Monday, March 19, 2007

School Choices

I've talked a lot about having a child who missed the kindergarten cut off by a few hours. In Somerville these dates are carved in stone. You miss the birthday cut off, you're banned for an entire year. This also effects our ability to attend Somerville's totally awesome Free Preschool. He couldn't start there until he was five because he'd have to be four by the same deadline he's going to miss for kindergarten. So, either we suck it up and pay for another year of preschool at Oxford Street, or we send him somewhere else less expensive.

We love Oxford Street, but it's expensive and it's a lot of work. Having your kid in a parent cooperative means your kid gets great care, but you pay through the nose and you have to put in a lot of time.

So, as of a week or so ago we have a new option that we're pretty happy with. Eric got offered a spot at Saint Peters. Saint Peters is a Catholic school in Cambridge. It's pretty reasonable for a private school and they have a PreK that's very well respected. He'd attend for at least 2 years and if we chose, we could transfer him to public first grade at that point.

I just there was somebody who could tell me if this is a good idea or not. Eric is really interested in learning. He's trying really hard to read and is interested in basic arithmetic. But these days the trend is to start kids as late as possible. I suppose if he had been born in August like he was supposed to be, this wouldn't be an issue. But I worry there will be consequences to starting him "early." I worry there will be worse consequences to starting him "late."

Am I dooming him to a struggle to keep up? Will he burn out on too much school too soon? Or am I sentencing him to a lifetime of school boredom?