school that is…

“The early years are transcendentally the most important and if this nation wishes ultimately to achieve excellence, we will give greater priority and attention to the early years and start affirming elementary teachers instead of college professors as the centerpiece of learning.”–Ernst L. Boyer 

As I go back and forth, I am reminded of the above.  Private school is expensive and no all private schools are created equal.  I cringe at the idea of spending more on a year of pre-school than I paid for my entire undergraduate degree.  But I also balk at the idea of not giving my kids the best education available to them.  The foundation of the rest of their educational life is early childhood and elementary education.  It is so important to early on get kids interested in learning and to give them excellent opportunities for learning.  Am I saying that there aren’t good public schools and awesome teachers at these public schools?  No, I’m not.  There is a different feel and atmosphere at public schools than there is at the private schools we are looking at. 

We are beginning to tour schools and fill out applications–hard to believe–and it’s an unnerving task to be evaluated for pre-school when all I have to do is sign him up at our local school–which I wouldn’t consider doing for any reason–it’s not a good district and has many many issues.  I want my kids to go to a school where the kids are put first–where the children are the main focus and where the goal is to educate the whole child and offer many different types of learning opportunities. 

Where do your kids go?  Why?