Old School/New School - Kindergarten

Back in February, I applied to 5 different Charter Schools. Unfortunately, they were all out of our District. We were disappointed in what we were seeing with our local school. It was only a 10 minute walk from our house. I even tried applying to another school within our district. Right before school started, I didn't hear back from the Charters and the chosen district school was filled. We didn't have high hopes on the Charter since we heard it was difficult to get in. But was disappointed he couldn't get his chosen District School. Two weeks into the school year, we get not one, but two Charter Schools asking us if we would like to attend! By the time we finished filling out the application for the 1st one, the 2nd school called. But, we stucked with the 1st one. We really had a good feeling about it and were already on our way. Funny thing was that a couple of his preschool friends are also attending this new school and one is even his classmate. Even better! We were hesitant about the shock of changing schools and also not sure about him not having neighborhood friends. But after telling Wes about the new school, he was all for it! After two weeks at the old and now two weeks at the new, we see a huge difference. At the old school, there is a huge gap amongst the students in regards to their learning skills. Here is what we have discovered between the two schools:

	Public (old)	vs.	Charter (new)
Bell	When bell does work, get in line		1st bell to Freeze. 2nd bell to get in line
Student Ratio	1 Teacher, 28 kids		1 Teacher, 1 student Teacher Aide, 23 kids
Teacher Wish List	On the door of the Office because they ran out of paper		Teacher distributes. Wish List has already been fulfilled
Parent Involvement	Low		High
Weekly Homework	1 page		10 pages, plus Journal, plus daily library book
Action Oriented Learning	No		Yes
Morale	Bored		Excited
Tuition	Free		Free

I am so glad my sister told me about Charter schools. When Jay was talking to other parents at the old school who were unhappy, they never knew about Charter schools. Unfortunately, for them, applications were back in February. Now, they're trying to look at alternatives. Right now his homework seems daunting. But at the same time, we hope this early start will get him used to the routine of daily homework.