Reflections As We Enter Our Fifth Year.

This time five years ago I pulled DS from school (mid way through his prep year). A school that boasted about having enrolled children living up to 30 minutes driving distance away. We ourselves drove over 15 minutes one way just to be there every day.

A small school, just 130 students, where the principal knew everyone’s name and if he didn’t he made it his business to learn. A well established school and one I grew up hearing about regularly. A good school, but really what does constitute a good school?

I think the answers here will be different for most everybody. All parents want their best for their children, regardless of where they receive their education. So I don’t think I’ll even begin on that topic.  I’m not about to be harsh on the schooling system, it serves a need that is for certain.

All I will say is that the system didn’t really deliver for us. Granted we only gave it a short 6 months and many would say that probably wasn’t long enough. For me it was too long! I also think that the reasons I decided to pull DS from school probably seem very petty and insignificant to others.

Once again, for me though, I could quickly see things spiralling out of control. What begins with a few simple issues can quickly snowball as the years move on.  This is a story I have heard again and again from families that have pulled children from the middle to upper grades of school.

There was the odd small issue in the early years, but nothing too challenging. However year in and year out the small issues were somehow no longer that small.

We too had the odd few small issues in that six months of school that we experienced. Two bumps on the head, with large lumps that no one either knew about or chose not to tell me about. Unruly children, where I was completely and utterly amazed at their behaviour and this was rubbing off on our quiet placid little boy. A school principal that thought he was shepherding sheep, not children. The final straw, being told that parent classroom helpers were not wanted that year!

So call it mother’s intuition if you will but that was exactly it for me. I knew that things would only go downhill at school, not up.

And so our journey began.

I had originally planned just one post on reflections, but now that I have filled a couple of pages on Word writing it all out I thought it best to cover my reflections in a few posts, so part two will follow soon.