I am thankful for living in a city where the general consensus seems to be that our public school system, albeit grossly underfunded, is good in comparison across the country. The majority of kids who are in the school system (as opposed to home-schooled) are in either our public or Catholic school system. We do have a few private options, and a few charter schools, but in general most people I know are sending their kid to the school down the street from them.
The public schools in my area offer a whole host of options. There are programs for those with learning delays, for those with special needs, and for those who need extra enrichment (the "brilliant" kids). If you don't want French (one of our national languages) to be your child's second language, they can choose from German, Ukrainian, or Mandarin, to name a few. Your child can learn French by immersion, or they can go to a Francophone school if French is a primary language spoken at home. There is at least 1 if not 2 Christian schools in the city that are now under public funding, and there is also a program that has been brought into other public schools where there is one classroom per grade that teaching the curriculum from a Christian perspective (celebrating religious holidays, and I believe attending chapel once a week for example). There's also a fine-arts school that while the elementary school isn't as hardcore, to get into some of the jr. high and especially the high school programs you have to audition. The Catholic school system is similar in choices, and as a tax-paying citizen you have access to either (though priority is given to those who are Catholic/baptized Catholic when it comes to that school system) There are options. Too many options if you're a mom like me.
The school down the street from us offers full-day kindergarten (full-day, every day), and I was opposed to it for Princess. While I know it's ideal for some families, especially those who are working fulltime, the thought of putting my 5 year old in an 7 hour/day classroom, 5 days a week made me uneasy. We don't need it for her, and we don't want it for her. I mostly stay at home, and she's never been away from her parents for more than a few hours at a time (except for a sleepover now and then). I want a part-time, half-day kindergarten. And in our fine school district, they have an open-door policy, which means that as long as there's room (and in some cases, as long as you can get the child to the school), you can send them there.
So therein began my search. We started with 6 (!!) schools in our surrounding area. I called each, talked to various people, read booklets and pamphlets and talked to parents. From that we narrowed it down to 2 schools. One offers the Challenge program (because I needed it growing up and didn't have access to it! It's enrichment in the classroom, and not to toot my own horn, but I was doing grade 6 math in grade 3...) and the other one offers French Immersion. The Challenge program school was fantastic to tour. They were incredibly helpful, and the program itself (if Princess gets in, they do testing in kindergarten for the grade 1 year) is a dream. They have extra funding for extra field-trips, they do a lot more group work, and it does NOT mean more homework, worksheets, etc. It's just the curriculum taught differently. As for the French Immersion school, Neither Hubbyman nor I speak a word of French, but I have talked to many who intend on putting their children in, or who have graduated from it, or have their kids in currently and the majority of them only have great things to say. By giving Princess access to a second language early on, she has a better chance of learning it, which could open up education opportunities and job prospects later on. She has a better chance as an adult of picking up other languages. I also know that all parents think their children are brilliant, but the manner in which Princess picks up language is kind of amazing, and I can't help but think that learning a second language in school will challenge her enough and it might slow her little hyper-speed brain down enough that school is an acceptable challenge.
We've almost made up our minds (one of the schools fills up FAST), so stay tuned. This has completely taken over my life for the past month and a half. I'm happy to send in those papers and be DONE with it... Until Princess actually starts school in 6 and a half months :S
