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.