Your Mom's A Snob

You know you've lost your blogmojo when an event as important as this goes by un-blogged.

Joaquin started school on Monday! My baby, a first grader. He started at a new school but is still in the same Montessori program he was in last year. They're separate, but equal. The regular school kids wear uniforms, the Montessori kids don't. It's weird. His association with the original Montessori school is more limited than it was when they were at the previous location, yet you can see they are not part of the community at the new school either. Like kids without a country.

For the record, I don't like it. I'm not motivated to get involved at all. My child doesn't have a teacher yet because she is still in training. The school is big (over 500 kids) and ugly and our well-behaved kids are mixed in with the wild kids. Today I saw four of the Montessori kids at aftercare quietly sitting to one side of the cafeteria while the other rowdies garnered the bulk of the staff's attention. Ugh! I will attend the first PTA meeting, just to hear how others feel. Revolt!

Joaquin? Well, he loves it! He feels very comfortable there. When I asked what he likes, he said, "I love the playground and I love Diane." (Diane, a cousin, is the school nurse). Not like, love. These things are important to him. I must admit that Diane is on the positive side of the yea/nay list for me too and I do like the Montessori teachers that are there because they are the same ones who were at his other school. They are great, caring people. I feel like I know them, but is it enough?

I don't want to make a rash decision and leave too early but we've got an appointment with a Charter Montessori school. A Charter school, the type of school I previously (hypocritically) said I'd never send my child. It is small, there is only a little play structure and no Diane, and we don't even know if there's a spot available, but it's small, has an excellent reputation and the kids consistently score WAY above average (excelling) in the state assessment tests. We're going to see what happens.

I think it used to be easier to send your child to school, a public school around the corner or a private school. Now we have private schools, charter schools and public school open enrollment. It's nice to have all of these choices for better education, but at times, it's overwhelming!