Read on the online newspaper that they released the cut off dates for Kindergarten this year. Last year was about the first of June so our thinking was that Kaya would miss the deadline this year as well. The cut off this year is AUGUST 1...Kaya turns 5 in June. She can go this year!!! We discussed it (my best friend is the youngest and she always hated that in school...she couldn't take driver ed with us, couldn't do this and that due to her age) and we have decided that we will send her next year after she turns 6. We are debating hard between us (Steve is fully against preschool I'm more for it) about sending her a couple days a week this coming year to preschool. Steve sees it as letting someone else take responsibility for our child..I see it as a chance for her to be in a classroom setting with other kids and be prepared for K. She has very few little cousins to play with (due to we do not live next to most my family so we really don't get included in events..and Steve's side has very few little ones) on a daily basis and she's the youngest kid in our neighborhood (and all the kids being older have school stuff or parents that seem to stuff them into every single activity possible) so she's not got alot of kid on kid playtime etc. She's great when she is around kids..sharing,playing etc...but she deals on a more adult level by being around us (we play, do kid stuff etc but we speak as adults etc)
Indiana doesn't require a child start school until they are 7 but I will not wait that long...too hard on the child. We've talked private school with the pro of smaller classes etc but the cons:
1. We are not Catholic so our child's tuition would be twice a church member's amount.
2. Kaya would be left out of mass, out of certain field trips and class projects since she is not Catholic.
3. The other private school requires skirts at all times or dresses and believes women should have long hair and not dress as a man. At one point you had to even wear a skirt to pick your child up. Ummm not our lifestyle at all.
4. Private schools cater to their own religious agenda....sorta hard to deprogram your child from hearing "Women do this and women do that and dress like this" when she comes home.
5.I'm not changing my stance on my beliefs to send my child to school. I am not a hypocrite and I will not allow my child to think that it is ok to be one to get what you want in life.
6. How will the school interact with obvious non members?
We've toyed with the idea of sending her to the private school preschool to suss out the environment etc. So undecided.
I thought it was only Steve having anxiety over it until I woke up the other night with a sweaty neck from a "school dream" lol Silly maybe but handing my child over to a stranger..relying on that person to help foster my child's knowledge and outlook on the world, trust that person with my child's safety and life...is SCARY!!! In today's environment with shootings, bullying, school issues it scares the crap out of me. I'll never hold Kaya back out of my fear..but I will not thrust her into society to fend for herself!
So lots of issues to talk out and arrange. Steve came from an environment of hating school, bad teachers and no parents to help him. I came from the exact opposite. So it's meeting in the middle on feelings and issues.
We discussed home school but I don't feel that is the best option either. I am not a teacher. I'm not stupid but..it's a big step to take to home school We have been reading on it but again it will not help foster the "be around kids" deal.
I worry too that when Kaya starts school that she will be singled out more simply because...we don't give into societies idealistic materialistic crap. My kid doesn't have to have Nike on to succeed at school or life. She is extremely compassionate and has dealt with Steve's MS issue right along with us in her own way. We don't fit alot of "parent profiles". We have rules, chores, punishment for bad behavior but we don't freak if she's not wearing a cute shirt, skirt and doing exactly what the neighborhood kids are. We don't feel the need to impress others and we both feel strongly that she will NOT be pushed into everything in school. If she wants to do things awesome and it will be encouraged. But I will NOT sign her up for every sport, every event, push her to the limit she becomes frustrated and hates school simply to make myself "look" better or in some asinine theory that it will get her into a good college because at 8 she was involved in every sport, every event and running her legs off so much that she can't just sit and play. She may speak Spanish off and on now but I don't expect her to be a fluent speaker and know rocket science by the time she's 8.
People forget in the world today that our kids need to be kids. Yes they need an education and I am very stern on that. She will go to college, she will do good in school and she will do what makes her happy for her profession. But I won't make a kid sit inside doing school stuff or advanced school stuff for hours on end and she loses what it is to be a child.
I never had preschool. I started school being able to have a high reading proficiency I was in reading programs at school because I read 3 grades above my level. I took all advanced classes in school with a majority of them advanced English and sciences. I graduated with an academic honors and I graduated with a full payed scholarship for English journalism at Franklin college because my essay I wrote won out of all that applied. Sadly I did not use it and I kick myself to this day. Am I blowing my own horn? NO just showing that I accomplished all that with parents that realized a child needed time to play and get dirty and be a kid. Just a thought.
Sooo lots of thinking on the upcoming issue. Scares me yes but another new chapter in our life and Kaya's...and we will do it together :) :)
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