Where we would send our children to school was not something we took into consideration when we moved to Georgia. Jason and I both grew up in the Midwest where we were offered an excellent education through the public school system. My high school was very competitive. You were not in the "in" crowd unless you were in honors classes and played a varsity sport. My teachers wanted us to excel and worked with us to make sure we did well. My parents very rarely had to help me with homework and never had to monitor my progress at school. Report cards were sent out, I got patted on the head and life moved on.
I'm not sure if things have changed in the Midwest (I graduated 13 years ago), but things are definitely very different in the south. The school systems in Georgia are deplorable. Parents spend 3-4 hours each night with their children working on homework. Grades, quizzes and tests are monitored via online services. Parents are forever having to work with the schools and teachers to get the best for their children. Now, I'm all for parent participation but I feel like it should be because I "want" to...not because the school is failing my child and I have no choice. Georgia schools teach kids to take tests...simple as that. I want my children to walk away from 13 years of school with knowledge, not just the ability to memorize.
So, if I don't trust the public schools to do this what other option is there? Right now there is a lot of hype on charter schools. You can find charter schools all across the nation, but they're just starting to get popular in Georgia. These schools are public schools but teach with a more hands on approach and are allowed to be more flexible with their curriculum. Test scores are actually higher (possibly because the students are actually learning) and graduation rates are almost 100%. After hearing such great things about charter schools I decided to look into it for Ayden. Hmmmm. Apparently these schools are mostly being developed in Metro Atlanta...not down in the sticks by us. There is one charter school in Coweta County just west of us but it would be waaaaay out of my way for work and since we live in Fayette County, we'd be last on the list.
If charter schools are out of the question, then all we're left with is private. $$$ That's all I can think of. $$$ We don't have a lot of $$$ just sitting around. I plan on picking up some financial aid forms while I'm on maternity leave and we'll cross our fingers and pray we qualify. I'm hoping that because we'll have Ava in daycare, Jameson in daycare/preschool and Ayden in private school (and the fact that plumbers and payroll accountants don't make a boat load of cash), we'll get some sort of help and be able to send Ayden off for a another year of quality education next fall.
NOTE: I do realize that not ALL of Georgia's schools suck. There are some great schools in Peachtree City! But we really want to buy a larger home for our growing family and we prefer to not live in congested Peachtree City.
So, keep your fingers crossed that Jason and I are as broke as we think we are so that we can get a great discount on a private school education for our kids:)
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2 comments:
I can relate. California schools are notoriously bad. We did private back in Ann Arbor, one of the most highly educated cities in the country. I laugh now. We spend MUCH time every night doing homework with our kids. I feel like I'm homeschooling. Our school only offers academics, thusly, no art, gymn, music or Spanish (we live less that 60 miles from the Mexican border). Pretty terrible. We made a point to buy in the best school district in our area, too. I would say, if you can swing it, look in to private where all the other parents are equally as committed to education as you are. Test scores are crap, it just means the teacher teaches to the test. You want a school that emphasizes independent thinking, white collar values and avoids rote memorization as a "learning" technique.
Thanks for the encouragement. One of the things I like best about private school is that there isn't any state testing. I want the best for my kids, but it's all going to come down to cost. I need to win the lottery!!!!
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