Montessori Preschool and Kindergarten

Today, my middle child returned to preschool. She went to preschool from about 18 months old until just after turning 3, when I pulled her out a few weeks after pulling my oldest out of kindergarten. I've been teaching her at home since then, using a variety of things - educational computer programs, some BJU K5 material (both video and non-video), Rod & Staff preschool/kindergarten books (A-B-C through G-H-I books), CLE Learning to Read material, and things I've pulled off the internet.

She's been doing great with all of it really, but gets tired of it after a while, and I haven't pushed her since she only just turned 5 last November. I just give her something from my "curriculum stash" whenever she asks. Still, she's already reading simple books, can blend 3-letter words, and knows quite a few addition and subtraction facts. On DreamBox (web-based math program), she's already doing some 2nd grade math. Based on what the public school expects kindergartners to learn by the end of the year, she's already beyond kindergarten level in most areas (her handwriting could still use some work, though she is almost as legible as my 2nd grader).

So, originally, I hadn't really thought about putting her in school this coming fall, when she is officially old enough for kindergarten. I figured she'd be too bored unless they let her skip to 1st grade, at least, which no place around here, public or private, seemed willing to do. But I had begun to realize that she really would like to be in a class with other kids. She is my most social child, and she thrives in an environment with lots of others. I knew that I really would like to give her a chance to experience a classroom setting, at least for a little while.

I looked into various schools in the area - several Christian ones, and a new university-model school that just started in our area (where the kids go for 2-3 days a week, and complete their work at home the other days). But then - I don't know why it took me so long - I remembered that the preschool where I'm sending my son right now (the same preschool my girls both went to earlier), also has a private kindergarten program. Kindergarten, not first grade. But when I looked into it more, I realized that, being Montessori-based, they let the kids progress at their own rate, and they even advertise that graduates of their kindergarten program will have completed a 1st grade level of work.

I talked with the teachers some more, and it really sounds like they will be able to provide my daughter as much stimulation and advancement as she wants, and will be able to start her at whatever level she currently needs. It's a small school, with probably only 6-10 kids in her class, and it's extremely close to our house. And my son already goes there. And it's not too expensive. And my daughter has been begging to go there.

So I signed her up to start today, 3 mornings a week, just like my son, in their accelerated pre-K program. Then next fall, she can attend their kindergarten, 5 days a week, 8:30-2:30.

She absolutely loved her first day today. Her teacher said she's going to speed her really quick through the first levels of the readers they use, since she had no problem at all reading the ones she started her on today. She also will get her a 101-200 number chart instead of the 1-100 one she started her on today, since she could point out any number she (the teacher) called out with ease. Made me proud!

We'll see how things go the next few months, but unless my daughter blows through all the material they have before the fall, we'll probably be sending her there to kindergarten.

I don't want to send the kids to a public school, and I know we can't afford a private school for all 3 kids (or even 2) every year (and I don't even like most of the private schools and their curriculum choices anyway), but this seems like a good thing to do this year, especially for my middle child. When she finishes their program, I can just resume homeschooling her at whatever grade level (2nd?) she ends up needing. My oldest will be quite independent in many areas by then, so I can spend more time with my middle, and my youngest - well, maybe then it will be his turn to try out a private kindergarten.

Temptation

I am being tempted. I happened to be browsing the website of a local Christian private school (I don't really remember why - I had researched them quite a bit before deciding to homeschool), when I noticed the link for "Employment Opportunities." I clicked it, and found a job which has the potential to be really perfect for me - the school librarian. I have a masters in librarianship, though I did not focus on school library tasks, nor do I have a teaching certificate. But for a private school, I wouldn't need any teaching credentials - just 24 credit hours in library science. So I would be quite well qualified. And I love working in libraries. And from my previous visit to their school, I had learned that employees can send their children to this private school for a greatly reduced rate.

The reason this is tempting to me is that I don't always enjoy the "teaching" part of homeschooling, especially when my daughter is being stubborn, grumpy, and extremely slow to do her work, which was quite a bit this past week. I love researching curriculum, and learning things myself, but teaching is difficult at times. I like reading to them, doing experiments (when they're not too messy), and teaching them things which are exciting to them, especially when they make discoveries and link things together. I love having them all home together, and how much closer they've become to each other. But it's frustrating when I feel like I'm just force-feeding them facts. I think I'll enjoy it more as they get older, and more logical. But these early years will be trying at times, I know. It is tempting to hand them off to a more skilled teacher, especially when I'd be right there on the same campus with them. Plus, I really like all the other activities the school offers - music, sports, drama, etc. The class sizes are small, the teachers are all Christians, and the school is just down the street from my parents' house.

But there are too many cons to taking the librarian job. For one thing, my 2 younger children are too young for the school, so I'd have to put them in full-time daycare/preschool for 2-3 more years, which I definitely don't want to do. Plus, I'd have to go to work every day, at least during the school year, and get the kids ready early, and be gone all day, and still have to do all the housework and cooking when I returned in the evening. The kids would still have homework in the evenings. I'd have to wear more formal clothes, force the kids to wear more formal clothes, fix lunches for us all, etc. We wouldn't be able to take a vacation whenever we wanted, I'd have to make arrangements somehow if one of the kids got sick. I also don't totally like the curriculum they use (A Beka in the earlier years, adding in Bob Jones in the upper levels, plus some other things which they don't specify). Some of these things aren't big deals, but the need for preschool and the curriculum choices are the two biggies for me.

So I'm not going to apply for now. Maybe when all 3 kids are school age, if they have other appropriate job openings, I might reconsider. But maybe by then, they'll all be old enough to not drive me crazy while homeschooling. (I'll just be glad when my 2-year-old is a bit more controllable.)

So I went one last time to check the school's website, and saw they had added another job opening - a pre-calc/calculus/physics teacher! Another job that looks perfect for me, given my degree in physics and lots of upper-level math. Ahh!!! I think I better not look at their website again for a long time!