouldn't be good. He said than we won't put her in it. My husband is so sensible always pointing out the obvious I can't see.
According to my husband he does not speak spanish well enough to teach our children. Understandable, I don't think I read well enough to teach my child. Luckily he is learning to read himself. But at the same time, my husband has plans of us all living abroad in a spanish speaking country somewhere south of here. (Which country has yet to be determined, we have lots of options.) My husband doesn't set very many goals, the ones he does set he accomplishes, I'm pretty sure even if my children don't live abroad, I will spend many a year in a country other than this. Even if we do live abroad I don't think my children really have to know spanish, just a bonus. So we figure since my son seems to be smart so far, why not try his hand at spanish. He is already doing quite well. We checked out Little Pim Spanish Videos from the library. They are FANTASTIC! We have dreams of buying them, my son does so well with them. After watching the first two videos, he was already repeating the third video. There is a lot of "educational videos" out there these days, and Little Pim is the only one I've ever seen my son interact with. Loves any and all the spanish videos he has gotten from the library. He also has a few spanish books, mostly thanks to the cheerio boxes, but I've also bought a few, and he learning all the vocabulary in the little dictionary. He hasn't mastered it, but he is picking it up way faster than I would have thought. He already knows more than me, which is easy to beat. But I did take Spanish from 3-8 grade, so when I watch the videos with him, it starts to come back. He also tells me when I pronounce it wrong. My brother reads my kid's Spanish dictionary in Portuguese. Anyway, this is a long post about nothing.
So far educational choices are not needed yet. But I fear them, like really nothing else. My greatest fear is than one day I will feel inspired to change my children's educational location, to a place I don't want. That might make no sense to anyone, but in my mind my sister understands. Really the world is filled with endless possibilities. Everyone on one side of the family homeschools, almost every female on the other side has taught public school, and so we think we should go middle ground with Private. Unfortunately we will probably never be that rich, and currently that's not really an option where we live. We like charter, in our last town we worked with kids, and we were always impressed with the kids that went to Charter schools. Not that the kids that went public were bad, some were in fact super smart. That would be the nature of children, and any education choice. Really it all has to do with strengths and personality. Some kids excel in public, and some don't. Hopefully I'll have the intuition to know where my children will excel. And hopefully it matches with what I want... but nothing in life ever does.

1 comment:

  1. Good thing you are thinking about all this now. You have lots to think about still to come when it comes to your child's education. Check out the websites: http://tjedonline.com/ and http://www.borntoexplore.org/unschool/ and this one is my favorite: http://ldshomeschoolinginca.org/why.html
    Really when you pray about what your child needs you will be inspired to put him or her where they need to be that year.
    Awesome that you are already starting Spanish!
    I wish you luck! Education does not start at kindergarten age that is a public school mentality.

    AND I doubt Danna will homeschool so that isn't everyone! AND we loved our charter school last year!

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