Kindergarten Ramblings

Ideally, we would love to send Austin to a top notch private Christian school, but we don't have the financial resources for that right now. (Have you checked out tuition for private school? $5,000/year is pretty typical for two or three day kindergarten. It goes up in cost for every grade. That's like college tuition people!)

After realizing that private school was not realistic, we were left with two options:

1. I quit my part-time job at the law office and homeschool, or
2. We try to get Austin into a good public school and see if that route is even an option. If not, we homeschool.

As I have indicated in prior posts, we don't know anybody who sends their kids to public school in Louisville. One reason for this is that many, if not the majority, of Louisville's schools are weak academically. Another reason is that many Christian conservatives have given up on the public school system because of religious and ideological reasons.

We were willing to give the public school system a shot, but only if we could get Austin into one of the two schools nearest our home. Since Austin was chosen for a good school within walking distance, we decided that we would see how things go for kindergarten.

What's the worst thing that could happen? We pull him out and homeschool. Not that big a deal.

I am hopeful that things will work out. I've joined the PTA Facebook page, and it seems like there are a lot of active parents. We have lots of activities next week to get ready for school. Austin will go to Kindergarten Camp for a few hours next week, and we have a school wide cookout to attend.

There is something in me that just loves to fill out a planner. I've already transferred the school calendar to my personal planner and made notes about things like school picture day and PTA meetings. I know they are doing a Field Trek in October, which is like the Panther Prowl walkathon that they did at my elementary school to raise money for the school. I've been collecting box tops and signed up to link my Kroger card to the box tops website.

If I'm going to send my kid to public school, I'm going to do it right. I'm going to be involved and know what is going on at my kid's school. I'm going to meet other parents and teachers. I'm going to get to know the school's new principal. I'll volunteer to chaperone field trips and do room mom type things.

You know, this whole kindergarten thing might actually be fun.