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Schooling begins at home no matter where you are. I know kids from Hawaii's public school system that have succeeded and even graduated from schools like Harvard, Cal Poly, and others.
I'm sure you read to your kids, limit their TV, and are otherwise supportive. Expect good things.
I would turn John's cynical assessment around to suggest that Hawaii has some of the worst parenting in the country.
edit: Love your artwork!
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Jenny, we moved here over 5 years ago when my son was 16. Got him into the Pahoa Charter school Hawaii Academy of Arts and Science and he thrived, thanks both to the teachers and his classmates. Lots of folks can attest that it's a wonderful school with very open and accepting students. My son is now a senior at UH Hilo and doesn't at all regret the move.
Connections Charter School in Hilo also has a wonderful reputation. CS Gray can fill in the details on Connections better than I can.
Good luck!
P.S. I agree with everything Greg said.
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
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Greg, I have to agree. As a teacher, I know first-hand that a student's success is absolutely dependent on their home-life.
I have been looking at the web-site for the Pahoa charter school and I plan on calling them for some more info. It looks like a nice, small school.
I am so grateful for everyone's honesty and openness concerning my questions. Thank you!
My grandparents moved from Hawaii years ago and have regretted it ever since. I have heard about it my entire life. My grandfather who grew gourds and got me interested in them lived on Oahu and loved the Hawaiian culture. I know that was a long time ago, but we will never know if we don't give it a try.
Our relatives on Maui have offered for us to stay with them until we get a feel for things, my husband cannot come until December when he retires. It will be up to me to make the decision on housing, which island, schooling etc. before he comes, hence my interest in this forum.
We are drawn to the Puna area because of what we have read about it. We are not into the Disneyland version of Hawaii.
I plan on visiting the gallery in Lahaina on Maui that I have been in contact with, but also plan on jumping over to the Big Island as soon as I get there to check out the galleries and to visit Puna.
Another question-My husband has been told that there is wild pig hunting on the islands. Are they good to eat? LOL
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quote:
Originally posted by Greg
I would turn John's cynical assessment around to suggest that Hawaii has some of the worst parenting in the country.
How about 51-49! [  ][ ][ ] Seriously, the published test results of kids in this state have been the lowest in the nation ever since I moved here 21 years ago. As they say, "it takes two to tango" and since one has to lead in a dance, I blame the school system more!
Aloha,
John S. Rabi, GM,PB,ABR,CRB,CM,FHS
888.819.9669
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While you probably don't want to live in Waikoloa, I can share that Waikoloa Elementary and Intermediate school is a wonderful public school. The student body is a very diverse mix, so that there is no real ethnic minority there. All the children receive Native Hawaiian cultural education as part of their curriculum, and demonstrate it at the annual Ho'olaulea at the end of the school year.
I have had a fair amount of involvement with that school, and praise it. The problem there is that upon reaching high school age, the public high school is Kealakehe, and I have nothing good to say about that.
I think it depends on the child whether the home environment is going to fully neutralize the peer environment. With some children, if the home standards are too different, they will rebel against the home as being too fuddyduddy or two restrictive. (I did.)
I put in a caution about moving kids in part because my 40 year old kids have still never let me hear the end of it for the specific moves that were difficult for them because it threw them into a social culture they really did not care for.
Work it so that the kid begs to move here; then if it doesn't work out for them it is not your fault. [  ]
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Jenny, I'm an artist here in Puna (HPP) and there are plenty of places to sell your art. You just have to be pro-active. I'm just starting out approaching galleries, etc. (after years as commercial illustrator), but you don't need a gallery - many artists sell prints of their work at Hilo Farmer's Market and Maku'u Farmer's Market - Hilo's twice a week; Maku'u's every Sunday. I'm too lazy to get up that early and don't want this to be a full-time job, so I'm looking at selling just at events and online POD.
In HPP we have an annual Art in the Park event in December (basically Open Studios - don't know if you have that in your area) and I'll be selling at that for the first time this year. I've met many artists here. There's also EHCC (East Hawaii Cultural Center) in Hilo that's very supportive of all levels of art. There's also talk in Puna of an artist coop. I'm also a member of a little group of artists who meet once a month to work and talk story.
On the schools: My kids are all grown, but a friend had her daughter in the charter school in Pahoa. She was in 7th grade and got frustrated bc the other kids were at 5th grade reading level. She went 2 years there and this year transferred to public school in Hilo and is much happier. So it all depends on the kid. Some kids do better in the charter schools, some do better in public schools. I know St. Joe's is good in Hilo - lots of friends' kids go there who like it.
Gourds: We grew some from a couple of pots in a real sunny area. They did fine and now I have a counter full of them with no clear plans what I'm going to do with them! So many project ideas. My neighbor across the street also is growing them and is going to carve hers as soon as they're ready. They are doing well. We're in lower streets in HPP where it gets a little more sun/heat than upper streets.
Great advice here - It took us 3 2-week visits to decide where we wanted to be. And even now I'm always looking at other areas and wondering. Every time I drive thru Honoka'a I wish we'd given it more attention when we were deciding!
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You might also want to check out "REAL school" run under the HAAS umbrella. It might only be for 4th graders, but it's worth contacting the REAL school teacher, Kirt Knieft, for details. Here's a post he made on this forum:
"REAL Class is an "accelerated" program where a mix of independent study, small group work, and whole class direct instruction is designed so that every student can find his/her own "ceiling" of potential.
Our program is clearly not for everyone, but I encourage any parent (and child) with an interest in what's out there to look us up at:
http://realclasshaas.com
If you think your 4th grader is ready/interested in a dynamic and challenging classroom opportunity, I encourage you to check out the REAL Class program at HAAS."
You can read the whole post by clicking: http://punaweb.org/Forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=7712&SearchTerms=REAL+school
Tim
A superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions--Confucius
What a cool project. (apologies for side trip, but as we're talking about school).
t
he REAL class concept sure beats the model I had -- being handed the textbooks and told to teach myself and work through them alone at my own pace. That was my fifth grade experience. I still have a memory of sitting there in class daily working, while the teacher worked with the class on stuff that was totally irrelevant to what I was working on. It wasn't fun.
Puna has so many creative and innovative individuals, that I'm not surprised there are projects like this. It couldn't all be stuck in the "no child left behind" mode, which I have heard parents blame for the schools catering to the lowest level of achievement.
Another thing my school did was give me a chance to do volunteer work on campus, outside of the classroom. Do they do that here?
I think it's so important to give kids a chance for individual independent expression and not to just sort them into groups where they all have exactly the same experience.
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Thanks DTisme! Do you have any idea what the tuition rate is at St. Joes? My son attends a Catholic school here. It is the same school I have taught at for the last 4 years. I do like the Catholic school atmosphere. I checked out the web-site, but there is no tuition information. I plan to call, but I thought you might know since you have friends there. Thanks!
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Punafish- this is great info. The program is for 5th and 6th grade, and so it would apply to him. I plan on looking into this. Is there a youth football league in Pahoa? My son LOVES football!
BTW- No one has answered my question about the wild pigs! LOL
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