Our School Decision

Kindergarten! 

My baby starts kindergarten in August! I cannot believe it.  Absolutely cannot believe it.

But where?

A brief recap....

We are fortunate to live in a city where public school choice exists.  Therefore if your zoned public school doesn't live up to  your expectations, desires and wishes for your child's education you can apply for a spot at a Magnet school.  A Magnet school here simply means its student population must be at least 20% non-zoned students and have an area of focus (STEM, Dual Language, Fine Arts, Montessori, Gifted & Talented, Math & Science and Languages).  It's a lottery system, though one has to qualify for the Gifted & Talented school.  However, one must put the application in for the Magnet lottery BEFORE knowing if one's child is indeed G/T as the test occurs 6 weeks after the application deadline.

So I put in Tate's application in December and included 4 Gifted & Talented schools on our application list in addition to 5 others.  He took the G/T test in early February.

In addition I applied to two private schools...one all boys school as well as a co-ed school.  Both have a solid Christian base which was very important to me.

He spent an hour at the co-ed school one morning to see how he would 'fit in' with the rising kindergartners.  He also had to take the WPPSI-IV for the co-ed school. 

For the all boys' school he had to spend an entire day there with the Pre-K4 class who he would be joining for kindergarten in the fall.  While he was there, they administered an admissions test.

Friday morning March 28 at 5:30am I received notification that he did indeed test gifted and talented...WOOHOO!  

That meant his name went into the lottery for all nine public schools that we had applied to.  Along with 50,000 other children.

We were waitlisted at every. single. school.  My first choice school, the G/T IB school on the way to work, directly on my way to work...we are #347 on that list.  My second choice school, the awesome STEM school....we are #269 on their list.  The highest on the waitlist we are is at a G/T school that is quite out of the way for my work commute at #38.

The results of his WPPSI-IV show that Tate's intelligence is 'high average.'  He is actually one point below an intelligence rating of 'superior.' :)  So apparently I have a smart little guy on my hands.    

That got us waitlisted at the co-ed school for kindergarten as there were only 4-6 spots for about 60 applicants of which 8 were siblings.  I received a letter in my mailbox on Tuesday, March 4th.  I had heard that afternoon at work that a patient had received an acceptance for that school for 2nd grade, so I drove home nervously.  I knew that if you were accepted a current parent would have come by with a balloon to tell you the good news.  I wasn't sure how that worked for applicants whose parents worked, but assumed if Tate had been accepted there might be a balloon on our gate.

There was no balloon on our gate when I drove up to our house.  I found our waitlist letter in the mail that very day.

The awesome news is that he was accepted at the all boys private school!  WooHoo!!!  I was waiting for this news with bated breath and on pins and needles.  I cannot express how happy I was!

The fantastic news came on Friday, March 14.  I knew that they would be sending letters out on that particular day;  I just assumed the letters would go out in the mail on the 14th meaning I would then find out that Saturday the 15th when I checked my mailbox.  So Tate and I went about our normal Friday morning routine.  I took him to swim lessons, and I went upstairs to the observation room where I was alone.  I was scrolling through my email when I saw an email from the admissions director at the school.  I opened it immediately and it said "Congratulations!  Your son is a ...!"  I was stunned and had a sharp intake of breath and just about jumped up and down in my seat.  The director of the swim school was in the next room and heard my gasp and ran out to see what was wrong as he thought someone down in the pool was hurt.  I apologized and said all was good, but that I had just found out that my son had been accepted to 'X'!!  He was so very kind and told me congratulations and gave me a hug!  

I went around on Cloud 9 for the rest of the weekend.

Even as I was on Cloud 9 I was already worrying about the hefty price tag.  

As always I turned to prayer.  At this time I didn't know what our public school choices were or weren't.  I had already prayed that God make my choice between the co-ed school and the all boys school obvious; that I needed a sign to help me choose between the two.  The fact that I missed the financial aid application deadline for the co-ed school was a clear sign.  But knowing me, it wasn't enough.  Not getting in was a much clearer sign :).

Then I prayed and prayed for some clarity as I waited for the results of the public school lottery.  I really felt like Tate would do well wherever he went because he's a pretty easy going child.  But I just didn't know what to do.  I felt like the past 6 months I've been teeter-tottering on this tightrope of school choice and decisions and I just couldn't take much more of this.  I've been doing it all on my own.  My parents cannot comprehend of private school even being a choice as we are all products of an excellent public (suburban) school system and the price tag of private school just puts it in a realm they cannot begin to fathom.  Most of my close friends' kids are in public school in the burbs.  I have a couple who have kids in private school, but it's paid for by their companies, so that's a no brainer.  I felt completely and utterly alone as I navigated this entire system of education these past few months.  And I was and still am exhausted from it.

I prayed that God would help me and make it clear as to where Tate should go to school in the fall.  Though I was unable to rank the public schools in the order to which I would like to apply, I hoped and prayed that my choice for Tate would be clear.  I needed some help, some guidance, some sort of sign because if I was given a choice I simply would not know what to do.

As always God came through.  Being wait listed at all 9 schools made my decision obvious, though not easier.  Being #347 on my first choice and #269 on my second choice made it even more obvious.  Sending Tate to the all boys school was seemingly God's plan for our lives.

I still wrestled with this decision though.  Why I can't even say.  I so don't want to make a wrong decision.  It's so hard to be making these kinds of decisions all alone.  Noone, and I mean noone is as invested in this child like I am.  This is the first time I've really missed having a partner in raising this child.  Someone, just one person, who cares like I do about the choices I make for Tate.  And it's not that my parents and sister don't care like I do, but it's just not the same.  They aren't making the payment, they don't get a real say in the decision, they haven't toured the schools...they simply aren't my co-parent and that has been so lonely.  For the first time I've felt lonely in this single mother business.

Though I know I'm not truly alone.  I've got this amazing God on my side.  So much so that we even qualified for some financial aid.  We got a small grant to help cover our costs.  I have to reapply every year, but we've got some money for next year.  

I've signed on the dotted line, sent in my deposit and accepted the grant.  

On the wings of a prayer, the love of our amazing God and the support, love and devotion of his mommy, Tate is going to start kindergarten in mid-August.

Another chapter in the life of our family is about to begin.