What education do you choose for your kids?

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angell1

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if you have kids, what kind of schooling do they recive? catholic, public, homeschool, etC… and why?

also, what sort of school did you attend yourself? was it a good experience?
 
There are a ton of variables involved that go into this decision.

I attended public school K-12. My husband attended Catholic school K-12.

Right now my four year old son attends preschool at our parish school. Our plan right now is that he will attend kindergarten at our local public school.

We are choosing public school for several reasons. The school district we live in is one of the top districts for academic performance in the state, and I have several faithful Catholic friends who attended its schools and have nothing but good things to say about it. Our area is fairly traditional, and our children have the added benefit of being within walking distance of every school building they would attend if we remain here.

Now, if for some reason we became unhappy with our public school, our parish school is also solidly Catholic and very good academically. Tuition would be very difficult even with scholarships, but we could do it if it were an absolute necessity (thankfully, we don’t live in an area where Catholic school tuition rivals elite private academies). There are a couple of other things that make our local school a better fit for us than our parish school, but tuition is really the big one.

And if we had to move to an area with poor public and parish schools, I would probably homeschool. But considering the resources we have available for us for education, and knowing my personality and my relationships with my kids (particularly my oldest), I do not think homeschooling is the best option for us as our situation is right now. But it could be the best option if our situation changed.
 
Catholic private school from Preschool to High school.

We will make it work. It will mean both of us working and keeping the family at 3 kids.

I will never homeschool. I would be one miserable mom if I had to. I have no desire or patience to home school.

I will never put my children into public school either because the public schools where I live are awful in terms of graduation rates and morality.

So we will be using our Parish school until 8th grade and our local Catholic high school from 9th until 12th.

I attended public school and had a wonderful education.

My husband went to a very small Christian private school and had a terrible education.
 
angell1 said:
if you have kids, what kind of schooling do they recive? catholic, public, homeschool, etC… and why?

also, what sort of school did you attend yourself? was it a good experience?
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Our big kids are in a private Protestant school that goes up to 12th grade and is friendly to historical Christianity (i.e. Catholicism). It teaches Latin from elementary school, my middle schooler is studying medieval history (they started this year with a big emphasis on ancient heresies), they do a lot of Bible, they teach a lot of music theory at the elementary level, and there’s a very good emphasis on having a coherent curriculum with good coverage (the kids spiral through history and science a couple times during their school careers). My oldest is mildly autistic and benefits a lot from it being a small school that is an extension of her family. In the early grades, she benefited a lot from being in small classes where she couldn’t get lost. Everybody at school knows my kids and they know who I am, even if I don’t know who they are. It costs as much as a mortgage payment to have two kids in private school and when we have three in school, school tuition is going to be the most expensive single item in our budget. Our youngest does parents’ day out two short days a week for now and will probably do three full days of school in two years.

I went to public school K-12. I think I was kind of lost in the crowd in public school, especially during the elementary years. I suspect that I would have benefited a lot from some of the stuff my autistic daughter has gotten, or from a smaller private school setting.
 
Homeschool is the only legitimate option for our family.

I attended public schools and despite ranking near the top of my class and taking mostly college prep courses, I was woefully unprepared for university, which was in the same state as my public K-12 township.

Public schools in many places, especially in my current part of the country, are promoting agendas and using curricula that is opposed to the Catholic Faith (and to natural law and accurate history, and well, reality).

I taught for several years, at various age levels, including teaching recitations and labs at the college level. Turns out I love teaching, even though I thought I never would do it.

We have a larger than average family, five kids, and I have stayed home with the children since my oldest was born. Parish school tuition is too expensive. Also, when we tried parish schools a couple times, my daughter didn’t like it. After both of those years, when we went back to homeschooling, it felt more natural.

We move a lot. Homeschooling provides much greater stability and flexibility than schools would.

Homeschooling provides the parents the ability to choose curriculum that suits their child and their family lifestyle and can be as challenging or as easy-going as is needed for your own unique circumstances.

Homeschooling provides us with an opportunity that no other form of schooling can: TIME with our kids to raise them immersed in their faith. I love not having to cram all of the catechism and religious discussions into the brief period we used to have at the end of the school day.

I could probably go on for a much longer post but I have probably said more than you care to know already. 😉
 
I went to public school k-12, then went to a Catholic college. Though, the only benefit of it being Catholic, is that I had regular access to Mass and the Liturgy of the hours (though not confession or adoration, go figures), it certainly wasn’t the theology.

Only my eldest is old enough for school, and right now he is attending public school. The public schools are fine in our area. We went to the catholic school open house, but the tuition was way out of our budget and there were no advertised scholarships, in the materials. So the plan is public schools through 12th grade.
 
We homeschooled, and I went to school (no hsing back then!) where I was not happy or educated (!).

But I see that each family has to choose what works best for the child(ren) and for the family as a whole.

Since you asked about special needs, [ETA: in the other thread] I have seen homeschool families put a special needs child into school where the child did much better, and families begin to homeschool because school didn’t work out for a special needs child.

Overall, my main idea is that what counts more than the school situation is the relationship between the parents and the children. I have seen miserable children in school and in homeschool–because there were difficult relations between the parents and children. (This is *not *to say that it is *only *the parents’ fault!) But that is what I think parents should focus the most on, and that is aside from the fact that one never knows what will come up!
 
wow, thanks for all your wonderful replies.

I can see that different family situations range all over the board and that’s fine.

I’m currently in the teacher education program. I hope to work in a catholic school one day. I really want to be able to transmit the faith in a catholic environment.

hence all the sudden threads related to education
 
angell1 said:
wow, thanks for all your wonderful replies.

I can see that different family situations range all over the board and that’s fine.

I’m currently in the teacher education program. I hope to work in a catholic school one day. I really want to be able to transmit the faith in a catholic environment.

hence all the sudden threads related to education
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I was wondering about that, lol! How great that you are going to he a teacher! Any sort of specialty? Grade level?
 
St_Francis said:
I was wondering about that, lol! How great that you are going to he a teacher! Any sort of specialty? Grade level?
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I’m in the elementary program, also in the French module, which I had a better chance of getting in to.

and I’m doing a practicum with grades 3 and 4 split class. as well a little bit of grade 5 french
 
My kids were in Catholic schools through 12th grade and then public college. I attended Catholic school through 8th grade and then public high school and college.

Why did we choose that for our children? We knew the Church taught we should provide a Catholic education to our children if possible. Luckily nothing ever happened that made it impossible. It wasn’t easy, especially financially, but we always made it work somehow.
 
Oh! I thought it said what education WOULD you choose? Sometimes life limits your choices… but if I could have chosen my best, I would have homeschooled my son through K-12 focusing on good academics, solid Catholic teaching, and tailoring to his learning styles and interests. Then I would have sent him off to St. Thomas Aquinas in California. Or Steubenville. 🙂

Well, one can plan, but things don’t always turn out like you’d like… (with the grace of God, it turned out pretty well and he is taking his college work seriously…and I keep praying for more graces…)
 
angell1 said:
wow, thanks for all your wonderful replies.

I can see that different family situations range all over the board and that’s fine.

I’m currently in the teacher education program. I hope to work in a catholic school one day. I really want to be able to transmit the faith in a catholic environment.

hence all the sudden threads related to education
Click to expand...
Congratulations for getting into the teacher education program! I loved teaching, and still do. I never thought that is what I would be doing as an adult. But God led me right to it after college. I taught at a private Episcopal school, and was a TA at a university, and now I homeschool and volunteer in my parish’s RE program. I truly hope you can find a position at a Catholic school, or at the very least, a private Christian school. I really appreciated having a shared Christian Faith with my students (I was not Catholic at that point). I went to chapel (what they called their midweek worship service) with my students and worshipped and prayed with them, and we took our lunch and rest breaks with our students and other teachers and their classes. As much as I love my children and teaching at home, I still have many fond memories of those years teaching at that school. Teaching at a college for recitations and labs was fun, in a way, but I greatly preferred teaching at the K-8 school and I went back to that until I had my first child and we moved away.

Anyway, enough reminiscing about me. You have wonderful memories of your own to make. I am so happy for you!
 
angell1 said:
if you have kids, what kind of schooling do they recive? catholic, public, homeschool, etC… and why?

also, what sort of school did you attend yourself? was it a good experience?
Click to expand...
I have been to all three. There’s ups and downs with each. 🤷 Public school was probably my favorite. Lots of people. Was able to make friends. Yeah there were cliques and all, but there were enough people that even if you weren’t “popular” you still fit in with another group. You did have to be strong to hold up any sort of a faith/belief system, but I had to in private school as well. :rolleyes: My least favorite was private. HATED both of my private school experiences (2 different schools.) Too small, everyone knows everyone’s business. Rumors both true and false get spread quick. Can be a nightmare if you are on the other end of it, which I was, multiple times. I was bullied by multiple persons. Didn’t fit in anywhere really. Both times I couldn’t wait for the year to end. Homeschool was nice but did get lonely often, especially being the only one. Co-Op’s were fun though. And my conversion to Catholicism happened during this time! 👍
 
Cyber school, as my Aspergers child got bullied in the brick and mortar environment.
 
We started most of our kids in public or DODEA schools, whichever were available at our current post, but now we homeschool all of them. We move a lot and I’ve got some kids with learning disabilities that require IEPs, and those don’t always transfer from school to school. It got very difficult to fight each time we moved for services and accommodations that I could do at home consistently, and one of my kids had fallen through the cracks pretty badly. We also ended up missing quite a few school days due to medical conditions that require frequent appts pretty far from home, so it worked best to just homeschool. The kids go year round so if we miss days, they are easily made up. They also have the ability to bring their work with us and we will do school in the van those days, or plan a field trip for after the appt. I was a very reluctant homeschooling mom. It was the farthest thing from what I wanted for my kids and my family. But being stationed here it was as if God had backed me into a corner with no other way to go. The first year I only homeschooled two but found it was easier on days they were all home. We’ve kept them all home ever since and it has made a tremendous difference in our home life. The kids are learning and progressing more than I thought they would. The love learning now and love being together. They know their faith better than most kids their ages do. One that didn’t read in public school grade 4 is now in 6th and reading pretty well. So far this school year that child has read Lilies of the Fields, Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller and Island of the Blue Dolphins. I’m not a better teacher than the teachers my kids have had in the past, I just know my kids better and have the opportunity to work one on one with them. The older kids also work with the younger kids which gives them confidence in themselves as well as helps reenforce what they already know, gives me a little break, and encourages the younger ones to “get smart” like the big kids. It works for our family better than I ever thought it would. I am not opposed to public or private school, I attended Catholic school. Maybe one day we will send our kids back as well. Not at this duty station though.
 
jmjZelie said:
Congratulations for getting into the teacher education program! I loved teaching, and still do. I never thought that is what I would be doing as an adult. But God led me right to it after college. I taught at a private Episcopal school, and was a TA at a university, and now I homeschool and volunteer in my parish’s RE program. I truly hope you can find a position at a Catholic school, or at the very least, a private Christian school. I really appreciated having a shared Christian Faith with my students (I was not Catholic at that point). I went to chapel (what they called their midweek worship service) with my students and worshipped and prayed with them, and we took our lunch and rest breaks with our students and other teachers and their classes. As much as I love my children and teaching at home, I still have many fond memories of those years teaching at that school. Teaching at a college for recitations and labs was fun, in a way, but I greatly preferred teaching at the K-8 school and I went back to that until I had my first child and we moved away.

Anyway, enough reminiscing about me. You have wonderful memories of your own to make. I am so happy for you!
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well, actually, my mom really wants me to be a teacher. I don’t know if it’s really my calling, but guess i’ll find out.

I did participate in a mission this past summer and found that I really enjoy sharing the faith. I also found out that most people didn’t not learn much faith at their catholic schools, which to me is a big problem. so I feel there need to be more committed cahtolics as teachers. I think there was a shortage of teachers at one point and many schools had to resort to hiring whoever they could find, whether or not they were catholic and regardless if they wer following church teacing

she told me to just do the program and figure it out after, which I guess isn’t the worst idea ever, a sort of security blanket or something If I need one.

generally, I am not that good with kids, better with adults or seniors. but so far, it’s been alright.

we’ll see what happens
 
angell1 said:
well, actually, my mom really wants me to be a teacher. I don’t know if it’s really my calling, but guess i’ll find out.

I did participate in a mission this past summer and found that I really enjoy sharing the faith. I also found out that most people didn’t not learn much faith at their catholic schools, which to me is a big problem. so I feel there need to be more committed cahtolics as teachers. I think there was a shortage of teachers at one point and many schools had to resort to hiring whoever they could find, whether or not they were catholic and regardless if they wer following church teacing

she told me to just do the program and figure it out after, which I guess isn’t the worst idea ever, a sort of security blanket or something If I need one.

generally, I am not that good with kids, better with adults or seniors. but so far, it’s been alright.

we’ll see what happens
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Ay yay yay.

If you’re better with adults and seniors, how about pursuing work with adults or seniors?

Adult ESL is a very important field and you could get a lot of satisfaction from the work.

K-12 school teaching can be harrowing even in Catholic schools. (We had a thread or two in the past year from a new teacher that was being eaten alive by his Catholic high school students.) A huge percentage of new teachers (something like half) bail within the first five years. Don’t invest heavily in becoming a school teacher if it isn’t something that you are committed to and believe you can be successful at.

Best wishes!
 
I have a couple of relatives that primarily teach remedial community college classes. I know my relative the CC math teacher finds his teaching work (much of which is with older students) is deeply satisfying and inspiring.

(The pay scale for that kind of work is more modest than the pay scale for public school teachers, of course.)
 
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