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The current issue that is stressing us the fuck out plaguing our family right now is where to send Bear to elementary school. We’re not talking for a year. We’re talking something he’ll like for five years or more.
While we were assigned to a school, it’s not one that we want to send Bear to. The Great Schools rating is lower than hell, and some online reviews of said school have mentioned bullying isn’t curbed. Not to mention, we don’t really want to send our child to a school that is predominantly any race for the fear of he would be bullied.
We lucked out with his preschool and how diverse it is. Bear has a Muslim best friend and a Latino one. He’s very friendly with children of other races and he’s not the only biracial child at the school. He has friends who have gay parents, parents of all socio-economic classes, and it was all love between us. I loved that school because everyone was celebrated and I hope our next child will be able to attend it.
Elementary school, however, is a different ball game.
We live in Pasadena, but we’re well within L.A. County. We also have the option of school choice, meaning we can send Bear to any school of our liking as long as we apply within the deadline, which is coming up very soon.
Once we decided we weren’t going to send Bear to the clusterfuck of not a great school near us, now it became a question of exactly where to send him. LA Unified is currently under strike and that is weighed heavily on our minds. Do we want to risk sending Bear to school when it was better off we homeschool him if there’s a strike?
Now, we do incorporate lessons at home. We’re subscribed to ABCmouse.com, and that has been a huge help. Maks is teaching Bear Ukrainian and I’m helping Bear with some Spanish lessons and perfecting his English.
We also do activities and Bear is learning how to write his name. The goal is for him to fully write his first and last name and do a little bit of math before he starts kindergarten in August.
We’re stuck between choosing an excellent public school that’s a few miles away, a private Quaker school that’s nearby, or charter/magnet school that’s also a bit of a distance.
The pressure is on this time because whatever school we choose, we want Bear there for the whole duration of said school, be it K-5 or K-8. These are friendships he will have forever. We also want him to have a quality education and not some teacher who will spend just a few seconds with Bear before they have to move onto the next student.
Decisions, decisions.
Honestly, we’ve been looking at elementary schools since Bear was born, LOL, but our recent move last year did put us into a tailspin. We already decided on one school, only for us to possibly for him not to attend it (it was close to us then but it’s a distance from us now).
I am confident we’ll choose a great school for Bear and that he’ll thrive in it. I think worrying is the worst part.
For the parents, what advice can you give us?
Tours without an appointment. Schools can ‘prepare’ before you visit if scheduled. If they don’t have that option, red flag.
Talk to parents that attend these schools. They’ll give you a raw option.
Ask his friends parents where they are deciding too.
Lastly, make your voice known. People don’t realize if you put your foot down early, bullying isn’t an issue. Now, I’ve done it, and my approach is ‘risky and unconventional’ but the bullying ended real quick.
[…] you’re probably wondering why we made that choice considering that was the same school I had an issue with previously? Well, it wasn’t an easy breezy decision at all. In fact, the Arts school was actually third […]