Your philosophy behind school & your child

anna7602

Are you sending your child to school to learn/be exposed to completely new things or to reinforce what you've been doing at home? I know it can be a combination of both, ideally, but if you had to lean more to one or the other, what's your preference?

Pre-k enrollment process is starting, which I am pretty much missing out on by being abroad this year, but it has still prompted some interesting discussions with my friends back in NYC. The general consensus among the people who know a lot about the public schools around us in my home neighborhood is that the charter/specialized schools are better than the general ed. schools. I had been considering applying to the bilingual Spanish school for DD when we get back and maybe the bilingual French school depending on what our chances are of getting into the Spanish school, but I am seeing that friends who, for example, are both involved in theater professionally, are pushing to apply to the math & sciences school instead of the arts & music school because they figure their kid will already be exposed to arts & music enough at home. I suppose I could teach DD to read and write in Spanish, or even French, myself at home, but I love the idea of these things being taught in school and of her sharing the language(s) with a community outside her family. I'm now doing some soul-searching about what I want for her education...

cecee36

We chose to send our daughter to an international school.  There, she's learning 3 languages and will be fully fluent by first grade.  We chose this type of environment for her for many reasons but the most important being this: we believe the world our daughter will grow up in is global and very connected.  By exposing her to different languages, not only will it allow her to be more competitive in academics but it will also expose her to the rich culture and heritage of other countries.  

We love to travel and take a trip outside of the country every summer.  DD will have a greater appreciation of the places we visit because she's receiving (literally) a world-class education.  We hope those two factors combined with the life skills, and family values we pass on to her result in one fantastic kid!  So far, so good.  

shouldbworkin

I send my kids to school so that they can learn things that I have neither the time, training or inclination to teach them.  I am not a teacher by trade or education and while early ed seems like it should be easy, I think a lot more goes into it than what most realize.  I know my kids have learned things that it would never occur to me to teach them.  And, it's not just about academic learning either.  They need regular exposure to other children under the guidance of individuals educated in childhood development so that they can learn to properly socialize and co-exist in a classroom.  This will help them be successful in school and in life.  Sure, I could take them on playdates and to classes, but their teachers have much more impact as far as getting them to understand how other's actions affect the class as a whole. 

June2007

You have an interesting perspective. I am leaning towards reinforcing what we learn at home is more important at a young age. I think a common family unit is important to a young child, as the child grows and develops differing interest then they could go to a specialized high school or participate in extra curricular (in middle or later elementary) to expand on those. I get that people want well rounded children but setting up a secure foundation is more desirable in my eyes rather than having my child dabble in everything possible at such a young age.

RoxBride

cecee36:

We chose to send our daughter to an international school.  There, she's learning 3 languages and will be fully fluent by first grade.  We chose this type of environment for her for many reasons but the most important being this: we believe the world our daughter will grow up in is global and very connected.  By exposing her to different languages, not only will it allow her to be more competitive in academics but it will also expose her to the rich culture and heritage of other countries.  

We love to travel and take a trip outside of the country every summer.  DD will have a greater appreciation of the places we visit because she's receiving (literally) a world-class education.  We hope those two factors combined with the life skills, and family values we pass on to her result in one fantastic kid!  So far, so good.  

Oh my goodness! How do they teach a child to be fluent in 3 different languages by first grade? That seems impossible!

anna7602

RoxBride:

cecee36:

We chose to send our daughter to an international school.  There, she's learning 3 languages and will be fully fluent by first grade.  We chose this type of environment for her for many reasons but the most important being this: we believe the world our daughter will grow up in is global and very connected.  By exposing her to different languages, not only will it allow her to be more competitive in academics but it will also expose her to the rich culture and heritage of other countries.  

We love to travel and take a trip outside of the country every summer.  DD will have a greater appreciation of the places we visit because she's receiving (literally) a world-class education.  We hope those two factors combined with the life skills, and family values we pass on to her result in one fantastic kid!  So far, so good.  

Oh my goodness! How do they teach a child to be fluent in 3 different languages by first grade? That seems impossible!

Children are sponges when it comes to languages. I don't think 3 languages is impossible at all. DD is already fluent in two and is now working on a 3rd.

m_and_m

I chose DD's school based on having opportunities I can't offer at home, but would if I could. She goes to a Lifeways school on a farm- we have two dogs, but no pigs, goats, sheep, bunnies, cats, or donkey. I try to garden, but other than tomatoes I'm not very good at it. We don't have great trees to climb at home. They do projects and stuff that I love, but maybe haven't thought of or don't have patience to do with the kids. These are all things that complement what we do at home, but they aren't the same and they aren't totally different.