Chronicles of a School Seeker III

Last updated on: June 10, 2010 at 9:15 am by Marwa Aly

Chronicles of a School Seeker III 2010-06-10T09:15:17-04:00 Marwa Aly

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Part I

Part II

Part III

I continue my travels, this time to a Montessori school. The Montessori school is picture perfect to me. I look through the observation windows into the classrooms only to see primly dressed, neat, and clean children learning their little hearts and minds out. Oh, what glory! Here’s one boy placing cubes in descending order by size, there’s another, picking pom poms up by a little scooper, and there, over there, a girl reading a book all on her own, looking so peaceful while others carry on their own form of learning. What beauty! And then the reality check as the fuzziness in my head clears away…do we really want to pay this hefty tuition on a monthly basis for kindergarten, or save that for college later on down the line? Kindergarten or college?! Hmmm, but he will never experience this kind of beauty again, I say! We could already visualize my husband and I, telling our parents (the grandparents), and our parents giving us this look “So…you decided to PAY for kindergarten huh? When there’s a school right across from it that’s FREE? Well, that makes sense. Didn’t you two go to your neighborhood school…” Well, the Montessori school played with my heartstrings, to say the least, and we would need to check one last option.

The local elementary school. Why not give everything a chance right, if I’ve gone this far down the path of crazy, one more step surely can do no harm. It was a brief visit since it wasn’t preplanned. I got the basic info from the secretary at the front desk, she gave me all the pertinent paperwork. She told me about the upcoming orientation where we would be able to meet the teacher, see the classroom, etc. She was very friendly and I left, as I usually do, with more indecision. I worried about some of the behaviors or manners my son, at the tender age of five, might encounter that were unIslamic. We, as his parents, would counter them of course, but let’s focus on building this little person with all the etiquettes we do want him to manifest first, right? And of course, negative influences come with any form of schooling. Later, I email all four kindergarten teachers (yes, I’ve gone completely stir-crazy, I concede!), to ask questions about the kindergarten schedule, class size, etc. I get a brief response telling me that all my questions will be answered at the orientation. Secretly I know that the four teachers probably checked with each other (I would know, I was a teacher!) and laughed about my email and I’m almost embarrassed. But hey, a crazy momma’s gotta do what a crazy momma’s gotta do, right?

And so now we come, good riddance, to the end of our fact finding mission. I’ve not given an exhaustive (believe it or not) narrative of all the thoughts and feelings, pros and cons of each place, and ongoing discussions we’ve been having as a family. Each day, my heart tugs me in one direction, then another. I have days of pure, innocent, ethereal bliss with my children and days where I just one to stay under the covers and not come out. The only things guiding me are the duaas and prayers. I know that we are not making a permanent decision, one that cannot be reexamined later to fit our son’s needs and growth. And so one day, subhanaAllah, I feel at complete ease with a solution we’ve come up with. Let’s hope it lasts more than 15 minutes 

Fariha Khan

Fariha Khan lives in MD and is blessed with one daughter and two sons. She loves reading, being outdoors, and spending time with family and friends.

Motherhood Reflections

Previous Post

June 7, 2010

Beyond the Hijab

Next Post

June 17, 2010 Developing a Taste for Books & Movies

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Book and Movie Reviews Community Connecting with Allah Counselor's Corner Environment fatherhood five stars GrowBaba Spotlight GrowMama Picks Growmama Roundup Health Light Fare marriage Motherhood Reflections moving Parenthood Photography Poems Schooling Self-development tragedy Tutorials Uncategorized

Select a Month December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 November 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who said: "Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first"?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jesus (to the church in Ephesus) The Spirit John An angel