Decision Time

Remember how excited I was when I wrote this post? Remember how conflicted I was when I wrote this post? (By the way, thanks to everyone who chimed in, be it though the blog or with a private e-mail. I really did take all of your advice and encouragement to heart.) Well after much prayer and too much debate (with myself, my family, and generally anyone who would listen) we have decided that homeschooling is NOT the best option for us at this time. That is not to say that we will not return to it...but for this year, we feel that this decision is what is best for our family.
After this morning's story time at the library, Noah and I had a very important mission...find a school! My Dad watched Micah and Jonah while Noah and I visited schools, asked questions, and had a good time exploring what Kindergarten would have to offer.
The first school we visited was still partially under construction. When we pulled into the parking lot, Noah looked around at all of the backhoes, bulldozers, tractors, and dump trucks. I watched his eyes light up as he said, "Now this is the kind of school I'm talkin' about!" Turns out it actually wasn't the school for us. I was not impressed with the curriculum or their general approach to learning. Not that there was anything wrong with it, it just was not what I felt would be best for my child.
Our next school was more of what I had in mind. They use the A Beka curriculum, and have a class size limit of twelve students. Noah liked the classroom set-up and was moderately impressed with the playground equipment. I ended up paying the registration fee just to hold his place in the class, but I have a strong feeling that this is where he will end up going for Kindergarten. This school actually only goes up to K-5, so next year we will have to re-group and decide once again what is best for our family.
We still have one more school to visit and I have one more homeschooling option that I want to explore before making our final decision. I have set a deadline of next week for our final, final, final decision. At that point we will start preparing Noah for wherever he will be attending. Generally speaking, he is excited about starting school outside of the home. I just like to have all of the details into place so as not to pull too many surprises on him...or myself. I know, that is the control thing talking again. I really am working on it!