Private School

Earlier this week we went to one of the private schools in the area to meet with the director, have Jena tested for placement, etc.

It was the school that was at the top of our list for private schools, and we're satisfied that they would provide a quality education and try to work with Jena at her level.

The testing was a little... unclear. The way they do testing is to review work that the students are currently doing. So for Jena the teacher reviewed both Kindergarten work and 1st grade work.

Kindergarten work, no problem. But they are small classes, they believe in advancing the student as they are ready, etc. So sounds good.

1st grade work... well, everything they covered is something that I know Jena knows how to do. But... how it's delivered confused her.

For instance, for reading they asked her to identify which words follow the "mb" combination sound rule. Things like "lamb", "climb", "plumber", etc. She couldn't answer.

But here's the deal. She can read all of those words. She knows how to pronounce "mb" in combination. But no one has taught her that it is a "rule", that it's a "combination sound", etc. So to ask her to identify words that follow a "combination sound rule" doesn't make sense to her. But if you asked her a different way, I know for a fact she knows that information. Does that make sense?

So probably if we were to send her there we would go ahead and start her in Kindergarten, so she could catch up on the way they teach there. Does that make sense?

We haven't made a decision yet, but I'm glad we went. It gave us a lot of good information.

One issue we have to look at is finances. The private school tuition, plus after school care for over 3 hours a day, means a significant chunk of my paycheck would be going just to her schooling.

Plus, since this school starts earlier, but I still can't pick her up till after work, she'd be either at school, or in an after-school care center for roughly 9.5 hours a day. I know she's already in preschool for 8 hours a day, but that extra 90 minutes just makes it sound like a lot. I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that.

We're keeping our options open, and continue to gather information. I'm sure we'll figure it out in the end.

We're also considering the possibility of homeschool. Any readers care to share their experience / knowledge on the subject?

As always, thanks for checking in!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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I'm here

Sorry I've been MIA. You have no idea how much I'd rather be blogging, LOL.

Lots of drama, very busy.

Baby is good. 13 weeks. I'm doing well.

Work sucks. More details than I can go into now. Or maybe ever. Confidentiality and such.

Biggest news is we're looking into private schools and homeschool options for Jena. Long story, but that's consuming much of our personal time right now.

Hopefully I can get back on here for real in the near future.

As much as I miss writing, I miss checking in on your blogs too. Hope to be back soon!