I don’t like to disclose which specific school my kid actually goes / will be going on a public forum… PM me if you want the actual montessori school info.

But pre-k, my kid goes to a a Montessori school.

For K, my kid will be going to a public school in carmel valley and most like one of the many asian afterschool enrichment program.

I opted not to send my kid to a elementary Montessori after visiting the public school in CV…I just didn’t think the facilities/resources at the Montessori was sufficient relative to the public schools in CV, which it’s science, library, computer labs, etc. Also, there wasn’t nearly as many “k” students at the Montessori versus the other pre-k students at the school, and I really want my kid to learn/deal with different people and older kids, because I think social skills are more important than pure “book smarts”…

The other thing is, I don’t want kid to grow up being in a completely sheltered life, thinking that everyone is nice, everyone is polite, and everyone is your best friend, everyone is a team player, and everyone plays by the rules (as was the culture that some of these small, private schools lead kids to believe)… Nor do I think I want my kid to grow up with the entitlement mentality that or “daddy, so and so isn’t listening to me, blah blah blah”…. Reality is that the world doesn’t work that way…especially if you’re dealing culturally in the 21st century with cultures from overseas, who in fact can/are pretty much be in a lot of ways cut-throat/back-stabbing/bullshitting people who would screw you over in a heartbeat. Heck, if you have billions of people competing for a fraction of the country’s wealth, you really can’t blame the individuals for that sort of mentality. Not saying I want my kid to compromise their integrity..Just saying I want them learn about that, yes there are mean kids with mean parents out there… Even in CV…And I hate a lot of self-entitled, unreasonable, mean CV parents/soccer moms too…

Lastly, I hate to say this. But I feel that if a kid is naturally smart and can do the work academically, it doesn’t matter really private or good pulibc… he/she will do just fine in a good public school (like me)…And well, if a kid is a complete academic idiot…It doesn’t matter how much money you throw at the academia..The kid is still going to be an idiot… (bluntly said)…Reality is I don’t think some kids will end up being the academic type…So the dollars are probably better invested in buying kid a reasonable “degree” (for the same of fulfilling the social stigma of not having a degree) and buying a business he/she can sustain in the future when you’re not there….

I think the biggest challenge for me will be how to shuttle my kid around during the day because most K programs end around noon and most afterschool programs are offsite that I want to deal with…So I might have to pay for a car service or re-arrange my schedule(like quit my full-time job and make my part-time side gig a full time gig or something…Any ideas?