Parent Information Night

I blogged a little while ago about how we had an upcoming parent information night for Little Girl and Kindergarten next year.

Well that was last night.  We got our baby sitter and hubby and I went together.

I was so glad I brought him along; the school we want her to go to is Foundations for the Future Charter Academy. 

It is quite a bit different than the type of schools we both went to as kids, and I really needed him to see and hear that first hand.

First they require 20 hours of parent volunteer time each year, and it is very academically based compared to what we know from the past.

Kindergarteners sit in a desk and have structured subjects and homework almost every day.

I know there are a lot of parents that feel that Kindergarteners should not have home work (I actually know parents of junior high school age children that think their child should not have homework either), but as they explained in the session last night, the homework is actually a review for the kids, designed to help reinforce and solidify what they have learned in school, not designed to actually have the parents doing the teaching.

But now we start the process: full days or half days?  If we go with half, what half?   Morning or afternoon?

Right now Little Girl is in pre-school 4 afternoons a week, so to add on an extra day (Friday) would not be much of a stretch, or do we go out of our comfort zone and put her into full days, where she would have to eat lunch at school?  Oh that freaks me out!  I am not sure I am ready for her to be that old yet.

The other question we need to answer is what are we going to do with her?  How are we going to get her to and from school and what do we do while she is not in school?  I work full time.  Our day home is not able to do before and after school care and it is now where near the school anyway.

So the research starts.  I will be looking into day cares, etc. and trying to find what works for us and our family for next year.

What about you? 

Any of my readers have / had children in FFCA?

How is / did your school selection process go?