Thursday, September 30, 2010

Getting wayyy ahead of myself

The Bun is not a year old yet but I'm already thinking of her education. And worried that it will be expensive. See, we live in a school district that I do not want The Bun to attend. I grew up in this school district. I have heard it's not any better than when I was a child and I believe it. I've already told The Man that we will either have to move when she is four years old or think about private school. See, I interact with educators on a daily basis. You better believe I was scoping out schools when The Bun was in the oven. That's right, she hadn't even been born yet.
I've already decided the city I wanted to move to if we had the option to go that route. But I actually like where I live. I like the location of our home, the neighborhood and the convenience of having many places and people near by. Plus, and this is a big plus, we can afford our home. I think that even with the equity we will have built from this home, we will only be able to afford a fixer upper in the city with a nice school district.
But then I discovered a somewhat near Charter school. I know, I know, charter schools have been in the news lately and are being hailed as the answer to bad public schools. But I jumped on that bandwagon a long time ago. And, be still my beating heart, this one goes all the way to high school.
So I called today. That's right. My baby girl isn't even a year old and I called. I found out some information and know that I need to start planning in a couple of years. But I can't help it, I really hope that we can get her into this school! To be able to have a great education for free from Kindergarten to 12th grade would be amazing. I'm more than willing to be an active participant and meet the demands they have on parents. Because she's worth it. And because if all the parents are meeting these expectations, we should be be able to create a desireable learning environment for our kids. A place that doesn't depend solely on the teachers to make an impact but everyone truly believes it takes a village to raise a child. Accountability, dammit.
Yes, I fall under whatever crazy parent category you may want to file me under. But that's what happens.

3 comments:

jen said...

We've already short-listed a few schools. Here in Bangalore, if you don't put your kid into a "feeder" nursery school (around 2 years of age), you won't get admission into the good schools when it's time to start grade school.

So, like his cousins before him, poor K will have to start nursery school between 2.5 and 3 years in order to get into one of the better schools in our city. It's pretty crazy, but I'm hoping he won't hate it. :)

The school we've short listed is close to home (about 20 minutes away) and isn't a traditional "learn from the chalkboard" type school - it's quite modern and the focus is on having a well-rounded child, one who plays sports and learns music/dance, as well as academics. They even offer yoga as one of their extra-curricular activities!

Veronica Milan said...

NO effing way are you crazy!!! I did the exact same thing and in fact, when we looked at homes Albert was all about the "new" homes and I was all about the school.
I worked Very hard to be where I am at. Fresno schools SUCK. GVUSD is actually second in the valley. I wanted him to attend this district SO bad...and a fixer is what made it happen.

I must say, it is SOOOO nice and so worth it. I love his school and it is all about US, the parents. Ethan went in knowing EVERYTHING a 5 year old should know. I pat myself on the back for that one. The teacher could not believe he never attended PreK.
It does take a village....so start thinking about tomorrow. You are smart for doing so!!!

C said...

Uhm no you're not crazy. I'm not with child yet and my sole purpose of choosing my job at USC was the free college tuition that is paid for at the many hundreds of colleges they sponsor as long as you're a full time employee for USC. AND, yes I started a just-in-case- fund for the baby...

so no..i think that its dope you're thinking this far. I like charter schools and nothing wrong with hayward. Could be a LOT worse in other places. man what if were stockton...ouch...i would move