Can My Chosen School District Doom My Child?

My Little man Bo playing dress-up @ the Edmond Historical Society.
My Little man Bo playing dress-up @ the Edmond Historical Society.

Sometimes when I am playing with my babies, I just zone off and day-dream about the way things were back in my mom’s parenting days. Things just seem like they were so much simpler, with way fewer options. In society today, mothers are bombarded with all sorts of different choices.  Whether it be what kind of parenting style you choose to practice, to the billion new diets you can feed your children.

We have recently moved and the major player in deciding on where we wanted to live all depended on the school district. In the good ole days there were really only 3 different schooling options available – public, private, and home-schooling. Now having a 6 year old going into 1st grade and a 4 year old entering pre-k, I am super overwhelmed with all of the schooling options to choose from. It seems like we still have the 3 major players, but they have each sprouted off and have sections to them.

We ultimately decided to go with public school mainly because we can’t afford private, and my kids barely listen to me on a daily basis, so home-schooling them sounds like my worst nightmare.  When choosing public school I never realized all the crazy options that go along with that decision. I will list a few that we came across in our own personal observations…

  • You can choose a high-ranked suburban school district with mainly middle to upper class families that in most cases is already humongous or is growing at a rapid pace.
  • You could go with a smaller, lower ranked rural school district that has middle to lower class families and is significantly smaller.
  • You can even enroll your child in the online K-12 virtual Oklahoma school where they learn from teachers online at home, and go in and meet with teachers when they need guidance.

I mean, come on!

What happened to the days where your kids just went where your house resided and it didn’t matter because they were all considered to be good school districts? How do you know which school is the right school for your child? If I choose poorly, will my children be doomed to a life of depression and angst like I envision in my mommy head?

We chose a large high ranked school district for our oldest to do pre-k, and kindergarten in and everything I thought I knew and wanted in a school slowly changed. I sent her where I grew up going because it is an amazing school district that I was comfortable with, but ultimately for us we have chosen to switch paths and take the red dirt rural road with our children.

I think smaller is a better fit for our family and I am anxious and excited to see the differences as we head to our new school district. I never anticipated picking the right school path would be so intense, but like all the stages and phases with these little humans I created, I am just rolling with the punches. Hopefully I have not doomed them for life by moving to the country.

After looking into all the different options out there I have become very curious. Which school path have you decided on and why does it work for your family?

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katyjohnson
I was born and raised in Edmond, OK and after high school I attended NSU in Tahlequah where I majored in broadcast journalism. I met my husband Will while in school and we moved to his home town of Tulsa to begin our family where we resided for 8 years. We were relocated back to OKC about 3 years ago and while I really miss my Tulsa friends, I absolutely LOVE being home. We have 3 crazy, super loud, extremely fun kiddos ages 8, 6, and 4. My kids are my everything and I could have never anticipated the roller coaster of chaos that is my life now. We live on 5 acres in Guthrie and I am terrified and also very excited for this next chapter in our lives. My favorite things are spending time with family & friends, music, going to the lake, reading, gardening, cherry blow pops, Dr. pepper, crafting, cleaning, and fireworks. We are trying to raise our kids to be kind, loving, respectful human beings and to truly understand that no two humans are the same and to love people for who they are. I am very excited to share my sweet yet crazy family with you and connect with other moms!

4 COMMENTS

  1. I agree with you and I wonder the same things. I’m not a huge fan of the school my kids are in now but it’s not always greener on the other side. You just hope and pray that you are making the right decision. Budget cuts have created a huge issue for our state run education system and it’s heartbreaking. Sometimes I consider moving out of Oklahoma but I would hate to move even farther from our extended family. Great article!!

    • Thank you for your input Kylee! Please, please, PLEASE NEVER move out of Oklahoma! Your sister could not handle you being in another state. ☺️

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