schooooooooool reduxxxxxxxx
I know that Pippa is not even two years old yet but I feel the need to write more down about schoooool.
If finances, time commitment, luck in the public school lotteries, etc etc, were all not an issue, here would be my ideal ranking of schooling for Pippa:
1. St. Francis Xavier Catholic School, the local Chinese Catholic school. Cantonese and Mandarin lessons after school 5 days/week, and Mandarin lessons two days/week during school hours. Religious education and in-school Mass.
2. Public Mandarin immersion. There is currently only one school, Vancouver-wide, so the lottery is going to be fierce.
3. Public French immersion. There are many French immersion schools so this isn't as hard, but it's still a lottery.
4. Home learners program or other public/homeschool hybrid.
5. Other Catholic school.
6. Public performing arts, lottery-based again. (This is assuming that Pippa shows some aptitude/desire for an art such as singing by the time she is four.)
7. Public Montessori, lottery-based again.
8. Regular, unaided homeschooling.
9. Regular public school.
As I think is fairly obvious, I am not entirely keen on the idea of going it alone for homeschooling, preferring it only to regular public school, at least for kindergarten. (I'm not sure if this is unusual, but my anxiety about being 100% responsible for education decreases, and my misgivings about public school increase, as grade level rises. Maybe because my own public school education got worse and worse as I got older.)
I'm also highly motivated by the idea of Pippa getting language instruction at a level that I cannot offer.
The religious education aspects of Catholic schooling I tend to be, perhaps, doubtful about. According to studies, if you compare people raised Catholic who went to public vs. Catholic schools, more of the Catholic school people will call themselves Catholic; however, among those who call themselves Catholic, there is either no difference in frequency of Mass attendance between those who attended Catholic school or not, or the people who attended Catholic school actually tend to be less active.
So to me the advantages of Catholic schooling in this regard are more that I hope that the school won't be fighting or undermining my efforts to teach religion and morality to my children, as compared to public school.
The biggest drawback of Catholic school is the cost. It's about $2250/year for the first kid (plus all the costs of uniform etc), and AFAIK there isn't any financial aid available, although I should ask a priest I know about that. I know that from by US Catholic school standards that tuition is very reasonable, but we just have to figure out if we can afford it.
I'm not sure what The Husband's ranking would be, but I'm pretty sure it would look very different. I think he would put homeschooling at the top, and followed by Catholic schools, and then all the public school stuff at the bottom, because he takes a very dim view of the Vancouver School Board.
IDK. Expect these posts every six to eight months until Pippa is five.
In order to register for any of the special lottery-based schools, you have to register your child for regular public school in case you don't win any lotteries; ie, if you don't get a special school, for at least kindergarten you have to attend regular public school.
I'm fine with public kindergarten, so my idea as of now is I that I apply for every single special program available. If we win a lottery, awesome. If not, she attends kindergarten at public school, and then the next year I put her in SFX or home learners. And repeat with subsequent children. (Once you get one child into a special school, their younger siblings have an automatic in.)
If finances, time commitment, luck in the public school lotteries, etc etc, were all not an issue, here would be my ideal ranking of schooling for Pippa:
1. St. Francis Xavier Catholic School, the local Chinese Catholic school. Cantonese and Mandarin lessons after school 5 days/week, and Mandarin lessons two days/week during school hours. Religious education and in-school Mass.
2. Public Mandarin immersion. There is currently only one school, Vancouver-wide, so the lottery is going to be fierce.
3. Public French immersion. There are many French immersion schools so this isn't as hard, but it's still a lottery.
4. Home learners program or other public/homeschool hybrid.
5. Other Catholic school.
6. Public performing arts, lottery-based again. (This is assuming that Pippa shows some aptitude/desire for an art such as singing by the time she is four.)
7. Public Montessori, lottery-based again.
8. Regular, unaided homeschooling.
9. Regular public school.
As I think is fairly obvious, I am not entirely keen on the idea of going it alone for homeschooling, preferring it only to regular public school, at least for kindergarten. (I'm not sure if this is unusual, but my anxiety about being 100% responsible for education decreases, and my misgivings about public school increase, as grade level rises. Maybe because my own public school education got worse and worse as I got older.)
I'm also highly motivated by the idea of Pippa getting language instruction at a level that I cannot offer.
The religious education aspects of Catholic schooling I tend to be, perhaps, doubtful about. According to studies, if you compare people raised Catholic who went to public vs. Catholic schools, more of the Catholic school people will call themselves Catholic; however, among those who call themselves Catholic, there is either no difference in frequency of Mass attendance between those who attended Catholic school or not, or the people who attended Catholic school actually tend to be less active.
So to me the advantages of Catholic schooling in this regard are more that I hope that the school won't be fighting or undermining my efforts to teach religion and morality to my children, as compared to public school.
The biggest drawback of Catholic school is the cost. It's about $2250/year for the first kid (plus all the costs of uniform etc), and AFAIK there isn't any financial aid available, although I should ask a priest I know about that. I know that from by US Catholic school standards that tuition is very reasonable, but we just have to figure out if we can afford it.
I'm not sure what The Husband's ranking would be, but I'm pretty sure it would look very different. I think he would put homeschooling at the top, and followed by Catholic schools, and then all the public school stuff at the bottom, because he takes a very dim view of the Vancouver School Board.
IDK. Expect these posts every six to eight months until Pippa is five.
In order to register for any of the special lottery-based schools, you have to register your child for regular public school in case you don't win any lotteries; ie, if you don't get a special school, for at least kindergarten you have to attend regular public school.
I'm fine with public kindergarten, so my idea as of now is I that I apply for every single special program available. If we win a lottery, awesome. If not, she attends kindergarten at public school, and then the next year I put her in SFX or home learners. And repeat with subsequent children. (Once you get one child into a special school, their younger siblings have an automatic in.)