Spring is in the air!Spring! Break! It started early this year- early in the year and early with a half day on Friday! Asher went to a birthday party and the kids and I hung out at home, filled up the small blue pool and they watched a movie while I napped. What a way to kick things off!
Earlier that day I tried to be as productive as I could- before the flood gates opened and I have 4 kids on my hands! It doesn't sound like a lot, but when I try to take them grocery shopping they tend to melt into a wrestling match on the floor while I'm trying to decide between cereals.
I went and checked out a local charter schools- Gilbert Challenger Basic. Arizona has charter schools which are free and ever since I heard several people in our Church enrolling their kids their, I've wanted to check it out. I grilled my neighbor before heading over there (it's a 5 minute drive- near our local Super Wal-marts. I found out that Challenger is a small school- 2 classes per grade level. I liked the idea, so I went for a tour.
The parking lot was small- 10 spaces instead of the 40 at Carol Rae. The office was in a small building and the secretary was very friendly. She told me right away that open enrollment started last Tuesday and that while there were a few spots open for 4th and 3rd grade, 1st was full and there was a waiting list. I was so sad! I had already started to fall in love with the place and here she wasn't telling me it couldn't happen.
**Side note- I've been a little "hyper" lately (my nice term for manic) and when I am hyper I can't tell whether I really love something or if I'm just being manic. I usually refer to how I have always felt before. In this case, I asked myself how I've felt about alternative schools before- open to them but not in love.
She let me know they would probably have a slot open by the Fall and gave me a tour. The campus is small- one or two buildings for the primary grades and one for the upper grades (there is only 1 fifth and sixth grade class this year). The school has no school library- just classroom libraries. No cafeteria- the kids eat outside under small ramadas that have water misters and fans (love it! No noisy cafeterias!) and the playgrounds had wood chips instead of sand- sand usually find it's way into my boys shoes every day. Seriously- lots of sand! The other day Ethan confessed to digging tunnels in the sun packed sand and also finding "Indian clay"- clay. The kids have to memorize a poem every six weeks and they would learn a new phonics program- Spalding.
Overall, I liked the school. I talked with Josh and we have to see what we want to do. Luckily we have all of Spring Break to decide. What do you think?Should we switch schools when there is nothing wrong with the school they are in, or switch to one that I may like better? I had decided not to enroll them and now writing this, it makes me question that. We'll see.
My Parents are here for Spring Break, so I don't know how much blogging I'll get done! Happy Spring everyone! - Oh, and Daylight Savings for those who do it- California is back on our time now! Hooray!
This is my blog. My name is Megan Abbott.
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