Elementary Schools and Other Dilemmas

A playgroup mom's recent comment about the fact that nearby elementary schools are going through a rezoning process sent me on a web chase to see what's really at stake.

I think our neighborhood/street will remain fine and that we'll continue to belong to Sligo Creek Elementary. Not that we bought the house with elementary schools in mind, but since we're already here and since that's the school we belong to I'd feel duped and cheated if the county were to change parameters on us. But it doesn't look like they will.

This led me to examine another thing that's been on my mind lately. Sligo Creek Elementary has a French immersion program, which became a big beacon and draw for me once I became aware of it. So, tonight I perused the county's website to figure out, when does one need to register a child for elementary school and how does one get into this French Immersion program. I assumed that since we belong to this elementary school that we would automatically be eligible for the French program. Well, it turns out it's a lottery system. This obviously sucks. The county has two French immersion program elementary schools, three for Spanish, some for Chinese, and there are other schools which are geared for the gifted and talented, etc....

These school options of course set my brain cogs in overdrive. Which elementary school should Ivan attend? My original preference for the French Immersion program, or maybe Spanish? But now I'm thinking would it be better to send him to the program for the highly gifted, or the one that focuses on science and math.

It seems to me that his early toddler fascination with vacuum cleaners and wires (plugging them into "bups") are really early signs that he'll be scientifically and engineeringly inclined. (Everyone who meets him or to whom I tell of his wires and bups fascination seems to think so). So maybe it would be good to nurture his "scientific" mind from early on.

However, my personal education philosophy for a child--the one I actually had in place way before I ever even thought about having a child, the philosophy that's a by product of my educational and personal experiences--is to first focus the child on learning a language, so he could speak it like a native person. Math, science and all other studies could easily come later. A person can always catch up on his math and science skills when he's 15, 20 or 25, but that those ages it's already too late for a person to learn a new language with ease and fluency.

Also, I think that learning a language at an early age is really more like play than a school chore.

And why French over Spanish. That's personal as well. Eventually, he'd learn both French and Spanish, but French has to go first Why? Because I think that French is much more difficult to master (pronounciation and grammar wise) than Spanish. Because I've been learning French for ever and I'm still intimidated by it.

I've also been toying with an idea to hire a native French speaking student for an hour of "French play" with Ivan and myself. The idea would be to find someone who'd come to my house once a week to chat with me in French in Ivan's presence and play with us in French. That way, I'd brush up on French and Ivan would learn some.

I actually tried speaking French to him the other day. He looked at me baffled. He obviously couldn't understand what I was saying or why I was suddenly speaking things that were completely foreign to him.

Needless to say, I'm already freaking out about all these grandiose educational plans, and Ivan just barely turned two. He's only 25 months old.