Decisions, Decisions

I am mired in indecision about the V-meister's academic future. Her tenure is up next year at the shining beacon of a Montessori pre-school/kindergarten where she's been happily ensconced since the age of three, and though I would gladly continue to deposit her there every morning until college application time, we must move on.

So I have been diligently attending open houses and scheduling classroom visits at area schools in hopes that one of them will speak to my heart. In fact I am really hoping that one of them will speak directly to me and just tell me what to do already, so I can stop picking my cuticles while sitting on the couch and staring vapidly out the picture window. The choice pretty much boils down to a private Montessori school with no religious affiliation, or a Catholic parochial school.

This may be a case of over-analysis, but in my head I have already made a future Nobel laureate or slovenly derelict out of the V-meister based on where she attends grade school next year. And the problem is, though I always assumed my children would attend Catholic schools, now that I've witnessed the Montessori magic firsthand, I can never go back to not knowing the kind of opportunity it affords.

The P-Dawg, who has been guzzling Montessori Kool-Aid, feels certain that if only he'd gone to Montessori school, there would be a cure for cancer today or at the very least, he'd be surgeon general. He was very bright as a child, but felt completely unchallenged in the traditional school environment. Consequently, the P-Dawg spent over fourteen years goofing off in the back row before deciding to get his act together. And the V-meister is a lot like her father, so for P-Dawg the choice is obvious.

I, on the other hand, enjoy a healthy Montessori Kool-Aid buzz, but still sometimes crave a good old fashioned glass of parochial Hi-C. I'm pretty sure that if I'd gone through Montessori school, I could add fractions today instead of Googling "what is two-thirds times two" whenever I have to double a recipe. But I did get many good things from Catholic grade school, even though a lot of my memories involve desperate cowering in the back right quadrant of a dodge ball court.

As much as I believe in the Montessori method, a part of me thinks my children would benefit from a mainstream school experience. I already feel a little defensive when I tell people my kids go to Montessori school because they are obviously assuming it's interpretive dance all day long while the teacher smokes a hookah pipe out back. And even though the P-Dawg could have become surgeon general, he just as easily might have grown up to be an incense burning, basket-weaving, dulcimer playing Naderphile who can't hold down a desk job. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

So I can't totally give up the idea of sending V-meister to the bright and cheerful Catholic school around the corner, where she can wear a cute little uniform jumper, ride an orange bus, watch Old Yeller, get Jesus, memorize multiplication tables without understanding what they mean, and be bullied by pint sized tyrants wearing clip-on ties. I won't lie, I want her to fit in with the kids in the neighborhood and have friends at the pool.

But I also want her to enjoy school, learn fractions, grow independently in the direction of the person she is meant to be, see things in terms of the big picture, and have the opportunity to work ahead in the areas where she's ready.

I know the decision seems like a no-brainer, but it isn't.

Anyone out there a product of Montessori education? What do you think, in the long run?