Decisions, Decisions

Tweet

This month seems to be a big month for making decisions for our family.  One of the major decisions we are making is whether to enroll Micah in traditional Kindergarten for the fall, or enroll him in "Preppy Kindergarten," which essentially is a 2-year kindergarten program.  He was first recommended for Preppy K at the kindergarten round-up last month, but I have been told by many that the system they use is flawed.  One of those reasons being that they take 30 kids in one room and evaluate them as a group for about 30 minutes, and then tell you if your kid is ready for Kindergarten or not.  We know Micah is an introvert, he takes awhile to warm up to new situations, and he is quiet in those situations. I could just picture our boy "taking it all in" with 29 other kids he didn't know, at a strange place, with a strange teacher, and not wanting to rush things.  We went to Phase 2 of the Preppy-process, and had him individually assessed by a Preppy teacher for 45 minutes.  Micah did really great in that test, and the teacher said his test results will likely fall very close to the 5.0 age-range, and he turns 5 late next month.  He said the decision would be up to us, but he thinks he would do better in Preppy than traditional Kindergarten.  However, Micah may surprise us and do well in traditional K as well, and the decision will be up to us.  The slogan for Preppy-K is "give your child the gift of time."  It is not as academic, the classes are a little smaller, and they usually have 2-3 parents helping the teacher at all times.  They still learn letters and numbers and how to begin reading, but they don't rush the students into it and let them work at their own pace.  The Preppy teacher said Kindergarten is much faster paced and hard for many kids (on the borderline) to keep up.

Wow.  No pressure or anything; we just have to decide NOW whether or not to "hold our child back" a year before he even enters the school system.  It is one of those decisions you make as a parent that you worry will impact their entire life if you make the wrong choice.  Putting him in Preppy-K would mean he would enter Kindergarten next year, and first grade when he is 7.  I guess I've always thought that is old to enter 1st grade, but I am hearing from more and more parents who are actually choosing to do that for various reasons (their child is more likely to be at the top of the class, excel, and even get better sporting scholarships later in life).  None of those would be our reasons for choosing this path, but it is a little comforting to know that, especially in our area, there would be other 7 year olds in first grade with him.  We are not sure yet what we will do, but are leaning more towards the Preppy-K option right now. Everything we hear about the program is fantastic and we haven't heard of one parent ever regretting that option. In fact, we have heard of many parents who have rather regretted not choosing Preppy when it was recommended, even in borderline cases.  We have a few more weeks to decide.

We are also making a decision about whether or not I should return to work.  I found a very part-time job (12 hours a week) at a church doing admin. work, which is what I have past experience in.  It is close to our house, pays pretty well, and would bring in some much needed extra income.  However, it would really impact our current schedule and Martin's work schedule somewhat.  I would miss out on almost all of the summer play dates we have planned, swimming lessons for 2 weeks that we just registered (and paid for), and the flexibility that I love having right now.  In the Fall it would mean I would have no more mornings with Jaden alone, as I would work Mon-Wed-Fri mornings, and he will be in preschool Tues-Thurs.  Tomorrow (Thursday) is my interview, and while I haven't been offered the job yet, the phone conversation already sounded very promising.  On one hand, the thought of working really excites me because I have been wanting to get out of the house more, and the money would be nice.  On the other hand, I have been my own boss for 5 years now and had total flexibility with my work schedule (photography, etc.).  I just don't know if I have it in me to keep doing photography, but since the opportunities keep coming, I have been continuing to do them.  Sometimes extra money is not worth the cost of missing quality time with your kids, and I know that, but at the same time, I have spent every moment the last 5 years with them and feel this might be a good time.  But I'm not really sure yet....

Please keep us in your prayers this week; it is much appreciated!!