James New School

James started at the local public school here by our new house on January 3 after taking the month of December off to stay home and play/be a kid/celebrate Christmas/see family/hang out with me/laugh/run. He was there a whole 3 days when I found my dream school. I have been looking for a half day Kindergarten program for about 3 years now (made all the harder by not knowing where I would live when James started school). And we finally found one! I overheard a friend talking to another friend at the park about a Star Charter.

Star Charter is K-12 and you can choose either a morning session 8-12 or the afternoon 12-4. It goes all the way through high school like that. We'll most likely only be around until James finishes 4th grade, Matthias 2nd, and Hannah Kindergarten. We love his teacher, Mrs. H and he likes the kids in his class (only 14 of them). He doesn't wake up crying because he has to go to school, but gets ready and runs out the door with Taylor who drops James off at school on the way to the bus stop.

Mrs. H brings her dog to school (because at charter schools you can do that). The dog is a little white poodle named Daisy and James says she just sits and doesn't make much noise. There is only one class per grade for each session. The school is rated really high on test scores so the kids are obviously learning something. James is doing well and loving it. We love having him home by lunch time and for the rest of the day. We like to stick together.

I'm so happy we found Star because I really tried to keep James home for learning, but just felt like it wasn't what was right/best for him. We did a couple stints of "homeschooling" meaning James was a little kid who is curious and learned on his own. I would never home school to recreate the setting/learning style of public school in my own home. Rather to let my kids learn what they want at their pace by 'playing' and interacting with the world. And I can direct and facilitate that.

Star is a perfect balance of both. Plenty of time to play at home. With some time to interact with peers outside the family and learn in a traditional learning style.