Educating Ryan and Evan

It has been no secret that I have been stressing about sending my boys to public Kindergarten since oh, well before the boys were born. Stressing is a mild description of my state of mind, agonizing, is maybe a better descriptor.

I've considered many, many, options from home schooling to selling my soul, going back to work and taking a second on the house to send the boys to a private school, and everything in between.

I had resigned myself to sending them to the local elementary. The one with 900 kids. (that's as big as my high school) The one with 7, SEVEN kindergarten classes. But as registration grew closer, I grew even more apprehensive. Sick even.

Then I started bantering around the idea of my own private school. Hiring a teacher and recruiting 6 or 8 kids, rotating homes, locations. It was because of this idea that I started thinking about the teachers I knew, I reached out to see if anyone knew of anyone.

Lo and behold, a friend of mine, who taught at a private school with a teaching philosophy I love before having her son, was interested and looking for part time work. We had a discussion the other day, and she mentioned a school where a friend of hers works. A place she is considering for her own son in a year. We talked briefly about the teaching philosophy, and it sounded great. I immediately googled it, and found it is a school with an approach that was one of my favorites when I did my initial research 5 years ago.

One of the things that had been holding me back from many schools, and applying to many charter schools was Scott's insistence that the boys go to school in the neighborhood, so they could hang with their buddies after school, like he did. He was pretty adamant. However, just after the application deadline for one of my favorite schools passed, Scott had a change of heart.

Armed with this new freedom, and knowing that most application deadlines had passed, I took a chance and "swung by" this new school of interest. And while it is not in a new building, I've described it as a bit dingy, and it is far away from home, I filled out applications on the spot. It felt like a weight had lifted off of my shoulders. The weight of the world so to speak. I think I actually slept last night for the first time in well, a long, long time. I now have an option.

We officially tour the school on Thursday, and I hope it is all that I want it to be, all that I need it to be, all that my boys need it to be.