Kindergarten!

Really, how did we get here???!!!  Wasn't he just a baby?  Talking about kindergarten for Sam has Nick and me a little stressed.  (well, maybe not so much Nick).  But we're at a crossroads with deciding whether or not to put him in public or private school.

Sam's situation is a little more complicated than the average kindergartner.  Sam misses a lot of school due to therapy and dr. appointments, and since he's got DMD - there are certain things about his education that need to be modified: like PE, recess and transitioning to and from the classroom.  So, we've met with the school district/school admin and had an ARD meeting and discussed IEP's....geez - the kid hasn't even started school yet!  There's already so much information and it's still summer.

Last year, we had him at Catholic school and absolutely loved it.  The school goes all the way up to 8th grade.  It's small - he would be 1 out of 30 kindergartners.  He's already way more ahead than where Caroline was when she started kinder.  But it's private school.  It's expensive.  They don't have to make any educational accommodations because of Sam's disease.  Meaning they can hold him back b/c he's missed a lot of school.  Or they don't have to let him take breaks during PE.  They don't have to have a plan to help him transition to the cafeteria or to recess.  I do feel like the level of education is better than it is at the public school, especially after my extreme hatred for 2nd grade this past year (I'll save that rant for another post, but we're giving it one more year).  

The public school in the neighborhood is close to home.  It's free.  He'd have a wonderful kindergarten teacher - we hope the same one who had Caroline b/c we loved her.  He'd have an IEP that gives him the tools and services he needs to succeed and to accommodate his disease.  But it's crowded - he would be 1 of 120 kids.  Someone has to watch him all the time at recess and PE.  I know, because I've been on the playground where there's 3 classes on the playground and one teacher watching.  There's no way there can be a set of eyes on him all the time, but if he falls we need to know exactly what happened so we can determine if it was because someone pushed him or if his DMD is getting worse.  Then what happens after kinder?  First grade was ok, but 2nd grade sucked so bad.  Are we going to go down this same road with Sam?  I know he'll be taken care of, but the number of kids in that school terrifies me and the things that can go wrong (and already have) can happen again too.

Granted, having a newborn with 2 kids at 2 different schools is so much harder than it has to be, so obviously sending them both to one school is the best choice.  But we really just don't know what to do.  Nick is a product of private school.  I am not.  I turned out ok, right?  He's ready to just yank both kids and put them in private school anyway; I think that decision is premature.  We've weighed the pros and cons, but at the end of the day it all seems to balance out.   

So for now, Sam is enrolled at 2 schools until we make up our minds.   He really wants to go to sissy's school.  Just don't know if that's the right decision for him right now.