Dear Parent,

May you feel God's peace at this difficult and anxious time as you face your financial challenges and decisions about your son's schooling and social life.

Assuming that you are unable to move to an area where there are children your son's age, it appears that you are faced with a dilemma. Whether your son attends the charter school or is home schooled, you are going to have social issues and expenses that may be quite challenging to meet. There are school clothes, supplies, lunches, and extras even in public or charter schools. Your son may be meeting many friends and want to get together with those friends yet end up feeling left out of events that he can't afford. There can be strong pressure in schools to keep up with friends. And when a child is unable to keep up, that always hurts. Home schooling can be done quite inexpensively if you have access to a library and the internet, and there is usually little pressure to "keep up" with other home schoolers because everyone is doing something different. How your local home schooling community deals with this matter may be an unknown factor until you meet with them a few times.

Many home schoolers are on tight budgets. They may meet weekly or monthly at a local park or meet in someone's home for group classes to save money. When my children were young, we didn't have a second car and would bike or walk to the church for CCD classes and to the pool or park whenever possible. We did a lot of walking because these places were not just around the corner. Other families knew we didn't have a car and offered to have meetings at our house or to come pick us up. On weekends, we participated in local volunteer events at the zoo and festivals, which meant that we got in for free. We spent time at the library in the evenings, and the children volunteered as library assistants during the summer.

If your son attends the charter school, he will be in a class with other children his own age. If you home school, he will be meeting children of all ages. The costs of the two options could be very similar, depending upon factors such as transportation to and from the charter school, the cost of school supplies, access to a public library, and so on.

You indicate that you have growing concerns about the charter school. Could you meet with someone at the school to discuss these concerns? If you have not already done so, try to meet with home schoolers in your area to get an idea of what they do and where they tend to gather. Then pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit and place your trust in God as you make this decision.

I often recite a prayer to the Holy Spirit, and in the hope that it will bring you the same peace that it has brought me over the years, I'm including it here:

Most Holy Spirit, beloved of my soul, I adore You. Enlighten me, guide me, strengthen me, comfort me, console me. I promise to submit myself to all You desire of me and to permit all You wish to happen to me. Give me Your orders, tell me what to do. Most Holy Spirit, bring peace to the world.

In these difficulties, remember that God wants what is best for you and your family and that He will bless you and guide you to the truth.

Yours,

Sandra Garant