FRIDAY THE 13TH

It's Friday the 13th and I am letting my husband board a plane and fly down to Texas for a Nascar race. And apparently there is bad weather there down south. I am really not superstitious but I certainly don't want to be proved wrong either. Just to be on the safe side-Does anyone have a pinch of salt that they could lend me to throw over my shoulder?

So, in the last 72 hours I have learned tons about charter public schools, public schools and even something about private schools. When I started back to work in November I had to put Cooper in a kindergarten that also had daycare. I found a really lovely place that had an accelerated kindergarten. Cooper goes to school from 8:30 to 3 pm and he is required to wear uniforms. As I have now explained him to others, I really don't think he is genius or extra special (except to me) but I do think he has been encouraged to learn leaps and bounds ahead of what he would be if he had stayed at our boundary public school. I also firmly believe that his teacher in 1st grade will hate him if he goes back to public school. Mostly because he will be so bored he will just get in daily trouble. He already has the Chase tradition of ALWAYS talking. "ALWAYS", says Ms. Payne, his 6th grade teacher with a shake of her head. And then one more, "ALWAYS." And I know she is tried by him. Heh Heh. But then she adds "It's not that Chase can't get his work done but the others around him can't talk and get their work done like he can."

Can a mother say "Tough to be you."

Anyways, I started this mission wanting to find another accelerated school for Cooper. I ended up working with a gut feeling that this is about Ryan. Interesting, eh?

Of course, any institution wants to put their best face forward when you come for a tour or presentation. The ones I have visited put on a very good show. It was really when they started talking about two separate classes for language and literature that I started waking up to the fact that Ryan may be swinging good grades but is she learning the content she needs to be successful in life. Or even learning the content to make high school and college easier. She has no homework at all. She has not read one literary classic since she has entered jr. high. How can you embrace history without reading To Kill a Mockingbird, The Scarlett Letter and The Odessey? How can one learn how to write a proper paper without practicing throughout jr. high?
Ryan is smart.
Ryan is bored.
Ryan is saying she wants to switch schools.
The lightbulb did not go off in my head or my heart until I was walking along the halls of a school and talking to the principal. The anxious crazy feeling did not go away until I had signed her up in two different schools. I am not certain if that means I have done what I need to do. But it is gone and I do feel like this is the right thing to do. It may only be one year at these schools and then back to public high school but it is another view of life. Chase will have a full jr high life at one of these schools. I feel so much better about his chance at learning how to write a paper. Whew.
There is no guarantee that they will get in. These are sought after schools. But it is easier to get in the higher grades. Ryan and Chase have better chances than Cooper at gettting in. But I am going with my feelings and my feelings say things are ok. I have plans to go look at one more school. It is a private institution and it teaches LDS values. I am not at all sure I want to get involved in a combined church/state situation. I abhorred BYU but I also realized it was the stupid humans that I mostly hated. The zealots, the rebels, the ones that couldn't realize everything including religion is part of the big picture. And I realize that my brother Mark and my sister Karlee both who are very intelligent and make positive contributions to society had a wonderful education there. My kid's friends go there and really like it. And I am sure they will get a good education there. They start foreign language in 3rd grade for pete's sake.

I know this could all crumble around me and I could be hated, depised, shunned even for making this decision. Or I might could be thanked. What a gamble I am forced to make. Being a mother IS hard.