Before I became a stay at home mom, I taught at a public elementary school. Both Daniel and I grew up in public education. Daniel even comes from a home of public educators. So, when we didn't have the best experience last year with Kason in public school, we were a little unsure of what to do. I was actually super excited for Kason to start kinder and couldn't wait for all the school fun experiences and new friends...but as the year went on, our family struggled with our new reality. I spent a lot of the year wrestling with public school vs. private school vs. homeschool vs. a hybrid school. I knew right away homeschool wasn't for us even though I love, LOVE teaching my kiddos. I believe it is important for my kids to be "raised by a village" and learn from other adults. We all learn in different ways and I find it valuable to have other adults use their gifts to teach my kids. I honestly wrestled with private and the hybrid version of going to school part time and homeschool part time because I didn't want our children to be over sheltered...I mean, their father is a minister so we spend loads of time with our faith community already...I was worried we wouldn't be able to teach our children how to live missionally if they were constantly surrounded by other Christians. Daniel and I eventually came to the conclusion to give public school one more year to see if we had a better experience especially since I really like Giddens where both the boys went...in fact, Max still goes there. But two weeks before school, Daniel was growing more anxious about Kason starting again because it felt like we finally had our Kason back by the end of the summer, so we began exploring our options once again. We decided to take the plunge and went ahead and enrolled him in a private school, Brentwood Christian School.
Friends, this was a heavy decision for us...one we wrestled with for a year, one we prayed over, one we turned over to God to help provide us with wisdom for what was best for Kason specifically. We aren't 100% sure what happened in his kinder classroom, but what we experienced at home was that our once confident, fun loving Kason became a low self esteem kid who felt like he wasn't smart or couldn't do anything...he started second guessing himself, always seeking our approval rather than feeling confident in his own opinions and choices. Daniel and I felt he wasn't learning the basics of reading and math for a strong foundation to build on as the years went...in fact, Kason became a bubble kid on the teacher's watch list because he barely met end of the year kinder standards. So while we loved the overall environment and Kason made some great friends, we felt a tug that a switch was best for him. Let me just say that God provided for our family in a BIG way! Brentwood Christian has done wonders for our little man and we couldn't be happier. His teacher is phenomenal and has really taken Kason under her wing helping to fill in those gaps he missed and working hard to get him caught up. She provides strict structure which he needs, but also loads of nurturing and love which he also needs. Since it's a private school, they get to do all sorts of fun during the day that I remember doing growing up in public school...but now there are so many restrictions and guidelines. When they finish units, they have fun culminating activities like sharing in these patriotic treats I made for their flag unit...
Their first (of 3!) field trips was to spend the day fishing to end their fish unit...how fun is that?!?
All parents and grandparents were invited to join the 1st grade classes on a fishing field trip for an entire day, so our fishing buddies Pops and Nana came!
Mrs. Burcham even arranged the field trip on a day when the parks and rec stock the pond, so the kids could see fish up close...
I even organized a fish fry for lunch that day for all the kids and parents. I recruited Nana and Pops to help cook while a variety of parents from BCS donated fish, hush puppies, and fries.
Everyone pitched in and the fish fry was a hit! I also loved watching my little guy fish with his Pops and play around with his friends...
I'm not naive enough to think that while this feels like a utopian educational environment right now that eventually there won't be times in the future we might question what's going on...but for now, this has been the right fit for Kason. I love how the school integrates all ages throughout the week. Kason's class often partners with another 5th grade class for different units, Kason has a 7th grade buddy for chapel days, whenever Kason struggles to complete any work his teacher partners him with a high school student to help him finish...I just adore how he is learning from other students too, not just adults! Daniel and I have seen more growth in Kason over the last two months than we saw for most of the school year in kinder. Kason is loving school not just for his friends any more, but to actually learn. He has having a blast working on his first major project. We researched online together and read about his whale...
I gathered supplies and he is currently creating his own visual for his presentation next Monday...
I just adore how much learning has captured his heart right now. I also will confess that being in a christian environment has made an impact on Kason. Since our home centers on Christ, all our kids talk about, read, pray, and sing often...but lately Kason talks about God more often, his singing has grown even more constant, he is learning scripture and reading his bible all the time (he almost has the entire Lord's prayer memorized), his prayers have even grown in depth. In fact, on their book character dress up day after rattling off a list of characters I know he enjoys reading, he looked at me and said, "I think I just want to be Jesus. I mean he is the coolest character of all!"
Well, I'm definitely not going to argue that point! There you have it friends, I think it is safe to say that we are in love with BCS right now. I mean this kid finally gets PE everyday (not just twice a week), he has recess everyday, he has either music or art everyday, and then on top of all of that his special classes consist of: library, computers, spanish, and chapel. Daniel and I feel like he not only is learning his fundamental foundations for education but he is also becoming a well rounded kid exploring a variety of areas. Hey, he even gets to go to some pep rallies and even watched some athletic events on Fridays if they finish their work! Our family feels so blessed by this educational system and support from his teacher to help Kason reach his optimal learning capacity. So now our next journey is to begin living more missionally within our neighborhood so Kason can share his love of Jesus to others!
Love how well Kason is doing!
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