For months, I have been agonizing over a school decision for next year. I am finally up against a deadline, and have to decide by tomorrow.

We started with 4 school choices. One turned us down, and I have eliminated another because it seemed like their expectations for kindergarteners were too much and because they had 24 kids in a class, and if I'm paying for private, I want a smaller class.

So we are down to two very different choices.

- Repeating 4 year old preschool at a different school from this year, then going on to public K5
- Going to a private K5 this year, then repeating K5 in public next year

My kids have been in a catchup 4 year old program run by the public school system this year and have really made huge academic progress. Academically, they can probably handle kindergarten. But they are still tiny compared to peers, motor skills lag significantly, somewhat immature, etc. So they need an extra year. The question is whether to do 4s twice or K5 twice. I know the first reaction is K5, so they would get reading, writing, math basics twice, BUT...


K5:
- Full school day five days a week, a LONG way from home (30 minutes), so no time for lots of therapy, swimming, Little Gym, music, AWANA, etc. - there is not a closer decent-quality private K5 program
- Definitely a logistical nightmare to take them and pick them up from so far away every day b/c the baby will still be at the preschool near home (our home church) - so I will drive down to RH to drop the triplets, back near home to drop Elise, have 2 hrs off, then pick up Elise, then go back to RH to get the big kids. So lots and lots of time in the car!
- We are pretty main-stream Christians, and this program is run at a fundamentalist church. In general I think it will be fine for a year, but there may be some issues there.
- Friends developed will not be continued after next year as it is too far from home
- Very expensive but we will borrow or whatever to make it happen if that is the best choice for our kids
+ Program has an excellent reputation, and has lots of extras like Spanish & science lab
+ 14 kids in a class with 2 teachers, and they have two different classrooms so I could split my follower off from the other two
+ They have a GREAT program for identifying learning issues and dealing with them. They are one of the few private schools in our area that takes special needs kids, and one of their missions is to help *every* child reach their max potential. One of my kids is fairly typical, one is mildly autistic, and one has a yet-to-be-diagnosed mild learning issue.

4 year old preschool program:
- 4 year old classroom – NO formal reading, math, handwriting
- Lose the chance to do those basics in kindergarten two times – would only have kindergarten once (reading, math, handwriting)
- No real help identifying & dealing with learning problems
- I am not sure there is much in the way of basic academics that they would pick up as they have been in a great program this year, though the new preschool does do a lot of unit study stuff, so they would learn about some new topics
- Only one classroom, enabling C to continue following the other two
+ Know & LOVE preschool program - it's where the triplets went to 2s & 3s and where Elise is now
+ Developing close friendships with church friends, probably will be in public school later with these kids, which would be a plus.
+ 9-12 four days a week, so still have time for therapy, swimming, Little Gym, music, AWANA, etc.
+ 16 in the class with 2 teachers
+ Could teach phonics, math, handwriting at home in the way that I feel they should be taught
+ MUCH cheaper (less than ½)
+ Very convenient to have everyone back at one school close to home at our home church


So I guess what it boils down to is a choice between continuing therapy & extracurriculars, vs. getting the reading/writing/math fundamentals twice from someone is really qualified to teach them. Any thoughts or advice?

If you are still reading, thanks - sorry this got so long!

BGG born 4/25/05 at 31w1d




New baby girl born 9/19/06