O.K. it has already been established by some people that I will be going straight to hell AND leading my eldest son by the hand for ALLOWING him to participate in community cub scouts instead of following the Lord's plan and waiting for him to turn 8 years old and join church scouts. (In my defense, might I add that two years ago a solid church program was non-existent and I was HIGHLY encouraged by parents who had been there/done that to run run as fast as I could AWAY from the "church" program which was not at the time following the church handbook of instructions OR the BSA policies.)
So now we are led to the next dilemma. When we moved to Florida, Tino was a product of bilingual education. You know, a bilingual education program that is implemented correctly and follows best practices based upon the latest and greatest research of dual language learning. By the end of kindergarten, Tino was reading at a 2nd grade reading level in Spanish and had taught himself to read in English since he had a solid foundation in the Spanish language. He was reading at a 3rd grade reading level in English. Imagine the SHOCK and HORROR when I discovered that A. Florida's public education is not so hot and B. Since Tino was not "of age" to enter 1st grade, he would have to REPEAT kindergarten. YIKES! And might I add that Kindergarten in Florida is like Kindergarten used to be 12+ years ago in California. It is NOT academic in nature and includes such things of the past as fingerpainting, NAP TIME, etc. (In California we had to cram 2 1/2 hours a day of Language Arts instruction and 2 hours a day of Math instruction into a 3 1/2 hour Kindergarten day.) Needless to say at my school site, we opted for an extended day Kindergarten program where the kiddos were with us 5 hours daily. That allowed for sufficient time to get math, language arts, and RECESS into the daily routine . . . and allowed for time for fun stuff like science, art, music, etc.
Back to Tino. Long story short . . . he ended up skipping 1st grade. According to the state of Florida, he skipped Kindergarten AND 1st grade. Which leads to our modern-day dilemma. Up until NOW, grade skipping was the perfect modification to keep Tino sufficiently challenged and interested in education. He has not been labeled "Gifted" . . . although I tend to think otherwise. He has remained one of the top students in his class despite the fact that his classmates are at least 18 months+ years OLDER than him. Not too shabby. All of his classmates are turning 11 and some are even turning 12. Tino turned 9 in September. I don't mind having a barely turned 9 year old in 5th grade. But middle school is ANOTHER story. Why don't I go ahead and feed my child to the WOLVES?
Here are the choices I have come up with so far for next year. Sending him to a traditional middle school is NOT an option. Neither is having him repeat the 5th grade. (I've tried to convince the principal and his classroom teachers since 3rd grade that maybe he needs to repeat to avoid this middle school dilemma, but since he is at the top of his class academically, that idea has been SHOT DOWN. I guess you can't repeat a grade due to young age and small size).
- Public School K-8 Magnet program. This is strictly LOTTERY. (Although I am going to bust out with the HISPANIC card. I am going to check that little box on the application JUST IN CASE they need to have a certain number of "ethnic" or "diverse" students in their population).
The average middle school in Orange County has between 1100 and 1700 students in grades 6-8. The Magnet program is capped at 300 students. (Total school population K-8 is 825). Last year 259 students applied to the program. 159 got rejected. They cap the program at 100 students per grade level. Period. - Private School K-8. This will cost between $9,000 and $12,000 per year. Which means I will DEFINITELY have to return to the work force FULL TIME in order to pay for his education AND get an additional night job to pay for Sarah and Mateo's full-time pre-school or daycare.
- Home school. Ramifications? I kill Tino or Tino kills me first. We don't do well on hurricane stay-at-home days or long winter breaks. Will day to day schooling (with mom as teacher) really work out? Also, little brother and sister would HAVE to go to pre-school in order for me to effectively home school.
6 comments:
When would you find out about the magnet?
Option #
4. Send him to live with his Aunt Heather and she will get him into American Heritage. I mean, good grief that would solve the schooling problem, your killing each other and look there is a scout on the homepage. And its less expensive.
Yeah, that's a tough one. I sent my ten year old to middle school and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown.
I bet homeschooling wouldn't be as bad as you think. Could you do it for one year and then put him into sixth grade? Maybe let him do "self-directed" learning (whatever he wants to study) for a year. But then what about friends? Yeah. You are in a tough spot.
My thirteen year old goes to high school next year and I can't begin to describe the nervous breakdown I am having.
i haven't checked your blog in awhile bc i thought you were on hiatus. imagine my shock to find multiple missed posts. sorry.
i'm a teacher. so it makes me feel important to say "in my professional opinion..."
i'm not familiar with the term "magnet" school, but it sounds like a charter school. they love diversity, both cultural and academic. i would find several local charters/magnets and go in to interview them. they also love proactive parents, and i'm not convinced the lotteries are all 100% chance. explain your circumstances, ask what benefits they could provide for your son in his situation, and maybe throw in the fact that his test scores will up their stats.
if you find a good private school, discuss scholarships options with them. most schools will have them based on either financial need or academic merit.
also, tout your skills as well at either location. list some of the perks you bring to the table. make it a package deal. "i can volunteer to teach aerobics at PE once a week" or whatever. you get the drift.
my last tip is to exploit your connections. find anyone you know who could be connected to a private or charter school. talk to friends of friends until you meet someone who can hook you up. the inside track is always the shortest.
good luck. i can only imagine how stressful this could be for you.
Those three had great things to say. I have nothing--only that you Hazen girls are such tough cookies that your kids are LUCKY to have gotten you as their advocate. Keep us updated!
Wow - and I was feeling sorry for myself dealing with my son's position in the Salem school district.
I can't give you any feedback because I feel like my dilemnas are similar and equally terrifying. Keep us updated!
Heidi,
I found your blog on a link from Paige's blog. I just have to add that we started homeschooling last year. A big reason was that I didn't want Maddy going to public middle school. There were many other reasons too but that was one of them. I love it. I never even considered it until we moved to Utah where the schools really stink. I ran into an old friend from the Alamo ward who is homeschooling and I started looking into it and was intrigued. It is not what you think. It's an entirely different paradigm. And there are hundreds of different ways to do it. Email me if you want more info. w_vonsosen@yahoo.com
Good luck. I'm sure you'll make the right decision.
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