Why I Chose Charter Schools for My Son

I’m a mom of an 8 year old son and a 8-month old. Education is extremely important to me. Once my first son turned 2, I put him in day care for the social aspect. Once he turned 4, he started Pre-k at Legacy Charter School on the west side of Chicago. I have history with Legacy, because my little sister attended the school when they first opened, so I felt comfortable with my son going. Dereon soared in Pre-k and continued to make great strides in Kindergarten.

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Right before Dereon started 1st grade we moved 10 minutes away from our old place, so I decided a closer charter school would be the best bet, although I was in love with Legacy. I heard about another awesome charter school on the west side called Learn Charter. They have several campuses but one was 2 blocks away from our new place. I applied for my son and was placed on the waiting list. He was eventually called in and I was able to enroll him. Learn has been an amazing school as well. My son continues to soar and we are able to zoom in on his weaknesses and work a little harder in those concepts he hasn’t completely grasped yet. I’m currently part of the school’s PTA and I’m excited to see where this school will go in the future.

Charter schools have some pros and cons. I’ll list some that I personally feel should be addressed.

Pros:

-Smaller class rooms
-Tends to be a little less traditional than CPS
-Uniforms
-More personalized learning
-Child focused and not so test result driven
-More learning time (earlier start or later ending)

Cons:
-Uniforms (some non-charters have uniforms too, but some charters have certain uniforms that are costly and can only be bought from the school vendor)
-Sometimes the resources for after school and other activities can be limited due to funding
-They aren’t always in the CPS calendar which may cause confusion with child care etc.

At the end of the day, I would definitely recommend a charter school for parents looking for something more challenging for their scholar.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
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Keyonda Pyles

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