Considering Kindergarten

On the whole, I don't think I'm a person who does things by default when it comes to parenting. I chose to stay home because I think it's best for my particular kids to have me at home with them, and I'm not the type of person who can be effective at both career and motherhood simultaneously. I decided to breastfeed because it worked for us, it was cheap, and it was easily available. D and M are vaccinated against the standard things because I don't want them to get those diseases (the exception being chicken pox; I'd like them to actually have it in order to build an immunity against it). Hubby and I take our girls to church because our greatest hope is that they'll become followers of Jesus. D is taking swimming lessons because I want her to be safe in the water. We make all kinds of choices surrounding the hows and whys that we live our lives, and I'd like to think that we make informed choices.

A great and scary thing about being a parent is that you get to make the decisions. Other people can weigh in, approve, criticize, etc, but you get to choose in the end. The toughest decision that I've had to make so far regards kindergarten. [Hubby and I have talked at length about it, and he's leaving the final say to me.] And I haven't quite made it yet.

D has a late birthday, as do I, and she won't be 4 in September. My parents chose not to send me to junior kindergarten, which at the time was a half-day program. There are still several schools in our area that provide half-day programs, but this is the final year that the option will be available. So, if D goes to junior kindergarten this year, it'd be half-day; if we send her next year, she'd be going into senior kindergarten for a full day. I think that would be a challenging adjustment, to go from all day with Mom and sister to all day at school with a teacher and classmates.

Compounding the issue is that we have four publicly funded school boards: English, English Catholic, French, and French Catholic. We're not eligible to send D to the French board because French is not Hubby's or my first language (nor the predominant language spoken at home), or to the French Catholic board because we are not Catholic. That still leaves two boards to choose from, and the schools closest to our house belong to these. The English public school, closer geographically, is in a quiet area, and offers Early French Immersion. The Catholic one is on a busier road, but it would take into account the core beliefs we share with Catholicism, and build on the spiritual foundation we've laid.

And then there's the simple fact that D has many, many years of school ahead. Neither junior nor senior kindergarten is mandatory. I'm not remotely concerned about her missing out on any aspect of learning, and I'm pretty confident that if she went straight into grade one without having attended kindergarten, she'd catch up with the other kids quickly. I'm also not worried about her socialization. The most important socialization right now is what occurs within our family. She has regular opportunities to connect and learn to get along with other kids at play group, Sunday school, play dates, etc. I place a higher priority on her attachment to us, her parents, rather than her peers.

I'm trying not to let sentimentality creep into my decision-making, but I'd be dishonest if I didn't admit to tearing up when I think about what kindergarten in 2013 would mean for me and D: no more library story time, play group, Wednesdays at church, park visits, relaxed mornings, play dates. At least not on weekday mornings. And M would miss her sister, but she'd get more one-to-one time with me. Man, what would it be like to only have a two-year-old around the house (for the mornings, at least)?

For the record, I have asked D her opinion about whether she'd be interested in starting kindergarten or not, and she gave it all of five seconds' worth of consideration before declaring "Hmmm...not." Meanwhile, the day before, on her way out the door to swimming lessons, she was proudly wearing her backpack and telling me that she was going to school. I'm not sure she is weighing her options the same way that I am.

Registration in the Catholic board starts next week, and the English public board is the week after that. The balance of this week will be spent researching my options, picking other parents' brains, and of course, always, praying. Let's see if I'm any closer to a decision by next Monday!

Is this kid ready for kindergarten? Who knows?!