When our kids were first born, we lived in a small town in NC. Since NC isn't known for its schools, we figured that we would most likely end up homeschooling out kids. Our oldest went to a good pre-school in our small town, but we ended up moving to Florida just before his 2nd year of preschool. We talked to many people in the town that we moved to and heard glowing reports about the schools - and especially the school that we are districted for. In fact, our district is typically ranked as one of the best districts in the state. So, we decided to venture into the public schools.
Our oldests' K year was a very good year. Our 2nd child was precocious in many ways and I was concerned about putting him in K at the public school. The pre-school he attended had a K program and I seriously considered letting him stay there. However, since he would still have to make the transition for first, and this was the year we were bringing our daughter home from China, we decided to go ahead and enroll him in the PS.
What a mistake! This year was a bad year - not only for our 2nd, but for our 1st. Our 2nd ended up in a classroom with a teacher who just didn't care. She had retired from teaching in NY and then decided to return to teaching after moving here to FL. Our 2nd ended up "doing time" in K and didn't really learn much of anything. Our oldest ended up in a classroom with a teacher who I would have liked to have seen fired. She told our son that he could not discuss God in the classroom (WRONG!), let them watch Atlantis: The Lost Empire (Rated PG) without notifying the parents, let them watch 45 min of Holes (Rated PG) without notifying parents, and handed out Batman comic books for summer reading material. Not to mention that this was the year that my oldest (in 1st grade) came home and asked us what does "Gay" mean (he had heard it on the playground). I wasn't planning on having that discussion with him until he was older. Yeah - this is the kind of socialization I want for my kids... (NOT!)
This was the start of my frustration with our local public school system.
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Matthew 13:44-46
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