Home/Unschooling

[blpurdom at yahoo.com]

I've been following this thread with interest. My husband and I are 
trying to decide what to do with our son next year and it will 
probably be years before we know whether we have made the right 
decision.  Here's the situation:

The school our kids currently attent is K-8, divided between two 
buildings, the Martin Building and the Bache Building.  There is one 
principal for the school but it thus effectively functions as two 
separate schools: a primary school (K-4 in the Martin Building) and a 
middle school (5-8 in the Bache Building).  The primary school is 
very good, with relatively small classes and dedicated teachers, well-
equipped facilities and a wonderful after-school program where my 
kids get to meet and play with kids from other grades/classes, 
instead of just being exposed to the same 25 children all the time.  
Both of our kids go once a week to the Mentally Gifted program; the 
MG teacher is sharp and imaginative and the MG classes are no more 
than 15 kids.  It is a great experience for them.

About a mile from our house there is a school called Masterman 
(grades 5-12) which is for the most academically-advanced kids in the 
city (with a caveat).  Entrance is in three grade 5, 7 and 9 only.  
Every teacher our son has had has said to us, "You're going to try to 
get him into Masterman, I hope?"  We have seen what some of the 5-8 
classes are like in the Bache Building; large, unruly, the teachers 
seem to have to spend all of their time on discipline, etc.  You know 
the drill.  Picture some of the worst public high school scenarios 
you can, then scale the players down to middle-school size.

Thus we have several problems: the idea of sending my son to the 
Bache Building terrifies me.  He is bright and sensitive and trusting 
and not terribly adept socially.  Yet he has fears about leaving the 
school where he has been since the age of four (they have pre-K) and 
has said more than once recently that he doesn't want to leave for 
fifth grade.  Another problem is that although he would probably 
qualify for Masterman without a hitch, they have a lottery system for 
admission.  All students who fulfill the minimum requirements in 
terms of grades, standardized test scores and good attendance records 
have their names put into the lottery, and they start pulling names 
until all of the slots are filled.  It has always been my opinion 
that if you have 100 qualified kids, you make room for 100 kids, but 
the fact remains that this takes money.  So even if we sell him on 
leaving his current school, he might not make the lottery, and then 
we have to figure out where to put him.

There is one other public school that is an option, a good K-8 
downtown, about 20 blocks from our house.  But we would have to apply 
as a family living outside the residence area for the school, always 
a dicey affair, as there may not be enough slots.  If we couldn't get 
him into Masterman or this other school and took him out of Bache-
Martin, that would leave two options: private school (we just can't 
afford it) and home-schooling.  If he didn't have special education 
needs, we might possibly consider the more-affordable local parish 
school, but he probably wouldn't cope with a) the on-grade-level 
curriculum (no advanced work) and b) the strict discipline.  (We 
considered the parish school for pre-K, and because he was being a 
typical rambunctious four-year-old during the interview with the 
headmistress, she wanted to admit him on "probation."  We walked out 
and forfeited the $40 application fee we'd already paid.)

Since I am in architecture school for the foreseeable future, I could 
conceivably do home-schooling with him and ask for permission from my 
professors to let him tag along with me when I have classes.  
However, I worry about having the time to dedicate to formulating an 
educational plan for him and seeing it through when I am trying to 
educate myself in a discipline that includes art, engineering, 
business, etc.  I probably couldn't take him with me when we go to 
construction sites that require hard hats.  There are so many 
problems...

So far we are taking the approach of hoping very, very hard that he 
makes the lottery, but we know that with less than a year to go we 
should be putting contingency plans in place.  The very good side of 
home-schooling for grades 5-8 that I can see is that during those 
four years he would not have his primary influence be his peers.  I 
remember those years in school, and they were a nightmare.  Even if 
he goes to Masterman, I will be on tenterhooks every day worrying 
about him being surrounded by other kids in this age range, even such 
smart kids.

I'm done venting.  Oh, and stop poking me, Al...I'm getting back to 
work coding the ToGI file...

--Barb

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