Public versus Private School

My daughter Elisabeth has a September birthday which means that she missed the cut off date for kindergarten by 12 days.  It was very frustrating because not only is she extremely tall for her age, but was very prepared to start kindergarten with the rest of her friends yet still had to wait an additional year.  Because of this, we chose to enroll her in Challenger private school which is just down the road from us so that she could attend all-day kindergarten and would maybe be prepared enough when she started public school to have the option of skipping first grade.  I had no idea what the rest of my kids were missing out on until she attended private school.  Now don't get me wrong, my children have had excellent teachers at the elementary they attend, but because of the amount of money allotted per child from taxes, there are things the teachers just can't do even if they wanted to.  For example:

Elisabeth has 12 children in her kindergarten class.  12!!  There is another kindergarten class there as well with the same number of students, meaning instead of combining them for a class of 24, they chose to hire an extra teacher and split the classes.  The curriculum requires that every child be reading before they start kindergarten, if they are not at this level, they are offered additional classes to catch up.  I happened to be at my friend's house and saw the books that were sent home with her daughter to read for homework for the 1st grade and was absolutely blown away that her books were the same ones Elisabeth was given to read in preschool.  Some of the words that were in my daughter's reading for this week were "audition" and "plough".  My daughter is able to do weekly science projects where they learn about prisms and the water cycle and boiling points of different substances.  They also did a class science fair project.  They are taught history every day; about the Constitution and the various presidents and how they can be responsible citizens.  They learn in depth about other countries and their cultures, as well as beginning Spanish.

I LOVE all-day kindergarten and think that all schools should have this option, if it were in their budgets.  Kindergarten is really just another year of preschool here in Utah--2 1/2 hours every day except Friday which is early out and therefore it is only 1 1/2 hours.  Is it even worth going?!  I realize there are some people who want as much time with their kids as possible (which I will never understand) and would not want all day kindergarten, but the added amount of time for learning is vital!  I have seen first hand the difference a full day can make versus a so-called half day.  As a matter of fact, Elisabeth has no early out Fridays and no teacher prep days.  Don't most of you get tired of the endless extra days off your kids have?  It seems like every other week they have a day off, which just seems disruptive to the learning process to me.  Elisabeth's 100th day of school is at least 2 weeks before the rest of my kids!

The public school system is great for most kids who have no learning challenges, but for those like my 12 year old daughter, private school would have been such a blessing!  How I wish I would have had the means to put her in private school many years back so that she could have had more one-on-one attention!  Although I do not like paying taxes, I would be more than willing to pay more so that my kids could have smaller class sizes and better paid teachers.

It bothers me that Utah has a law prohibiting schools from asking parents to supply basic school supplies for their children.  Regardless of this, I always donate to my children's  classrooms.  I realize that they are trying to be mindful of those who don't have money to buy such things but seriously, if you can't afford a box of crayons and some erasers for your kids, then stop having kids!

I also love that she is required to wear a uniform.  Not only do I like it because there are no worries about modesty or comparing clothes between students, but no one looks scroungy and it ends up costing a LOT less money.  There are no arguments on what to wear in the morning; she has one uniform so she wakes up and puts it on, no questions asked.

It makes me sad that next year Elisabeth will be integrated into public school because I have seen what level of learning she is capable of and what a school can offer if it has the money.  But, I am happy because she has had an awesome start to her education and will now be at the school where most of her friends are as well as her siblings.