I find that as a parent what you think you will and won't do and your general philosophy changes often. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing or just a thing.
My current lotto fantasy (in other words my 'ideal world') would see us having enough money that Les could retire and we could go live in a big house of our own design somewhere other than here. We would hire 3 or 4 teachers to home educate all our kids. The 3 or 4 teachers would between them cover a range of subjects and passions and take turns at giving each kid one on one instruction. (Even one teacher between the 3 would be good).
Late last year we asked if Merenia could attend the little school we looked at late in 2009- but they were in the process of transition as they had a new principal starting this year and I get the impression had had some sort of upheaval. We never got a flat no but never got a yes either so in January we started talking about what we would do. We went and checked out four local schools- 3 of which we didn't know the enrolment schemes for and our zoned school. We went for a look on a Saturday- one we couldn't get into because of the security fencing and padlocked gates- from the outside it looked like an institution, a mental institution not an educational one.
The second had the same sort of fences but was open as some one was using the hall. It looked nice as you walked in the front but on further exploration it would appear this decile 2 school spent all their money on the office, staffroom, security fencing and lundia shelving because there was stuff all else of any value in the school. In their haste to get away someone had left their school bag in the playground filled with books, shoes and art work and there it sat for the next four or so weeks it didn't bode well.
The third school we looked at looked good the caretaker was there with his wife- both parents of the school and she was on the BOT and we had a quick chat. The school had the advantage of being just up the road from Kieran's high school, and a Kindy that had been recommended to me (our local one is supposed to close at the end of the year). meaning one drop off and pick up point for all three kids. It was on the 'possibles' list.
Then we looked at our in-zone school a decile 9- (how they get a nine when Whenuapai gets a 10 I don't know). I worked at this school as a long term reliver for a term when Kieran was a twinkle in his terrified soon-to-be a Dad's eye. I got the job 2 days before school started and didn't enjoy the atmosphere at all. It was, at the time, a bunch of female bullies and one down trodden male principal who seemed like a decent guy... he didn't stand a chance and left not long after I did. I was 'warned' about one of my pupils parents before school started- she was a bit of a crazy apparently. (She became a firm friend and lived 3 houses down when we got our first married quarter.) I was also 'warned' about a few of my kids as well. This is a practice that I absolutely despise in teaching, it makes it very hard for kids to get any sort of fresh start from year to year when they are being gossiped about by former teachers with a grudge- and I've most times found it to be poor advice because personality counts for a lot in teaching and I've always has the sort of personality that works well with the so called 'naughty kids'. I swore blind that my kids would NEVER go to this huge (pop 574) behemoth of a school.
And that'd be the one I dropped Merenia off to this morning. And to be honest I still feel sick about it. The alarm bells have been ringing all week from the school secretary who takes grumpy, unpleasant and unwelcoming to new heights and her 'personality twin' in the uniform shop. The largest skort is too small and while they have a heap of polar fleece jerseys they have no polo tops. So the 'new kid' I dropped off today sticks out like a sore thumb. Getting a park is a bitch, the website is limited to say the least, and the 'new pupils pack' is a waste of time. It just feels wrong, wrong, wrong.
I know, I know I have a crap attitude to this going into it but until we are months down the track we won't know if this was the best thing to do.... and if it's not then I've messed up again.
It doesn't help that some of the reasons for choosing this school over home school or another school are relatively selfish. Things like the luxury of a school bus to drop her home meaning one trip out each day! Or just the general sense of sanity that comes from a 6 hour Merenia break each day.
Parenting well is hard, hard stuff and some kids are a lot harder than others and it's all very complicated and sometimes just downright revolting. And today is one of those days.
♥
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