Thursday night after Emma’s preschool graduation ceremony Scott and I had a quick but serious conversation about Emma and school. I think we’re going to look into a few local private Christian schools for her to go to.
I realized at that ceremony Thursday that public school was going to be so different. No more praise songs as closing ceremonies. No more prayers. No more pledges to Bibles and Christian flags. No more (publicly) Christian teachers lining the halls. No more Bible Stories. No more Christian environment. In fact, in some cases, they’d be teaching exactly opposite of what we believe. I have never been a huge advocate of private Christian schools but for some reason both Scott and I felt like maybe it is something we need to look into.
And then randomly, Heather spouts out this weekend that Mom has been thinking the same thing.
Coincidence? I doubt it.
We had cousins that went to a private school and they did fabulously. One is now a lawyer while the other is going to be a nurse. They both moved away for college and have done great. I’ve also known a handful of other kids who “turned out bad” even though going to Christian schools.
I was taught completely in public schools and I think I did well education wise and it didn’t “damage me” too bad socially or spiritually. There’s something to be said for plopping a person right in the middle of everything you don’t want them to know just if, for nothing else, a teaching moment or even the ability to adapt to a world that will never be exactly the way you’d choose.
I’m really torn. We have some of the best schools in the state. People move here for our schools. It’s 3 minutes from my house. It’s free. I realize we would be setting the standard for what to believe and not to believe and not the school.
But then, there was that ceremony. Where a group of 40 kids stood together and praised God as part of school. And it wasn’t even a side note. A moment. God was the center of that ceremony. And my mom grew up where they said the Lord’s prayer and I grew up where there wasn’t so many sinful things running so rampant and so blatantly public. Where God meant more than political correctness.
It’s just not the same these days.
Yes, our job as parents is to raise our children to know God but there’s something to be said when the people they spend the majority of their time with every week has the same message as you instead of you double-checking and fighting many viewpoints and attitudes.
At 5K per year vs. free, it’s something to SERIOUSLY consider. I don’t know what we’ll end up doing but I do know we’re going to spend some time this week looking into it.
If you so choose, I’d like to hear your opinion on the public vs. private school–not what you think of OUR decision–but if you’ve had experience or have some strong opinions with public vs. private, I’d like to know.
FYI, homeschooling has been thought of. For many reasons, I just don’t think that’s the path we want to go down and I’ll leave that there.
I can see the need for private school being an issue once they reach a more difficult age – maybe 5th or 6th grade. But for kindergarten/first grade public school is the way we’re going. I suppose it’s not such an issue for us since their afterschool care is at a Christian daycare center (where CG/CB had to learn not only the pledge of allegiance but also the pledge to the Christian flag and the pledge to the Bible, along with Bible verses and stories) so that combined with church will still give them a healthy God-centered focus every day even if they don’t get it from 7:15 a.m. – 2:15 p.m.
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The other thing I didn’t mention is Lexi could go to K3 there and then I would only have 1 place to go next year instead of trying to play taxi to two different schools. I’d still have to get Lexi mid-day but it would eliminate the extra morning drive to Lexi’s current preschool.
I see your point that they’re “easy” in primary/elementary school. But…I sort of see it on the flip side though after working with teens..by 5th or 6th grade in a lot of ways their foundation is set. I think they’d be more resistant to moving to a private school in middle school vs. starting in private and moving to a public school in middle school. That way, they’d have a firm Christian foundation and would be more ready to handle the public environment. We have a girl like that in our youth group now…she went to Christian school up to high school and is now doing well in a public high school.
I don’t know, there’s so many ways to look at it.
It’s a hard decision. We have very good public schools, a really cute elementary one that I admire every time I go to vote. They always have something civic minded on the walls, and it makes me feel like maybe kids really do learn about their country these days – kwim? But, we have chosen to take Em out of her very nice preschool and send her to the 4 yr old preschool program at the Catholic school we want her to attend. (We are Catholic. Plenty of non-Catholic Christians send their kids to this school however, since Catholic is the only type of Christian schools in this area.) We did this because we want her to be able to pray in school, to talk about the meaning of Christmas, to have teachers be able to teach right from wrong and not “a matter of personal opinion”.
I am not against public education, and we are really fairly liberal Christians – to my view – but I want her to be bathed in the morals of Christianity. Yes, we can do this at home, but it also makes us step up our game and gives us support in this counter-culture child raising. There are plenty of things I do wrong, and I don’t think either Nick or I or the school is the perfect moral compass – we are human. But the intention is there.
Also, I am a product of Catholic education, and so is my husband. I had 16 years – 1st through college, and Nick had 12, and I do think our faith was nurtured in those classrooms. I know our teachers prayed for us, and that’s so powerful to me. It’s another faith community, a religious school, and for that any many other reasons, we have chosen that route.
I, like you, debated it in my head, but my husband was settled on it, and that was really enough for us to push forward. When we went for orientation, they prayed! (You might remember my moment of what-did-I-do, but that was over the word choice more than anything else!)
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Our two children attend a wonderful Catholic school here in Toronto. It was very important for my husband and I that our children be in a school where God was the focus. It is a little different here as the Catholic School Board in Toronto is funded with money collected from the tax payers (you have the choice to support either the public or Catholic school board) but we would send the kids to Our Lady of Wisdom even if it were private.
Every morning school starts with a prayer and a reading from the Bible, there are prayers before lunch and prayers at the end of the day. Everything in school has God as the focus from the curriculum to the books in the library to the artwork in the halls. The kids are constantly reminded of His presence in the most positive way. I grew up going to a public school where the Lord’s prayer was said every morning and where a old soldier would come and read the Christmas story for 5 days before our Christmas concert and the Easter story for four days before Good Friday. Unfortunately that is not the case anymore so if you want your Christian faith to be represented at school in Toronto, the Catholic school system is the only way to go.
Matthew and Leila have benefitted in ways that will help them always by being in a warm Christian environment every day. My sister’s children go to a public school in a different city (about half an hour from us) and my parents have both commented on the difference in the “feeling” of the school. I have found that the sense of community is intensified when your faith is shared as well.
It is definitely a tough choice when there is tuition to consider.
I went to a Christian school for grades 9-12 and had a great experience. It gave me such a solid foundation in the Bible that I wouldn’t have gotten in church alone. I’m also a former high school teacher and would never send my kids to a public hig school. The stuff I saw in public alone is enough to make me wonder what goes on in private. I think it’s a bit different in elementary schools though.
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I went to private school K-6. We lived in a good public school district. I believe my parent’s money would have been better spent by sending me to the local public school in elementary and then possibly switching me to private for 7-12. That said, my public school experience for 7-12 wasn’t bad. So much depends on the kid. I was not easily swayed (though very shy) so I was not going to follow the crowd. My faith was instilled in me mostly by going to church on Sundays and my grandmother. My private school was secular, but I don’t think it would have made a difference whether I was in a Christian or public school. I also feel like public schools should be supported so they STAY good. I wouldn’t sacrifice my child for it though so if I lived in a bad school district, i would probably send my child to private school. I’m also a public librarian (children’s dept) and found that there were wonderfully adjusted children (as well as not so great) either way you go. My vote is for the public school but it’s such a personal decision and like I said, I would send my child private if the local public were not up to par.
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Yikes! A tough call, indeed. I can’t offer you much…except for my own experience with a private Catholic school…excellent all around!! I am still friends with so many of the same kids . Such a great experience for me!
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This is such a hard decision for us too. We loved the Christian preschool that the kids went to, but we think academically the public schools are better (at least in our area). Our plan is to do public elementary and homestudy Faith Formation. Then we will re-evaluate when it comes time for middle school.
Good luck with your decision!
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