Learning Lessons: Public, Private, Home School…Your Choice! By Carol Chandler-Wood, MS Human Services/Counseling Studies
Making sure our children grow up physically and mentally healthy is paramount to parents. But also important is giving children every opportunity to reach their academic potential by learning how to effectively read, write, understand, and perform math computations, knowledge of the sciences, humanities, art, state, country, world history, and more! So, what academic venue is best for children? Well, each child has his or her own style of learning, so the choice of school venue may be different for each! As a professional educator for many years, I have had the benefit and blessing to work with thousands of students and families, and one family particularly stands out. This family had three school-aged children and the parents made a different school choice for each: one attended public school, one private school, and one home school. Why? Because the parents came to realize each child would flourish in a particular academic setting. What are the benefits to students of the different school venues? The following describes a few for each. Public school benefits: Socialization, comprehensive curriculum with many academic resources, wide range of special education staff, individualized educational program (IEP) for students if warranted, cost of education paid by tax dollars, wide range of extracurricular activities, and both parents can work outside the home with greater ease. Private school benefits: Socialization, comprehensive curriculum which sometimes includes textbook and digital costs in tuition, often smaller class sizes and overall smaller student body, parents can align their values with their choice of school and its values, uniform dress code, more time spent with students by teachers and counselors to provide individualized attention when needed, greater opportunity for students to participate in extracurricular activities including sports due
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to a smaller student body, and both parents can work outside the home with greater ease. Home school benefits: Parents select the cost and level of challenge of the curriculum utilized and personally oversee instruction, student receives individualized instruction, flexible teaching schedule and student-paced when needed, more family time together and interaction with adults, and participation with home school cohorts which emphasize the arts, music, sports, etc. So, the decision is yours as parents which school venue is ideal for each child. Whichever school choice you make for each, invest the necessary time, energy, and attention to do so wisely. Carol is Founder/CEO of Total Learning Concepts, Inc. *Listen to Carol’s podcast https://endresultz.com/academic-success-strategies/
Plants Forever Incorporated By Victoria R. Crosby
PFI stands for Plants Forever Incorporated. It’s a local business started by Bobbie Pike, a woman whose family has a love of flowers and plants. Her brother, Pete Pike, is the owner of Pike’s nursery, so it was a natural progression after working with him for many years that Bobbie began her own company in 1982, with “me, myself, and I,” as she put it. Her successful business grew, and in 2001 her daughter, Kim Oberheu, returned to Atlanta after living in Los Angeles and Manhattan. Kim had worked on the Academy Awards ceremonies for five years and for Walt Disney Studios. I recently paid a delightful visit to the PFI office in Stone Mountain and met Kim. Her office had quite a few orchids and a wonderful “painting” made of moss. As president of my garden club, I had the pleasure to learn more about her business. Kim showed me the vast storeroom at the rear of her office that houses all the Christmas and holiday decorations that they use for some of their clients, including huge Christmas trees, a Continued on page 13
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