021: How I Decided: Sending my Christian kid to public school
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Show Notes
Questioning whether you should send your child to public school as a Christian? In this episode, I share about the struggles with choosing a school for your child as a Christian — not just for the academics, but for a well-rounded social, emotional and educational intelligence. I share my journey of selecting a school for my child, including the various options I was considering and my pros and cons for each — public school, private Christian schools, charter school, homeschooling, and homeschool/private hybrid. I then share how I made my decision, using my decision-making framework, SAIL Method, which includes factors such as self-awareness, research, and prayer. I hope my story of choosing a school for my son helps you make an informed, personal decision for what’s best for your family.
KEY POINTS:
Importance of School Choice:
Impacts on friendships, education, and social abilities
The decision is significant but not irreversible; changes can be made if needed
Personal Story:
Considerations of school districts when buying a house
The importance of living in a good school district
Public School Pros and Cons:
My Pros: Proximity to home, A-rated school, government-funded opportunities, local friendships, special education support
My Cons: Secular environment and curriculum, culture conflicts, safety concerns
Christian Private School Pros and Cons:
My Pros: Smaller class sizes, Christian environment, rigorous academics
My Cons: High tuition, less time for family activities, proximity to friends
Charter School Pros and Cons:
My Pros: Classical curriculum, discipline, free tuition, strong academic focus
My Cons: Long commute, car line issues, scattered student base, limited extracurriculars and sports
Homeschool Pros and Cons:
My Pros: Curriculum control, flexibility, personalized education
My Cons: No break for parents, less social interaction, potential for household chaos
Homeschool Hybrid Pros and Cons:
My Pros: Social opportunities, flexible schedules, less parental teaching burden
My Cons: Expensive, less flexible than homeschooling, curriculum restrictions
Decision-Making Framework (SAIL Method):
Cover this decision in prayer, first and foremost
Self-Awareness: Evaluate family needs and child’s personality, complete research (School tours, parent/staff feedback)
Impact: Consider the impact of each school option on your family financially, physically, emotionally, relationally, spiritually and academically
Litmus test: Consider the most important factors and list them in order of priority for your family to determine which option supports your goals/desires the best
LINKS MENTIONED:
Blog post interview with Elizabeth Spencer on her journey with public school: anchoreddecisions.com/blog/sending-christian-kids-to-public-school
School Decision bundle: www.anchoreddecisions.com/schoolbundle
Use code “podcast” for 10% off your purchase
Episode 4: Pros and cons list leaving you confused? Use THIS for your decisions instead!
Episode 3: 3 Steps to Easier Decisions Using the SAIL Method - Our Signature Decision-Making Framework
Awanas — Christian kids ministry
Connect with me on social media:
www.instagram.com/anchoreddecisions
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Check out my website and decision guide shop:
www.anchoreddecisions.com
www.anchoreddecisions.com/shop
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Transcript
Hey guys, happy back to school week for everyone whose kids are going back to school. Mine went back this week. I have a first grader now and my younger one is in the pre-K three's class. So I'm excited to get back into diving into work a little more, working on this podcast more.
In lieu of school starting, this week's episode is going to be part of a new series. This series won't be consecutive. So it'll just kind of be scattered throughout the podcast. But this series is "how I decided" stories. And I'm kicking off today's story with my own story of how I decided to public school my son as a Christian mom. I know I've felt judged at times for sending my kid to public school being a Christian. And therefore I wanted to share my story. Wanted to give you a glimpse at how I made this decision and then also a little bit on how I feel about it. So stay tuned as we go through that.
But before we dive into the episode, I have a few announcements. One, I did an interview with a mom who also public schooled her kids, and I loved her story. It was a great interview, but the audio was just too choppy to be able to air. I didn't want to put you guys through that. So definitely click the link in the show notes or head over to my blog and you will find the interview written out on the blog (here). So great story of her kids they have already graduated. So how she felt about public schooling her kids, any issues that came up and how she handled things. So go check that out.
And then also, if you are torn on the decision of where to send your child to school, I have some resources for you. Not only will this podcast episode help because I wanted to give insight into how I decided on public, how someone else decided on private school, how someone else decided on homeschool. I will be airing those episodes later on, so stay tuned for those. But for now you can head over to my website and I have lots of resources for you for school decisions.
So the first one is my start smart school checklist. So this helps you start your searching process with some guidance. All the steps you need to take to start your school search process. So things of what you should actually be researching, the documents you might need for enrollment, and some prayer prompts to help you pray through this decision.
And then I also have my K-12 school decision guide. This is a one-off of my just general decision guide that helps walk you through big decisions, but all the questions there are focused specifically on K through 12 school. So kindergarten through 12th grade. And this is a 28 page workbook that will help you to make that decision. It goes through my decision making framework, the SAIL Method, which I'll dive into later in this episode, so keep listening, but this just walks you through to help you make a confident decision, help you feel good about the choice that you're making, because it covers everything. It's very thorough to make sure you're not missing something, to make sure you're really thinking through your family goals of what's best for your child. And all that goes into making this hard decision.
Then I also have my school research and comparison guide. So, if you've already decided within the school decision guide that you want to do private school, this will help you actually look at the different private schools and compare them. And so you'll be able to gather testimonials with guidance of the questions that you should be asking parents or staff. It helps you document your school tours. So that way you're not sitting there thinking. Wait, did that school have this feature or was it that school? And what, what was going on with that teacher or, oh, who was the principal I didn't like? This will help you document all of that, to be able to compare features, compare the schools without losing your mind. And it also has pages for comparing homeschool curriculum, comparing public school.
And it's kind of the chicken and egg scenario where if you're really torn and comparing public school, homeschool, private school, charter school, all those options, you might want to go through the school research and comparison guide first, that you're gathering information on each one. And then you take it to the school decision guide to compare those options that you already have a foundation and are familiar with them.
But it could also go the other way. Whereas if you're more torn between which type of school and not the specific one, then go through the K-12 decision guide first. And then once you're like, okay, we're going to homeschool, now I have to decide which curriculum I'm going to choose. And so then you go through the research and comparison guide to compare the curriculums. So they really do go hand in hand.
The start smart checklist is a small free resource for you. So you can get started there if you're not sure which one to go with, or you can find all three of my school resources in a bundle anchoreddecisions.com/schoolbundle.
So even if you only want one of them, you'll be able to find all three links there to each individual resource.
You can purchase the bundle from that link for a discounted price compared to buying the K-12 decision guide and the school research and comparison guide separate. So make sure you snag that. And then also you can add on an extra 10% discount by using the code "podcast" at checkout.
So, make sure you go grab those resources. They will really help you get a good feel for making the right decision for your kids' education.
Intro: Welcome to the Anchored Decision Show. I'm your host, Lauren Black, the world's biggest overthinker turned decision coach, all by the grace of God. Now I'm on a mission to help you make easier decisions, discover God's will, and live with purpose. Tune in weekly to hear real life decision stories, expert insights, and faith based strategies to help you navigate your decisions with confidence. So ditch your pros and cons list and learn to make better decisions without asking your mom or losing another night of sleep. Let's go.
Why choosing a school is such a hard decision
All right, so why is it such a hard decision to choose what school to send your child to? Well, It feels very daunting because it really does impact your child. I mean, it impacts their friendships, their education, their social abilities. There's a lot that goes into education. And I think we make it a bigger deal in our head than it is because it is something you can change if you don't like it. And you're not married to a school just because you signed up for them.
I mean, yes, there are some times where if you miss a deadline for an application for this year, you're out of luck for this year, but you can always switch them the next year.
But with that said, I know it is an important decision. It's one that impacts your child and your family, your life as well. It is a big deal and you want to choose what's best for your child and your family.
So little background story when Josh and I, we were two years into marriage and we decided to start looking for a house. So we're 25 years old. Young. I was looking back, I'm like, oh my gosh, we were so young. Looking for a house and at that time we figured we would public school. So we wanted to look for a house in a good school district. And I knew that the city I grew up in the schools, there are A-rated schools, really good school districts. But the houses in that district were more expensive than say the county over. Where people were paying half as much for a house the same size. But the problem with that county is that you could live next to a really, really beautiful, nice A-rated school, and your kid could be sent 45 minutes away to a C or D rated school in not the best neighborhood. And they're not going to school with their friend next door who's getting sent to a different school, 30 minutes the opposite direction. And so the zoning and that county, were just not good. And people were at my husband's work were giving him flack a little bit that like, here you are this 25 year old guy that doesn't have kids, why are you focusing on buying a house in a good school district, that's twice as much as houses in one county over? But I'm so glad we did. A because housing prices have skyrocketed so much. And then B, you'll see throughout this story of why we chose to actually send them to the public school.
But, we just wanted to make sure we had that opportunity and that option, if we did choose to public school, that we wanted to be in a good school district.
So, in order to give you the full picture of how I decided on public school, I have to share about the different options I was comparing and my thoughts on those. So I wanted to share the pros and cons of each of those with you.
Public School — Pros and Cons
Starting with public school. So some pros of the public school – really close to our house. It's about 10 minutes away at worst. And my kids could ride the bus. Their friends will be friends that are in the local area. There are three elementary schools in our city and it's not that big of a city. So literally all the kids at my son's school are right around the corner within like 10 to 15 minutes drive of our house.
So that was important to me. I wanted my kids to be able to build those friendships that's easy for us to get to their houses and have play dates. The public school here is a good, A-rated school, as I had mentioned. I like that public schools are government funded, so there's lots of opportunities within the school for really cool learning projects and science and music and all those things at no extra cost to the parents.
Also, my kids would have their cousins at their school. My sister lives down the street and her kids are one year older and three years older than my son, my older one.
Then there's lots of options in public school for extra support, for kids who are either behind or who are more advanced, where they've got pullout groups, where last year I know they had in kindergarten, my son had a class where he was already reading. And so they would pull him in some of the kids who are reading into a special reading class. And then the kids who were behind on their reading got pulled into an extra support group that allowed them to catch up. And then the teacher stayed with the kids who were kind of right on level and just kept working with them on their reading.
So, that type of thing was very important to me. And then also learning from multiple teachers. So learning to obey the authority of more than just one person. So not just me if I were to homeschool or not just one teacher, if he was in some sort of homeschool co-op that they learned under one teacher, but popping around from the lunch room authority and music class, computer class, library, all sorts of different people that you have to learn to listen to and obey. And that's a real world scenario type thing, like a work environment. Also, the public school had a brand new building and they have this awesome, super big, cool playground, which to me is an important thing, because you want your kids to like school.
And then some other factors were that the principal lives down my street. She's a neighbor of mine. I know her personally. So that is a great feature for a school. The front desk admin lives four doors down for me. The vice-principal goes to my church. My brother-in-law was involved with PTA and even got to be on the the vice-president selection board. So lots of connections there at the school, which just makes it so that if there's an issue that rises, I've got a connection to talk directly to the source and friendships there, so that's good.
Now the cons of public school. And I think these are the main reasons why Christians are hesitant to send their kids to public school. One it's a secular environment. So you have kids that have all sorts of other beliefs and you don't know if the curriculum's going to align with our values as Christians.
Now, I think in elementary school, there's not going to be as much of that. They're not teaching evolution typically in elementary school, at least not in the school district that I'm in. But then you have kids that are claiming to be cats and if you touch them, it's considered harassment, or teachers using different pronouns. So things like that do happen in a secular environment. And so your kids have to learn to deal with that. And then there is a higher probability of bullying or disruptive students than say homeschool or certain elite private schools.
And for the final con, if you have kids in the background that can hear your podcast, you might want to just hit a fast forward or pause it and put some headphones in. Because the last concern is a safety concern. And this is about school shootings. They have been on the rise. They have happened in elementary schools, even at Sandy Hook, seems like it's an area that's similar to my area where it's this family friendly small city. And yet there was a shooting there. And so that is a concern for those in public school. Or even some private schools. Though, luckily, because we're in a brand new building, they put extra safety measures in place with our school. But you still never know.
There's definitely a higher probability of running into that issue in a public school or private school, somewhere where they have students attending in a building rather than something like homeschool, where you're at your house or a homeschool co-op where it's just a small group meeting somewhere.
So that covers public school.
Christian Private School — Pros and Cons
Now let's look at Christian private school, because if I were to send my kid to a private school, I would definitely be choosing a Christian one. So some of the pros, smaller class sizes, so a little more attention one-on-one from the teacher. A lot of times the same kids are in your class year after year, so you're really getting to develop those friendships. It's a Christian environment and Christian curriculums, hopefully Christian friends. I know there are sometimes people just send their kid to a private school for the sake of a little bit higher education or that smaller class size or stronger discipline, things like that. So a lot of times private schools are known for a more rigorous education, stronger academics, a little stricter in discipline.
And then the cons of private Christian school are the tuition. So definitely very expensive. And that would make me have to work more, so I would have to pick up more hours and then we might have to also pay for additional childcare after school, which would then also take away from some of the opportunities to do afterschool activities or just connecting with my kids after school.
And then also with private school, your friends can be from all over. They're not necessarily from your neighborhood, your little area. And so making friends with those from scattered around would be harder to do play dates, make it a little more complicated to get together and whatnot. And then also the friends that you develop, if everyone's in a really expensive private school, very likely those houses are higher income houses and quite honestly, it can be hard to keep up with the Joneses with that type of thing. I know a friend of mine has a kid in private school and attended this birthday party that was just super, super elaborate. And not that that can't happen in public school, but I think there's just a higher probability of that happening in a school that does cost a lot more money.
And then also sometimes the private schools have more limited sports programs or extracurricular activities, vocational opportunities. And not as many opportunities and resources for special help. This isn't true of all private schools, but I did have a friend whose daughter was behind in reading and she had to hire a private tutor because they didn't offer special opportunity like that at the public elementary, where they'll pull you out and put you in a group to provide that smaller group environment to really help you grow. And then also with the private school, the last con is it's not as close to home. And some of them are really far with traffic, it'd be like 45 minutes to an hour for me to drive there. So that's two hour commute in the morning and two hour commute in the afternoon. And then I wouldn't be able to work as much while they're in school because that cuts into my work hours. And then if I'm driving one kid to one school far this way and then my other kid is in preschool at this one. It just would be a commute nightmare.
Charter School — Pros and Cons
All right. So moving on to charter school.
So the pros of the charter school near us is it's a classical curriculum, so I like that they take it back to the classics, have a good base for that academic foundation. And they have a really strong focus on academics. They are stricter with discipline. So likely you're going to have better behaved kids in class because the kids who aren't as well behaved are either going to be kicked out or their parents just aren't going to want to deal with them constantly being this battle with behavior. And it's almost like a private school with having a little bit higher level of education and things. But it's free. So that is a pro. And then for this particular charter school, my other sister's kids go there, so that's a pro, too, that they would have cousins at that school. And then I know that currently the principal is a Christian and I feel like a lot of the teachers are Christians there. And I think the overall values of the school are closer to Christianity values than just public school. They're also in a fresh new building, which is nice. And then one pro is I was talking to a friend of mine whose daughter, she was in middle school at the time of talking with her, seemed like the type of girl that would kind of go off and be a party animal in high school, get herself in trouble with boys and different things. And, yes, I could just be judging from outward appearances and what I see with her and her friends hanging out. But my friend was like, oh, she and her friends are such nerds. And so that just made me feel like, wow, that school is helping this girl who might have tendencies to go a little crazy to be reigned in to be focused on school. So that was a pro.
And then some of the cons of the charter school is the car line. It's about 25 minute drive from my house as is, but then I've heard car line's a nightmare, not only because it's a K through 12 school and all of them, they start and end at the same time. So you are in car line with all the kids from all grades and ages. So that makes it just such a long, hard process to get your kids, pick them up, like just drags it out.
Then also once again, like with private schools, their friends could be scattered, especially this charter school draws kids from multiple different counties. So you could have some friends that live 40 minutes away, or 25 minutes in that direction, the other best friend is 30 minutes in that direction. So it makes it harder to build those deep friendships and to also some of the sports and activities, if you're signed up outside of school, you're probably not going to have your classmates in those activities with you.
And then also with this charter school, there are a little less sports options and even things like it doesn't have its own basketball court and football field, things like that, in order to do sports.
Another con is while it is a free school to attend, there is some pressure to donate and support to the school. They have a big gala every year that. People are encouraged to come and just spend a lot of money to support the school. So financially, that can be tough.
And then finally there's a lottery system for enrollment. So you are not guaranteed to get in. They pull from a lottery. I think they do try to prioritize siblings, so if you have one child get in. You hopefully will get your other child in, but it's not guaranteed. And so that can just make it tough.
Homeschool — Pros and Cons
All right, and then moving on to homeschool. So the pros of homeschool, more control over which curriculums. You can choose a Christian curriculum, you can oversee their education more closely because you're there with them daily working through it with them. You have more flexibility. So with my husband being on rotating shifts, he'll often work three, 12 hour night shifts, and then he's off for five days. So if we want it to be able to vacation throughout the year, I know cruises are so much cheaper when it's during the school year, because most families can't go on a cruise in the middle of the week in the school year. But if you're homeschooling, you can do that. And other vacations, you can go when it's the off seasons, your paying less for travel and not having crowds.
And then also lots of really cool field trip and co-op group opportunities. I had a friend who homeschools, she has three boys and a girl, and is constantly posting pictures of the cool field trips they're doing. And just oh we're studying and learning at the playground today because it's nice out and we can.
And so there's a lot of opportunities for just getting outside, being in nature more, hanging out with friends that also homeschool and just really getting close to those friends. I see them doing things all together a lot with their homeschool group and they're going on the field trips together. So that is one way to develop friendships, a little deeper.
But the cons of homeschool are there's no break from your kids. And quite honestly, I need a break from my kids sometimes. My work time is golden. It allows me to refresh, reset, be able to have the energy and the mindset to handle all the overstimulation that comes from being around kids the rest of the day.
Also, my son does not like to listen to me like he listens to others. Over summer we tried to do a little bit of learning to just keep up and get ready for first grade and he fought it. He doesn't like to listen to me as well as others, even we go to get haircuts or he goes to the dentist, or wherever that he has to sit still and listen and be perfect. And he is the best. The dentists will say, wow, this is the best kid I've had all day. And even the hairstylist. The barber's like, wow, he sits still better than some of the adults. I'm like, why couldn't he do that at home with me? So there would be tension there if I tried to homeschool him.
And then also if I'm homeschooling, that would leave less time for my business, for me to work.
And I think overall there's less opportunities for those unique learning things like science projects and stuff without having to pay for them individually. Like there are groups you can sign up to have really cool science class and things like that. But every single one you have to pay for. And so that just adds up over time.
And then also with homeschooling, there would be way more mess and chaos in my house. My kids fight cleaning up. They fight actually like sitting and eating their food when there's toys in the background. We had our dining table next to our playroom for awhile. We're about to change that with our renovation, but it's like, they just want to sit there and play hot wheels, not sit and eat their food.
So to try to get them to sit and learn when there's toys in the house and things would never get cleaned up, it would just be chaos.
And then also less social opportunities, again, without paying for extra things each time. So they don't have it throughout the day, unless you are, you have to be a little more intentional about it. Just less opportunities to naturally build that emotional intelligence of learning how to learn from someone else and learning how to deal with conflict with other kids that I think overall are important in a child's life.
And then finally for homeschool, I think having less structure would be hard for my kids. So if they knew that they didn't really have anywhere to go, they're not going to want to get dressed. They're not going to want to eat their breakfast in time. We're never going to be starting on time. And for some people that might be a huge pro, but for me, that's on my cons list.
Homeschool Hybrid — Pros and Cons
And so finally we are going to go over a homeschool hybrid.
So we have a lot of programs around here where the kids go off to school for two days a week, or maybe three days a week, or some of them may be even five days, but it is a homeschool program. I know there's actually one, that's kind of a homeschool/private school program, that it's even more expensive than normal private schools, but they go five days a week, it's got kind of a focus on stem, so that's science, engineering, what else, T, I don't know, but this, the stem program is more of like technical stuff and art and whatnot. And so that school has a big focus on that. But it's expensive.
So the homeschool hybrids, there might be more social opportunities, more flexible than public, private or charter, because you could just do a two day program and if you have to skip, no one's keeping attendance like they are in public school or private or charter school. And then also the pros would be not having to teach my child myself all the time.
The cons, as we mentioned, it's expensive. It's a little less flexible than just straight homeschooling because you do have to show up to class, you can't just do in your pajamas and go on vacation anytime you want. You've got to show up, especially if it's the full time hybrid option.
And then also you can't skip ahead as much or choose your own curriculum if you're going with a program that they have their own curriculums.
How did I decide on a school for my son?
All right. So, that's a lot. With so many pros and cons, how did I decide? So honestly I was torn and that is why I created my school decision guide. I wanted to use my decision making framework and apply it to school decisions. So my framework is called the SAIL Method and that's S A I L. And so I'm going to go over that briefly, just so you can see how I applied that to this school decision.
Using the SAIL Method to make my school decision
So the S.A. In sail is self-awareness. So you want to look really hard and deep into the things that are important to you and your family. So for us things like our schedule, leaving time for me to work, but only part-time, finances, long-term goals for our kids, with their emotional intelligence, as well as academics. And how well I do with my kids home with me all the time and learning from me versus learning from others. Or how to be sure that my kid is well-rounded between socially, academically, athletically, spiritually.
And then looking at your child's exact needs, their desires, their personality. Every kid is so different and every family's different. So you need to find what's a good fit for you. Because you could find a private school that is exactly what you and your family need, and it could be a complete misfit for someone else. It's all about looking into your life, setting that foundation.
Part of self-awareness is also doing your research. So my school research and comparison guide provides you with all these guided prompts and questions to look into, helping you to go on school tours, talk with other parents, talk with teachers and staff, look through comments on Facebook groups. So I started to do that with my various options and went to visit a private school, went to the kindergarten preview day for our public elementary school and just getting a feel for things and how other parents feel about them.
And all the while, while I was going through this, and while I was doing the school tours and talking with people, I wrapped it all in prayer. In fact, I had been praying about this decision for years before we were even starting to think about kindergarten, I had been praying for God's direction. And quite honestly, I didn't feel tugged in any certain direction or path, because that would have been a huge game changer for me.
If I felt God laying homeschooling in front of me and over and over confirming, yes, you're to homeschool, of course I would have chosen that path and it would have made this decision probably a little easier because I would have heard directly from God that, yes, this is what you're supposed to do. But because I didn't hear that from him, I still wanted to make sure I covered my bases and did proper research. Really being aware of what's going on at each school option and figuring out what was best for my child, my family.
Going back to the SAIL Method, the I in SAIL is impact.
So how does this decision impact you, your child, your family in these five ways: financially, relationally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. And then I'll throw one more in just for schools and that's academically. We've already talked about the financial impacts a little bit of how we don't want to be paying for a private education for multiple kids. That's a big factor for us. Then relationally, how will it affect me and my child, if he's home with me all day for homeschool versus if he's off in school and how does it affect the friendships?
Physically are there opportunities for them to have sports and activities as well as the physical building that they're in. You know, if you're in a really, really old school that's moldy and your kid's getting sick all the time. That's an issue. Or physical safety is also a consideration.
And then emotional. Look at your emotional health, your mental health, as well as your child's ability to build up emotional intelligence and have an environment that's helping them learn. So if they're getting super bullied at public school, then maybe it is time to pull them out and put them in a place that they feel safe and welcome and have friendships and that they can learn. Because if there's things hindering them from learning emotionally, they're going to shut down. They're not going to want to thrive and excel in that environment.
And then spiritually, looking at the opportunities within school, and then if there aren't opportunities in school, look at outside of the box. My sons are signed up to do Awanas this year, which is a Christian kind of Cub scout type thing in the evenings at a church. And then we've got church on Sundays. I try to pour into them and teach them lessons at home as well.
Then academically, just look at what is the best fit for your child for learning and the type of curriculum. You know, if you have a kid with dyslexia what type of reading program and style does each school offer that is good for kids with dyslexia. So we're looking at all those impact zones.
And then finally the L in the SAIL Method is your litmus test.
So this takes what's most important to really reveal what your priorities are and which one's the best. So look at all of your lists from above of the self-awareness the impact zones, those factors, and look at what's your family's top priority. List them from highest priority to lowest priority.
So now rather than comparing apples to oranges, or just looking at a pros and cons list, which if you go back to episode four, I talk about how pros and cons lists often leave you more confused. So instead you want to do this litmus test. You want to look at what are the most important factors. For your family if finances are no problem at all then maybe don't let finances be a deciding factor. Or maybe if work is essential for you, not only for your mental state, but for your finances, then which options allow you to continue working the way that you want to work. That should be a top consideration.
So with all that said, how did I finally come to settle on public school?
Top factors for me were the learning environment. So something that would make my child love coming to school, want to learn and have lots of opportunities for growth and projects and cool ways to learn as well as learning under other authorities and not just me as their teacher. So because of this, I ruled out homeschooling.
Finances were a top factor, which I've already talked about. And while we could make it work and there are some grants and scholarships that are even for just general families, not necessarily need-based, but what if those go away and now we're completely established in this private school and that I'm driving my kid far away and they're not hanging out with friends that are live close by. So because of those reasons private schools were out and the hybrid schools were out since some of those hybrid schools were more expensive for two days, then an entire five day a week, private school. I don't get it.
And then proximity to home was important. So with the commute and with those friendships, I keep mentioning. So that ruled out the charter school. I also for the first year missed the lottery date for the charter school. So that kind of ruled it out for year one for me, even though I guess I could have been put on a wait list and my sister volunteers at that school so maybe she could have provided me an in, if there was a cancellation. But overall I was okay missing that deadline because I was pretty set on public school at that point anyway.
And then also part of my deciding factors were just going on those tours. The one private school I visited, I ruled that one out right after visiting it just because there were some things that I saw going on that just didn't sit right in my gut. And I just felt like, you know what, that's not the right place for my child. And then when I went to the public school, their kindergarten preview day and just saw the pictures and the slide shows of the things that they were doing. And saw the classrooms, talk to the teachers, it just felt like, yes, this is the right environment for my child to love school and to learn and grow.
How public school has been for my son so far
So I decided to give it a shot. And it has been great. My son loved kindergarten so much. His kindergarten teacher actually moved in two doors down from us and she moved up to first grade this year and he got her again. So I'm super thrilled about that. My son's best friend lives down the street from us in our neighborhood. And she was in his kindergarten class. And again, in their first grade class, her mom was room mom. So it's just been a really great place for him to grow and learn. And he rides the bus with his cousins. It's nice that if I'm running late from some errands and I can't make it to the bus pick up on time, I can text any of the other moms in my neighborhood, they're all listed as my contacts that are able to take my kid off the bus, and can I text them and say, "Hey, can you pick up my kid from the bus stop? I'll be there five minutes late." And it's just so nice having that little group of neighbors going to school together and hanging out after school together and doing sports and activities together.
Now. I will say I am taking it year by year with my son. So if things start coming up, if things change, if the secular environment starts negatively impacting my child and he starts straying from his faith or being bullied in a way that's not being handled well at school, or if something comes up crazy, then yes, I will reconsider and I will move his school. I'm not set on public school for, you know, just for the sake of the reasons I've mentioned above, like my child's safety and health and wellbeing is way more important than just choosing public school.
And honestly, middle school terrifies me. I will probably not send my child to public middle school, unless I see that my nephews who are older than my son are going there and thriving and doing great and not affected by all the middle school drama. Middle school was hard for me as a kid and that was before social media. So these poor kids that go through middle school now. But that is a beast I don't have to tackle for several years. So I will cross that bridge when it comes.
But with that said, I hope that this episode was helpful for you to just get a picture of how I chose public school for my child, my experience with it, and how our family as Christians are handling public school.
Don't forget to go and read the blog post interview with this other mom, Elizabeth Spencer, who sent her Christian kids to public school.
Make sure you check out my school decision guide, my school research and comparison guide and the free start smart school checklist over anchordecisions.com/schoolbundle.
So that's all for today. Have a great week.
Outro: Thanks for listening all the way through. If you want more content on making intentional, faith based decisions, go through my playlist and download any relevant episodes, hit subscribe, so you never miss an episode, or head over to anchoreddecisions.com to find more decision making resources.