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Intentional communities
Mar. 1st, 2010 11:27 pmI posted (friends-only?) a plea for readings for my group on Sunday, and I'm pleased to report we chose a pretty appropriate parenting-in-liberal-faith topic for next month and had ourselves a great little time. There was pizza and good conversation, and the kids had a most fabulous upstairs nest to run around in. Bug was really well-behaved and enjoyed playing with the other kids; the other kids, for their part, were pretty tolerant of the hanger-on two year old.
Today, we had our interview at Fancypants Private Preschool and High School Prep. Once again, I really liked the classrooms and the other kids that we encountered. However, I was pretty lukewarm on the actual interview part of the process, and I was frankly upset that the meeting was so focused on us and not on Bonzo. Bonzo is, by almost any measure except toileting skills, the best of all our family, and he is the actual prospective student. Making him play to one side while the grownups talk is not age appropriate.
I often forget that most kids his age don't hold conversations that other people can easily understand. And almost any toddler or preschooler is going to take a lot of contact before they open up to a stranger. But selecting families based on what the parents say seems like buying a car because you talked with someone on the phone about it and liked them. It's pretty risky.
Also, my interview skills are a little rusty. Which I guess means I should go to bed and try to beef up my job security tomorrow.
It took me all day to sort through my distress over the meeting, however. It really cuts to a pretty fundamental question: what kind of community do we want to create for Bonzo? The church group on Sunday was a known quantity, and he really relaxed there. But our interview today was the opposite of relaxed, and I'm not sure that the other parents there are ever going to be my type of people. At the same time, the kids' social group and the educational setting--the milieu, if we must channel Bettleheimer--would be such a great fit for Bonzo that it might be worth the oddness.
I wonder how homeschooling would fit with my current career.
Today, we had our interview at Fancypants Private Preschool and High School Prep. Once again, I really liked the classrooms and the other kids that we encountered. However, I was pretty lukewarm on the actual interview part of the process, and I was frankly upset that the meeting was so focused on us and not on Bonzo. Bonzo is, by almost any measure except toileting skills, the best of all our family, and he is the actual prospective student. Making him play to one side while the grownups talk is not age appropriate.
I often forget that most kids his age don't hold conversations that other people can easily understand. And almost any toddler or preschooler is going to take a lot of contact before they open up to a stranger. But selecting families based on what the parents say seems like buying a car because you talked with someone on the phone about it and liked them. It's pretty risky.
Also, my interview skills are a little rusty. Which I guess means I should go to bed and try to beef up my job security tomorrow.
It took me all day to sort through my distress over the meeting, however. It really cuts to a pretty fundamental question: what kind of community do we want to create for Bonzo? The church group on Sunday was a known quantity, and he really relaxed there. But our interview today was the opposite of relaxed, and I'm not sure that the other parents there are ever going to be my type of people. At the same time, the kids' social group and the educational setting--the milieu, if we must channel Bettleheimer--would be such a great fit for Bonzo that it might be worth the oddness.
I wonder how homeschooling would fit with my current career.
