Pour Your Heart Out

Today I'm linking up with Shell over at Things I Can't Say! Every Wednesday she does a Pour Your Heart Out post, so I'm jumping on the bandwagon and linking up to her. Go check her (and the others below her post that have linked up!) out!

Today I'm pouring my heart out about school.

Now, I love our school. I more than love our school. Our kids attend a private Lutheran school. It's a great school! It's more than a great school.

I love love love our teachers. They are more than teachers to our children, some of them have become friends. They are involved in not only our children's lives, but mine and Mr. Goose Poop's lives also. They know what's going on with us. They pray for us. They encourage us. They love us. They are the best.

And the parents...oh the parents. How I love them too!! They have become more than just the parent's of kids my kids go to school with. In fact, 3 moms just left my house about 20 minutes ago. We do a weekly coffee. All of us mom's host coffee at our house different weeks. Who ever can come, comes. This was a small week, we've had some sickies. Usually there are about 6-7 different mom's a week. We talk about our kids, we talk about parenting styles, we talk chores, we talk discipline, we talk about our hopes, dreams and fears. We talk about our husbands, mothers and brothers. It is a great group of ladies, and I feel blessed to know them.

But....there's always a "but" isn't there?? But, though we have a very small, close knit school (lets get real here...there's only 120 kids from pre-school to 8th grade!! And 6 of them are mine!), sometimes that can be a bad thing.

McKenzie will be in 5th grade next year, which had been getting me thinking of high school. I know she's got 4 years left at this school, but since we are in such a sucky public school system, private school's and school's of choice fill up very quickly around here. I have a friend who's been on the waiting list for school of choice for 2 years, and was just informed that they didn't get in for next year either. So...it's time to start thinking about what we are going to do.

We do have a Lutheran High School that is linked up with all the area Lutheran School's. But...here's that pesky word again...it's small. Like really small. Like smaller than our current school. The high school just got off the ground a few years ago, and we are adding students every year. I know that. And I'm sure by the time McKenzie is ready to go to high school in (OMG!!!!) 4 years, it'll be even bigger than it is now.

But...I mean, how big can it really get? The economy is making it tougher and tougher for families to afford private school, so we're not able to recruit as many students as we want. I don't foresee any way for the high school to expand much more. Sure, a few students here and there, but it'll take a miracle for it to expand to the size of a "regular" high school.

And here lays the problem. Because our school is so small, they don't offer much other than an education, both spiritual and educational. Now please don't get me wrong, and education and religion is absolutely priceless, I know that. But I'm of the side of the fence that believes high school (actually school in general) is more than just an education. I believe it's an experience.

Yes, it's important to be educated. Yes, it's important to have a relationship with the Lord. I agree. But I also think it's important to be involved. Involved in sports, involved in groups, involved in student council, Girl Scouts, the Debate Team and the likes. And we don't have that. Well, ok...we have basketball and Volleyball, that we do. But that's it. I am the Girl Scout Leader at her school, but I use the term loosely! More or less...we just use the school to house our meetings! There are only 3 girls in 4th grade at our school, and they are all in my troop. But the rest of the girls come from all different schools. Public, Catholic, Lutheran, and Academies. So I can't really count Girl Scouts as something associated with our school.

I want my boys to play football with their school friends. I want my daughter to be a cheerleader for their team. I want them to have the option to be in the Band, the Student Council, the French Club. Or play on the tennis, soccer, or swim team. I want the whole Homecoming Week. With school colors (I don't even really know what our school "colors" are!), parades, floats, and community.

I want all that. I'm not diminishing our school. We do have a Lutheran Spirit Week, with the whole funky hair day, pj day, prank day and the like. We have school carnivals, golf outings, and open houses.

But I don't want to give up our teachers. Our Pastor that knows the kids by name. The bible study that happens every day, or the Chapel that happens every Wednesday.

I want the best of both worlds. I want to have my cake and eat it too.

I feel like time is running out. And this has been on my mind for a few months now. I don't know what to do. I don't know if I want to give up my children being taught about the Lord at school. Or if I want to give up the experience of high school.

Why can't choices just be easy?

There's my Pour Your Heart Out post for the day. Now that you've read mine, head over and visit Shell and the others that are pouring their hearts out today!