Someone asked me recently if I knew the dates for kindergarten registration, and I was confused as to why they asked me. I had been there and done that, and we are completely passed the kindergarten stage. The thing is, I forgot my second child is entering kindergarten next year.
When my first child was about to start kindergarten, it was on my mind for almost the entire year prior to the start date. I could not fathom the amount of hours she would spend away from me in school, and we wrestled over the best options for school for her. We knew we could not afford private school, but seriously considered some home school options.
We are fortunate to live in an area that has several successful and excellent hybrid home school options within driving distance. The hybrid homeschool programs offered the best of both worlds. Our daughter would have up to two days in a class with a teacher, we would have help with curriculum and she would be home with me more. On the downside, we had to pay for a school program.
The day I toured one of the hybrid homeschool programs near us, we found out that I was pregnant with our third child. Not only was I pregnant, but she was due in August when school would be starting. Handling any homeschool program with a newborn was daunting. I was intimidated to handle public school as well, but we had neighbors attending the same public school which helped us through the process.
I will admit, the decision to send our child to public school was not easy. It felt like a monumental decision and with all the negative press that public school receives, we were very unsure about the decision. We told ourselves that homeschool was a good future option to consider when our daughter would reach the grade that testing would be the priority. Besides, we figured if our daughter hated kindergarten, which is supposed to be the most fun school year, then we would know if public school had really gone astray with their methods.
As I scramble to gather all of my needed paperwork to register my second child for public school, I can look back on the decision and know that it was not as monumental as it felt. Our daughter had a great first year, and kindergarten still maintained a lot of fun learning. Granted, she appears to be a good student, but as long as she continues to thrive at public school, she will continue to attend it.
Parents who are fretting over their little loves going into any type of school, be assured that it does get easier, they often do adjust easily and despite negative press, public schools are still full of passionate teachers who love teaching our little ones.
Writer Bio: Summer Bolte
I spend most of my time and days with my three kids, husband and dog. My kids frequently play near me as I garden, cook, DIY and volunteer. My most unusual paying job has to be feeding fruit flies in a research lab, and my most fulfilling job was being an oncology nurse for seven years.
