I believe that I haven't mentioned anything about the schools on the island. We have public and private schools in all of the major areas of the island. Our children attend school in Kona because we work on this side of the island, just a personal choice that we made since it's easier for us. In Kamuela is a private school called Hawaii Preparatory Academy, said to be one of the most expensive private schools in the United States, where it costs about $40,000/year per child. Recently, a small number of charter schools have also opened on the Big Island. I've heard a lot of good things about these schools and their curriculum. One is West Hawaii Explorations Academy (WHEA) where you can learn about aquaculture and oceanography along with general studies for those who enjoy the outdoors, ocean and want to pursue a career in the field.
I believe that it is a public charter school but I'm not sure. Unfortunately, my children don't swim and one of them gets a rash from cold water so that was out for our choice of schools. If you'd like your child to learn in the Hawaiian language, there are immersion schools where only Hawaiian is spoken. School sports for most schools are the usual as in any other in the U. S. like football, basketball, tennis and soccer. However, other sports are slowly coming into the schools now such as double hull canoe paddling and water polo. No surfing as of yet though which is pretty lame considering we are surrounded by the ocean. Don't forget that “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii”!! That means you'll probably hear about and/or attend their May Day program at school sometime in May or early April. This goes for elementary to high school.
When I was growing up, we usually ended up doing a hula or playing the ukulele for the program with the court (King, queen, and a set of representatives for each of the 8 major islands) sitting in the front of the whole school. Things have changed though. Our kids get to do choreographed dances to songs like “Locomotion” or “Turn the Beat Around”, dressed in colorful aloha wear. It just makes me laugh but it's so cute to see your little one dancing around barefoot on the grass. They still have the court though so at least that hasn't changed since it's something that only we have here in Hawaii.
I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING ELSE
Living on the Big Island of Hawaii is just the best thing on earth. It's as close to paradise as you can get. I've been to and lived in the states and Mexico. My husband who has never been out of the state of Hawaii is always wanting to go to Las Vegas but we've never had enough money to go out of state for a vacation yet. Still, he agrees with me. He'd like to visit the states but not live there because of one small reason. There's no place like home, there's no place like Hawaii and we wouldn't trade our life here for anything else.
