School Choice

Sonny just started 6th grade and we chose to enroll him at a charter school in a nearby town. This decision has baffled some of our neighbors, since our local schools have a great reputation. However, several factors went into this decision, and we're confident that this was the right choice for our son.

For several years this school has come in as one of the top five public high schools - often number one or two- in our state in rankings by US News and World Report, the Washington Post and others. Moreover, all the other schools in the top ten are in and around the biggest city, on the other side of the state. So this is the best school in the region, and its only 25 minutes away in the town where my husband works. The local school comes in at around 60, which isn't bad considering there are over a thousand schools... but it's not the BEST.

It is a college prep school, and it is very clear that academics is the most important thing going on at that school. Sonny has been in school for just two weeks and already has 2 to 2.5 hours of study and homework a night.

The local school is way too focused on sports. We have heard from numerous parents that kids who aren't sports stars in that school are second class citizens. The state awards for the music program are hidden away in a side hall while the football trophys are displayed at the front entrance. The kids don't get MLK Jr. day off, but school is cancelled so they can attend the girls basketball semi-finals in the state capital. I was already seeing this attitude in elementary school - Sonny knew which of his friends made it onto the travel baseball team's A, B and C squads -which we didn't let him try out for - but didn't seem to think much of his own accomplishment of getting a gold medal for reading the most books in the fourth grade. I have nothing against sports - my kids are both in sports. We think sports are great for keeping them healthy, teaching them important skills for working with a team and fun social activities. We don't stress the competitive aspects at all. The charter school has a soccer team and a baseball team. Those teams don't win a lot, but if my kids want to play sports, they'll be able to.

The charter school has graduating classes of around 70 or 80 kids each year and class sizes of 15 to 20. The local high school graduates around 500 kids a year. My kids will be getting much better attention.

Finally we love the approach and the attitude towards teaching and learning at the charter school. Each of the teachers we've met LOVES to teach - you can see it in the way they talk about their subjects and their classes. They have an energy and excitement about teaching that the kids pick up on. Also, in addition to the standard science, math and social studies classes, they offer fun classes where kids can explore their interests, like a class where kids read books and watch the films made from them and discuss the similarities or differences - Sonny is taking that one next term. Also they devote four weeks entirely to classes like that at the end of the year, or the kids can study countries like Greece or Spain and then travel there for two weeks with the school. They can learn to knit, act, play Risk, dance, fly - it makes learning FUN for the kids and helps them uncover new interests and skills. Meanwhile, the local middle school kids study math, history,english, science and music or gym - and that's it.

Yes, we're confident we made the right choice.

Colleges - Time to Think Globally?

At this point we have a vague idea of the colleges we're shooting for. We live in the midwest, so reputable midwestern schools are on the list. Schools like the University of Michigan, University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Notre Dame and Northwestern are all on the list. Some of the Ivy League schools are on the list - Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Stanford and MIT. Sonny expressed an interest in the Foreign Service last year, so Georgetown was added to the list.

Unfortunately, finances are a big issue here. Although Sonny's had a college savings plan since he was 6 months old, we haven't contributed enough to cover the tuition at the exclusive private universities, which makes the public universities more feasible for us.

However, this past week I came across a list of the worlds top universities that makes me think we should be thinking globally. According to the QS World University Rankings , the top university in the world for 2011/2012 is the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, with a pricetag of $18,000 to $20,000 a year for international undergrads. Harvard comes in at number two at double the price - $38,000 to $40,000 for a domestic undergrad. MIT and Yale took third and fourth places, both at $38K to $40K, and the UK's Oxford University was fifth at $20K to $22K for international students.

Food for thought.

My Kids and Me

So let me tell you a little about my kids and me. I'll call them Sonny and Sweetie. I think they both have great potential - but of course, I'm their mother. I see my role as helping them to develop that potential so that they can be whatever they choose and attend whatever college they choose.

Sonny is 11 years old and just started middle school. We enrolled him at a college prep charter school nearby that is consistently rated among the top 5 public high schools in our state, most years coming in a number one or two. Sonny has an excellent memory and gets top grades in school, but struggles with math. Fortunately, I've got an engineering degree so I can give him extra tutoring at home. He is an avid reader, and won the gold medal for reading the most books in his grade in elementary school twice and the silver once. He plays soccer in spring and fall, baseball in summer, does karate year round and plays piano and the viola.

Sweetie is 8 years old and just started third grade. In first and second grades she got top grades - but from what I've seen in third grade the material gets much more challenging, so I'll be keeping a close watch on her progress. Sweetie loves science and is constantly asking questions about how the world works and coming up with science experiments. It's not uncommon to stumble on a soda bottle filled with seeds and dirt that she's placed in a dark corner of the garage to see if it would grow there, or to find her in the bath trying to discover how to make the biggest soap bubbles. She's very creative - loves coloring and sometimes writes stories just for fun. Sweetie plays soccer in spring and fall and takes ballet during the school year. She takes piano lessons all year.

As for me, I earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan, so I've got experience getting into a challenging program at a selective college. These days I prefer to work as a freelance writer, which allows me the flexibility to take an active part in my children's education and activities.

My husband earned a bachelor's degree in English literature, then went on to medical school after taking extra clasees in math and science. He is a family physician.