After much prayer, discussion with teachers, friends, other FCA parents, and speech pathologists, we have finally come to our K decision with Caleb. We pulled his spot yesterday at FCA, the private school we use for Ashlyn and Joshua. They offer a half day K, MWF, and a T/TH homeschool curriculum that is a little more phonetically demanding than most K schools. Here is why we have chosen public, full day Kindergarten:
- He is still missing too many age appropriate sounds. These will come over time with repetition and time, so one more year of on-site help will benefit him greatly
- Full day K will really help with his communication skills - being around more children each day and having to communicate is something that will help him tremendously
- He is a boy with an April birthday....many other FCA families, especially those with bigger families like us, have held back or are holding back Spring and Summer birthday boys. He will not be the only one next year not to go, which makes me feel a lot better too.
- Structure is very good for Caleb. Out of all my kids, he is the one that strives on schedules...because I hate schedules and rarely have one, it will be so nice for him next year to have one from 9-3 everyday....at FCA, the 3 hours they are there, it is just too hectic and rushed. We have finally realized this after Joshua's K experience. Although Josh didn't mind at all, Caleb might get more stressed out with the pace of that class, at least at this age.
- He is excited for some of the fine arts that FCA cannot offer because of the half day schedule. He will have art, gym, music, recess, and computer time. These benefits do not start until 1st grade at FCA (except music which costs extra and only last 30 minutes one day a week during lunch time). Joshua's class has missed so much recess this year because there is just not enough time in the day to finish up lessons...Caleb definitely needs at least one recess to run off some of his energy!
- Because we just finished K at FCA and will have a 1st grader next year, we will be able to help him prepare for FCA during the school year at home too.
- We will decide next year if he will come into FCA as a Kindergartner or a 1st grader in 2011....right now, we have no idea which way we will go
- Our Tues/Thur days here with Ashlyn (4th grader) and Joshua (1st grader) will go much more smoothly while Caleb is at school. Jonathan is a little easier at sitting/playing/and entertaining during school time. Next year we will have 2 big transitional years to teach through
- We will not have to wait in a waiting room anymore for Speech Therapy! We have done this 2 to 4 days a week since Caleb was 2 1/2 :)
- With Caleb being in full day K and Joshua starting full days at FCA, I will only have Jonathan MWF all day....we are already so excited to get all of my shopping, errands, and projects done during some of this time
- We are also excited to start attending story time again at the Library together as well as a bible bees class we used to go to before our schedules got crazy. I might even go back to an old Monday morning bible study I used to go to so I can be home Tues mornings for school time.
- Caleb is SO excited for his new school! It is amazingly high tech and very pretty. We go to meet his teacher and tour his room in 2 weeks. We have already met Miss Michelle, his speech pathologist. We are excited for this transition too.
- Since we already pay tons of taxes for public school, we are excited to benefit from some of that. Oh, and save the $2000 we would have spent on K at FCA.
- The school district we are in is amazing and one of the best in Missouri! If we had not moved this past year, I don't think we would have made our decision this way
- I am also excited to volunteer at FCA's lunchroom now - I could never do that when Ashlyn was just there because of the 3 boys and have had 1/2 day schedules the past two years. This is a huge need at FCA. I am also excited to help in Caleb's school with some of my free time and try to work with him more at home in the evening with scheduled schooltime and speech stuff.
- Dare I say, I am just excited to have 3 children in full day school!!! And I really look forward to time with Jonathan alone and of course starting to plan what life will be like with all my kids in school. I know I still have one with me, but I can finally start to see what I am able to do by staying home full time besides cleaning, laundry, cooking, diapers, playing, organizing, driving, teaching, etc....I can see how much more I can do with some of that free time!!
Comments