I did everything wrong when I was his age. I ended up getting pregnant at 16 and having him at 17. While I have had to finish my growing up with him, I have gotten most of my act together and he is turning out really great.
Next school year he will be a freshman in High School. He currently carries a 3.something-almost a 4.0 GPA (he missed the 4.0 by a B+. Sad, I know. His sisters were sure to tease him endlessly over that one. I helped a little.
My husband and I strive to give our kids the best education we can manage. When we moved to the Southern Utah area, we were shocked at the education my children got the one year they spent at the local Elementary school. I proceeded to homeschool them for the next two years because of it. When I heard an academically geared Charter School was opening up in the area, I jumped on it. Four of my five children go to the Charter School and we really like it.
Unfortunately, this is C's last year at the school. He is going to be a ninth grader next year and it only goes through 8th grade.
Utah has a weird grade system. Having grown up in California, I am used to K-6, then 7-8, finally 9-12. Well, here it is K-5, then 6-7, then 8-9, and finally 10-12. I don't know why they do this, but they do. So, C will spend one year at the middle school and then move on to the actual high school.
I was planning to homeschool him next year. I think homeschooling is a great option. Especially for a kid like C who have a hard time adjusting to new things and who will cause total chaos when school starts, but C really wants to go to a school. Fine.
We have three options for a school. One is another Charter school, which I hear is really good academically but is a 40 minute drive from home. (I have heard some not-so-positive things also. Between the drive and the little stuff I have been hearing, it was easy to say no.) The other two schools are both regular public schools. One is by our house and is apart of our boundaries. The other is having open enrollment and, I hear, a really great school.
Yesterday, we spent the day going to the two public schools to check them out and get a feel for them. The one by us was dark, gloomy, and 2 out of 3 of the staff that we talked to were slightly rude. Like they didn't have time to talk to us. This was the school that C could take a bus to. The other school was bright, airy, and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful. The school counselor stopped everything she was doing to give us a tour (usually you would have to call ahead) and the Vice Principal walked by with some left over pizza and offered it to the kids.
Luckily, the school we like the most is about 5 minutes from the Charter School the little ones go to, so it won't be a big strain. It would have been nice to have C take the bus, but the staff of a school makes a really BIG impression.
I am glad the decision is done and made, but boy, it sure is hard to make these decisions. I mean, this is my kid's future. I gave up in school because of the teachers at the high school I went to. Luckily, I am not afraid to homeschool if there is ever a need and we are fully involved in our kid's education. I refuse to sit by the side and have my kids go to a certain school because my district says so. If that's the case, then they need to make sure the schools are all up to par.
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