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Our research about preschool: When our eldest, Leigh, was a toddler there was much talk about nursery schools, preschool programs and Four Year Old Kindergarten which was the school issue of the early 80’s. Though we had already chosen many alternatives as far as birthing and diet we were pretty steeped in the idea of traditional schooling. We had yet to encounter any home-educators or the reality of the public school system! One of our acquaintances with older children told us that if we had concerns about the school system that we should become informed and get involved now so that there might be some changes made by the time our kids were in school. Our first step was to look at the options available to us: there is a public school about ten minutes drive from our rural home or the Catholic school five miles further. We looked at Montessori and Waldorf schools but the reality was that as appealing as private school might be, it was not a realistic option financially. Our Firstborn starts school: We chose to keep Leigh home from Junior Kindergarten. When Leigh turned five, though, the demands of two active children and the impending third, coupled with the demands of Leigh himself, and my own ignorance and inexperience, we all seemed ready to send him to Senior Kindergarten. We chose the Catholic School as we had heard good things about it. Leigh adjusted well and enjoyed the friends and social side of it all. His teacher was a very patient, very experienced woman who seemed to be able to gear her subject areas to each of the many different children. She and Leigh got along well. After a few months, I noticed that when Leigh came home he was very grumpy and seemed to take out his frustrations on his younger brother, three year old Carey. It was as though everything that was said or done to Leigh during the day, on the playground, waiting in line for the washroom, or sitting in the classroom, he had to say and do to Carey. He was also very hungry when he got home and we learned very quickly to get some food into him ASAP when he arrived home to minimize the aftershocks. Learning to Read: When he was home sick for a week in November that year, Leigh learned to read. It was exciting to think that he just figured it out: with minimal coaching from me and while he was sick!! He would have crossed that step if he had been in school, if not that week, soon after, but I thought at the time it was quite ironic that he learned to read when he was NOT in school. Unfortunately, that big step in learning was not to be such a good thing for long. By the time he got into grade one, he was reading at a Grade 3 level and became quite bored with the time and attention given to basic reading skills in the classroom. Because he was a social child, he would talk and fool around with his willing peers. This of course, caused problems in the class. When we asked about providing some kind of enrichment, we were told that they don’t do anything extra for kids like Leigh, who excel in an area, until they are “identified” as gifted and that doesn’t happen until the end of Grade 3! I was even admonished by the principal for stimulating my child too much. It was easy to see through her narrow view. I had not spent hours and hours teaching Leigh. All I had done was love him and read to him. While in Kindergarten and Grade 1, Leigh had a substitute teacher for a large portion of each year. During Grade 2, Leigh had the benefit of the same teacher for the entire year so she got to know him well. But, again, because he was so quick to pick up on new concepts and ideas, he would master worksheets in a fraction of the time of the other children and then in his usual social manner, try to help them with theirs! His report card stated, “Leigh is a very social child” – a positive way of saying he talks and noses into other people’s business, too much! Again, when we tried to get some more challenging work for him the teacher gave him extra work or extra things to bring home but again we were told “wait until the end of Grade 3”. That being the case, all I could imagine was that by the time they ‘tested’ him, this kid would be totally bored, totally ‘put off’ by the school system, totally unwilling, unhappy, and consequently would do poorly on those tests, so causing an even more rapid downward spiral of achievement. He had many altercations on the playground including a swing in the side of his head that required stitches, a lunch box smashed, and numerous bullying experiences that were making it hard to be patient with the situation. He was trying to get along, respond without violence, trying to “use his words”, as he had been taught, but the majority of the kids he was dealing with did not have the same skills or goals. So the hope of getting along and making changes quickly became simply a “How can we give Leigh the skills to cope with this?”. Carey goes to kindergarten: In the meantime, Carey entered Kindergarten, while Leigh was coping through Grade 2. He had the same Kindergarten teacher as Leigh had. After the first half day Carey had, he announced that he wanted to stay all day long! I was encouraged and for a few weeks things went well. But by November, Carey was not so enthusiastic and became more sullen and even unhappy. While at home he had been drawing pictures of underground wells and what’s inside trees, his schoolwork challenges included colouring three balloons