Better The Devil You Know?

Nope, this isn't some cheesy post about Sonia and the 1993 Eurovision song "Better The Devil You Know", but a real problem, following on from the problem I spoke about last week.

So.

There are several schools in Milton Keynes that I could send Big Boy to. I've looked at all their websites, I've spoken to friends who have children around the same age as Big Boy and Top Ender, I've spoken to teachers I know, I've spoken to teaching assistants, I've contacted people I used to work with who's other halves work in education, I've spoken to friends, I've spoken to friends of friends and of course I've read the OFSTED reports.

I had to make a hard choice to start with. I've had to decide if both my children will move to a new School or just Big Boy. It was decided that if I could find a School that was suitable for both my children, that would give the support to Big Boy and allow him to flourish the same way that it would allow Top Ender to then of course I would move them both. However, Top Ender is good where she is and so if I could only find a School that would benefit Big Boy then it would only be Big Boy that moves. With this in mind, I narrowed it down to three Schools, two of them a bit of a drive away, one of them a bit of a longer walk than we currently take but three Schools that seem to me to be the ones most suitable for my children.

I've been to see them all but none of them have stood out to me as being *The* School that I want to send Big Boy to. I found a School that would have suited Top Ender perfectly but really I don't think that moving her from her current School for what would be a year and a half before she moved to senior school is a wise move, especially when the teaching staff at the School I currently send my children too is really really good and the School again wouldn't give Big Boy what I think is what he needs.

For me Home Schooling isn't an option. I am in no way a suitable teacher for my children in a schooling sense, we're much happier doing our little projects with no time constraints and me teaching them bits here and there and reinforcing what they are taught in School.

So where does that leave me?

Well, it leaves me in exactly the same position that I explained the other day.

I'm making what feels like a pusillanimous decision and keeping Big Boy at the school that he's currently at.

This isn't an easy choice, it's one that's taken me days to mull over. I've spoken again to my friends and to my family, to the children and I've got down on my knees and prayed and prayed and prayed and prayed. Still, I'm not sure if this is the right choice, if this is what is best for us, but for now it's a case of better the devil we know.