Kindergarten

Last winter, I was madly trying to figure out where to send Gabriela for kindergarten. I desperately wanted I make sure we were making an informed decision and giving her the best possible learning environment. So, naturally, I signed her up for four different schools. The problem is that many schools have lotteries for placement, so even after you choose the best option, you are not guaranteed a spot. 

I went to an open house for an urban Waldorf inspired charter school. It was a great model, I thought, at least in theory. The school is in Oakland and they are providing Waldorf style education (that is usually extremely expensive) to kids who would normally never have this opportunity. And did i mention its free? We got a spot, but I turned it down. It just didn't feel right. Part of this is because the school is just in its second or third year and I felt like they still had a lot of work to do to successfully transfer their ideas into practice. But the location also made me nervous, not because it is in Oakland, but the particular neighborhood. Shortly after I went, I got an alert on my phone that some streets right around the school were closed to investigate a shooting that happened at 10:30 am on a Tuesday morning. I just couldn't consider it any longer after that happened. 

We also signed up for a charter school in Alameda. We heard a lot about this school. Some people totally hated it, and others absolutely loved it. In the end, we had to decide for ourselves because everyone's experience is different. I went to several tours and info nights and was excited when we got our spot. However, we got a weird feeling from the principle that neither Lane nor I liked. First they started out the evening by saying they had decided to completely change the way classes are structured since the last time we met.  I got the feeling they change things up often, and didn't think the kids benefitted from this. The school is a project based, student led learning environment, which i was really excited about. This means the kids have some input in what they learn, which gives them ownership of the learning process. But we got the message from the principle that they didn't want parental input, we were to let our kids make their choices without any influence, and while they wanted parental support in the school, parents were not allowed in the classroom during main instruction time. It felt weird and uninviting. We declined this spot as well. 

This left us with our neighborhood school. We have heard great things about the school and the parent involvement. After the parent night, Lane and I both felt like Gabriela would do fine, but neither of us were set. A few months later we came to the school's open house night and looked at all the student work in the classrooms.  When we got home Lane's words were, "sooo, Gabriela's already done kindergarten at home". It was true, we had done so many of the activities and work they had on display.  We were both nervous about how Gabriela would do. 

I also requested that Gabriela be put in the local arts magnet school, but we were 15th on the waiting list. 

This left us with our neighborhood school, but it still didn't feel right. When people asked where Gabriela was going to kinder, I found myself saying, "our neighborhood school is Otis" instead of announcing where we would be going. 

And then we moved. 

And as soon as I knew we were moving, I knew we would be homeschooling. Finally, it felt right and finally I was excited.  

I enrolled Gabriela in a charter school. We have a credentialed teacher assigned to us who will come to or house once a month to help me plan for the year, review our work and collect samples for Gabriela's file. We also receive $1600 each year to buy curriculum, supplies, pay for classes or lessons. The school organizes field trips and outings and also runs their own cooking, robotics, art and writing classes we can attend if we want.  

In addition, we have joined a homeschool group in our county so Gabriela will regularly meet and play with kids, she already met a few kids her age that she played with very well. 

So that's our big news. Our homeschool room is (mostly) set up, we are waiting for our books and Planet Earth DVDs and science kit to arrive and all sorts of other learning goodness. I have been planning our days and am looking forward to school starting next week.