Ben's Kindergarten Dilemma
When we bought our condo almost 6 years ago we knew that we wouldn't want our kids to go to the elementary school who's boundaries we're in. Of course being naive as we were we assumed we would be out of our condo by then so it wouldn't matter.
Fast forward 6 years, two kids, job changes and losses, an extremely poor economy, an even worse housing market, and not our ideal financial situation and we're still here. We love our little condo, even though it's much to small for our family of 4. We live in an extremely safe gated community and have had a really comfortable time here (despite the walls starting to close in on us!) Our goal all year has been to get our house on the market and sold before Ben started Kindergarten. Unfortunately with John's late work hours, two kids, tons of work and not enough money to get it all done we are super close, but not quite there with getting our house listed.
So this leads me to Ben's Kindergarten dilemma. His home campus is 3% white and is academically unacceptable. There is no way he will step foot in that school, we have only heard awful things about it. Luckily we're on the transfer list for 2 schools, one of which is not accepting transfers and the other is a big possibility but there's no guarantee he will get it in AND we may not even know if he is in until after school starts! I'm now in the unfortunate position of possibly having to home school him until a spot opens up in another campus close to us that's not comparable to his home campus (there are maybe 2 other possibilities). It's unfortunate that I even have to say the word homeschool because I am NOT THAT mom whatsoever. The thought of homeschooling my kids had never ever been a possibility. But it might be a possibility, even if for just a few short weeks.
Cross your fingers, say a prayer, whatever that a spot will open up for him at a better school! We're pulling all the strings we know with all our connections and friends and are so lucky that people are putting in good words for us because they all love Ben and know he's a great kid.
So I'm hopefully going to be taking Ben to his very first day of Kindergarten next Monday, but if not, then hopefully soon after that! I'm ready for him to be in school and he is VERY ready to be in school. It's all he talks about besides Star Wars and he's going to do really great. I might even miss the kid. ;)
Oh man, that totally sucks! I can really relate to life passing you by! Everything happens so fast! Good luck, I hope he gets into the school you want!
Oh geez! That is sounds so stressful not knowing. Well, I'm sure homeschooling isn't too horrible, as long as you don't have to do it for a long time. Plus, I'm sure Ben probably already knows everything they teach in Kinder so he should be good to go.
As a parent I can see your concern. I hope you get him into the school that you want. I don't think i would wan the girls at our school past 4th grade. If you are looking for smaller homes with good school. You should come look by us. The girls go to Little, Young, and then Martin. They are all pretty good.
On the other hand...
I am a teacher of a school that has a population exactly like the one you don't want him to go to. It may even be that one--Roark. If you don't get him in where you want him to go, you may want to look at the teachers of that school. There are some really good teachers at schools like that. I'm not saying I'm great, but looking at the things our school does versus the one the girls go to, we do a lot more. We have more resources because of the low income students, so we can give a lot more hands on experiences. We also have smaller class sizes. We are better at working with all the different types of students. This year we were even with the girls school on our TAKS rating. It may be that the kindergarten wouldn't be as bad as you think as long as you can move him by 4th grade.