School Choices

Last summer, I really wanted to put the kids into private school. Some people said that if we just had faith, God would provide a way for my kids to go to the Christian school. Unfortunately, even with the income-based discounts, there was just no way we could come up with the extra money. Wanting something and having faith doesn't make money appear, and it's not like I could just cut other expenses- there was nothing left to cut. In the end, we decided that having electricity and heat was more important than sending the kids to a school that we can't afford ;-)

Now, I am back to wondering what school to send the kids to in the fall. I've been mostly happy with the charter school that they attend. But I'm not so sure that "mostly happy" is good enough. There are some influences there that I would like to avoid. But is there any guarantee that I would avoid those influences in a Christian school? And even if I could, would we just find a new set of problems?

I can scrape together the money for the school this year, but I don't want to spend such a large chunk of money on the school if it isn't really going to make a difference, you know? I know people who say that the school made a big difference in their kids's lives. But how can you measure that? I think the biggest influence is the home that the kids are raised in. But on the other hand, I don't like that the kids go to school and get exposed to things I don't like. decisions, decisions...

Anyone care to weigh in?