Hi, remember me? Sheesh, its hard to sit at the computer these days. So, I'm trying to remember all the way back to August and guess what? Its all a blur. And I only have a couple pictures from the entire month... I have no idea what we did all month, I mean besides unpacking boxes and trying to get the kids schooling situation figured out... actually, come to think of it, that very well may be all we did in August.
Unpacking and organizing the house has proven a big job. Bigger and harder than I can remember it being before. But we're making progress.
And school! Holy cow. What an ordeal that has been. The schools here are less than ideal. California doesn't spend any money on schools and they keep having to close schools and diminish programs within the schools. So we were on a quest to find the right school situation for our kids. Where they could get the best education and have the best experiences possible. There were three big school districts we looked at houses in, and Travis district is the best according to, well, everyone. Trouble is the house we bought isn't in that district...
After jumping through hoops and attending meetings and filling out paperwork and exploring all our options we have officially figured things out! For my records I'm going to share the ordeal below, but you don't have to read it all...
School started on August 14 for the school the kids were supposed to attend. I had to have them enrolled in that school so that they could be withdrawn from the district. (Yes, even though I knew I wasn't going to send them there. Getting them enrolled was a major pain, the office staff was so rude and unwilling to help me get them enrolled... before they even knew I was just withdrawing them... I actually left one afternoon and said quite loudly as I walked out the door, "Oh, I'm so glad that my kids will not be coming here!" Not my finest moment and maybe a burned a bridge, but I had had it!)
Our goal was to transfer to the district that the base school is in. The trouble was the base school didn't start until August 21. So the kids were supposed to attend the school they were enrolled in for that week. (Because the Travis district didn't know if they could accommodate all the kids that were applying for transfer, we had decided if we didn't get into Travis that we would be homeschooling.) But it just seemed unfair, to put my kids in school, have them make some new friends, get to know their teachers' routines, etc. just to pull them out a week later and start all over. So, I opted to not send them that week. This decision resulted in the school calling me and telling me that they will have to drop the kids from the classes (which was fine, except it seemed to be a problem for them to be able to withdraw them for the transfer, ugh!).
I stuck to my decision and kept them home, and then we got the phone call from Travis that the kids would be able to enroll there! I was a little bummed, in all honesty. I was hoping to homeschool, I've been feeling really inclined to do it for a few years and I was ready to take the plunge, but not everyone in the family thought it was as good an idea as I did. Don't get me wrong, I had reservations as well. But I believe that the negatives outweighed the positives. But the kids were excited to be Falcons! (I was a Falcon in elementary, how fun!)
So, the first day of school was August 21! And I didn't get any pictures of the boys. Wa--wah! But I did get some of the cutest Kindergartener to ever grace Travis Elementary.
She was excited. And she did great. But...
This is the first time that we haven't had all day Kindergarten... I need to eat my words a bit now, in Texas I balked at the system. Claiming all day K was just day care and I didn't need my kid in day care, I wanted to have him home with me more... Well, I now see the wisdom of all day K. Taking her to school in the middle of the day really messed with the baby's schedule. It really messed with my schedule too, but the poor baby never got a good nap in, he'd fall asleep in the car and I would have to wake him every single day. It was hard, so I made the decision to pull her out and do homeschool for her.
We are loving doing homeschool. I feel kind of bad because Kindergarten is the best year of public school. But I needed to do what was best for everyone and this is it. I know, homeschooling for Kindergarten isn't really homeschooling, its so easy... I've heard it all... but we are doing school every school day. I love it and she loves it! Yay!
For now, the boys are still doing public school and they are enjoying it. They like their teachers and enjoy making friends. Eliza and Bolton are doing Music Makers once a week and she will begin gymnastics soon to get some more social time in. I think its going to be a great year!
