I registered Carson for the fourth grade at Bonner Elementary School across the street from our new house on the Friday after school let out for the 2010-11 school year. I gave completed all of the forms required, provided proof of address, and even wrote a formal request that Carson be evaluated for the Pofoundly Gifted Program allowed for under federal law, but seemingly, Clark County School District's secret red-headed step-child. If Carson qualifies for this program, he will, for the rest of his life in the public education system, for special accomodations regarding his curriculum (much like those accomodations required for a special needs child). Cason will be observed in the classroom and on the playground, he'll undergo academic testing including I.Q. testing, and will be evaluated by a CCSD psychologist who will ultimately have the decision as to whether or not my son, the one you all know to be extremely intelligent and advanced, will "qualify" for this federal program. Sounds great, right?
Not so much to me. I know that CCSD is BROKE. They have no money for funding of standard curriculum, let alone that for things considered extra-curricular. Last spring when I visited different schools in the Summerlin area, trying to decide which one would be the best for Carson, so that we could move into their zone, I inquired about this program. Most of the people I spoke with in the front offices immediately began talking to me about the GATE program, a pull-out style, supplementary program offered to qualified CCSD students beginning in grade 3. Carson was in GATE at Kitty Ward last year and did very well, but it is NOT the same as the Profoundly Gifted Program that noone seems willing to even acknowledge. Pulling my child out of his regular class for a collaborative class of supplementary learning (he has to make up all work missed in his regular class on his own time) is NOT the same as differentiating his curriculum so that he can study the same topics but with greater depth, accounting for his ability to comprehend and apply much quicker than his average peer. When Carson was tested for GATE at the beginning of 3rd grade, he scored in the 99th percentile! That means he is 99th out of 100 of those tested- and they only test those kids that could qualify!
So.... with all this weighing on my mind, I enrolled him in Bonner, hoping for the best, and after a brief consideration of returning to homeschooling. I want him to have all the social experiences of attending a school. But how badly do I want them?
My decision has been weighing on me a lot lately, and so when his classroom assignment for his new school failed to come in the mail this past month, and I kept getting phone calls from the automated dialer at his old school, I began to suspect that his records were not transferred to his new school, and therefore, he is not yet registered there. I'm wondering, is the Lord trying to tell my thick-headed self something here? Then, my friend text messages me, inviting me to the homeschool group open house last Tuesday evening. I can't believe she is inviting me even though she already knows I registered Carson for public school. She later tells me that it was something she did because God had impressed it upon her heart to do. Hmmm...
I plan on not attending and just blowing her off- in fact, I don't even have our car to get there if I want to. At the last minute I call another friend (whose schedule is usually SOOO busy you can't imagine) and ask her if I can ride along with her, oh, and I need her husband to watch Carson while I go because Craig is at work. Like a perfectly orchestrated piece of music, she is already near my house and comes to pick us up within 5 minutes. We go back to her house where dinner and dessert are already plated for the two of us, as we have 30 min to eat dinner and get to the meeting. I am amazed.
At the meeting I hear a lot of good stuff. I get to know the My Father's World, Christian curriculum this group uses for their core, get all my questions answered, and even learn that someone has a curriculum set I can borrow to help keep costs down. All I need to purchase are the consumables, which are then circled for me in a curriculum catalog. I even talk with another on-the-fence working mom, this one single, about how we will be able to manage doing this while working. She discusses helping me find a higher paying job so that I don't have to work as many hours. I am wowed.
Over the past few days I have given Carson a couple of subject-specific placement tests (that I tell him aren't tests; "Just answer each question the best that you can," I tell him.) He has assesed to the mid-fourth grade in math and the sixth month of fifth grade in spelling. He and I have a frank discussion about what these scores mean. He is convinced, like me, that we should be homeschooling.... if we only consider the academic angles. However, there are social angles to attending school also. Which leads me, circumvent, to the question I asked in the beginning. To what degree of importance do I hold the social aspect of learning in school compared to that of the more obvious academic aspect?
The back-and-forth within me continues as I consider our options, and as the timeclock to final committment counts down. Please pray for me, that I will make the right decision for my son, that he be put on the path in life the Lord intends for him.
Your thoughts?
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