This is not a commercial

Can I tell you how much I love my kids' school? I really love it! Can I also tell you why? (For the sake of privacy and my kids' security, it shall remain nameless. But you can ask me about it later.) I will try to be brief. Here are just a few of the reasons:

1) Academics: Our school uses the wonderful Spalding Method for language arts (unlike some schools who claim to use the program, our school truly does), the Open Court literature series, and the excellent Saxon Math program. I also love that the children are required to memorize and recite poetry every term.

2) Patriotism: Flag Ceremony is held every morning before school, and parents are invited to attend any time. The children sing a patriotic song, recite the Pledge of Allegiance, observe a moment of silence, and hear a message about the Virtue of the Month. In addition, they learn greetings in various foreign languages, and practice skip counting aloud on the way to class. It is so amazing!

There are several "special" Flag Ceremonies held throughout the year, and one of them was today, in honor of Veteran's Day. The children are invited to bring any family members who have served or are serving in the Armed Services to enjoy breakfast and a special program where the children sing all the Armed Services songs, and the winners of the Veteran's Day essay contest read their winning essay. (Each student writes an essay... in class, without parental help... and the teacher selects 2 as finalists. The principal then chooses one winner from each grade.) This year Collin won for the 3rd grade! He was so excited, and we were so proud of him. Each of the winners receives a medal too.
3) Fund-raising: We don't send our children door to door selling crap! We have ONE fund-raiser a year organized by the parent association ... a carnival-type event, with games and other activities, food, a silent auction (the biggest money maker), and a raffle. Ours was last Saturday (which is one of the reasons I have been super busy... I was on the committee... big sigh of relief), and it went really well. Our profit was over $6500 (I know because I'm also the treasurer of the parent organization), and ALL of it will benefit the school and our kids..... not some "fund-raising company."

4) Dress Code: Our school has a pretty strict dress code, and they enforce it. I won't go into the details here, but I love that there is complete modesty on our campus.

5) Our school is not afraid to have a CHRISTMAS concert where religious songs are sung, have CHRISTMAS parties in class, and refer to CHRISTMAS break. (That's probably because it's a charter school.)

Thank goodness for charter schools because we have a choice. I'm not saying that all charter schools are good, because there are a lot of terrible charter schools around. (Though the really bad ones don't stay around long.) But thank goodness for our awesome school!