Educating Loulou

Turns out I’m one of those kinds of moms. You know, the over-invested kind. See, I’ve already given a lot of thought to my son’s future education, and he hasn’t reached his first birthday yet. But I want him to have to best we can offer him. Better start planning early.
I’ll admit, I’m put off at the thought of sending him to public school, at least any public school that I’m familiar with. I am a product of the public school system, but looking back, I realize it has failed me in many ways.
Consider that I made it through high school geometry without having learned a single geometric principle. You see, our grade was based on a meticulously kept notebook of assignments and a six-week project. But the teacher gave the same assignments year after year. How clever did I need to be to “borrow” the notebook of someone who had gone before me? And the six week project? A vague assignment that we should do something creative with geometry – cookies baked in geometric shapes counted, and that is no joke. I know I failed every single exam, and yet I passed that class with a solid B grade. Consider again that I received full credit for a chemistry experiment where the objective I created was to “expose rubber erasers to air.” Consider that I passed 2 years of high school French only knowing the meaning of one phrase – Je vais a la banque! There are so many examples, I could go on and on, really.
It is possible to succeed in public school, and luckily I did. I had a natural talent for the Language arts, and I fortunately ended up in the advanced classes. Fortunately! For if I had no natural talent or drive, I likely would have come out of public school with only a rudimentary grasp of the English language.
Imagine my surprise at attending a quality university, with high standards and superior instructors. I had found French impossible in high school, but in college I excelled in it, and made it one of my majors! I learned I was even capable of math.
I would like to spare my son the boredom, the busy work, the unmotivated peer group, and the low standards that come with the public school territory. It sucked out most of my natural curiosity and desire to learn before I even turned 15. The thing is, I look at him now, so curious, so motivated, so on fire with his desire to take in everything. It pains me to think of his curiosity being squelched, to imagine watching learning become drudgery to him. I see so much potential for him. How can I assure all the doors of opportunity remain open?
I don’t know if we will ever have the means to send him to private school. Certainly we don’t at this point. There is a bi-lingual school about an hour from here that impresses me very much. I love the idea of him receiving a firm grounding in both of our family languages. But though I am willing to scrimp on my own lifestyle to make my child’s education a priority, the cost of a private education like that seems prohibitive.
I’ve also researched the possibility of home schooling, but quite frankly, I don’t know if I’m made of the right material for such a task. I’m put off by the solitude, the enormity of the task, the margin for screwing up.
It seems, solutions to the big decisions don’t come easy. Luckily he’s only one. I have the time for reflection, after all.