Iver (almost five) is *of age* to start Kindergarten next fall (2020). It's so exciting to have an almost-"school-aged" kid (I have always loved school and learning and hope my kids do, too!)! The local schools have started (yes, in DECEMBER!) having their kindergarten information nights and orientations, two of which we've attended in recent weeks. However, the process of school enrollment is seeming a bit more daunting and complicated than we expected it would be.
When living in the states, Kelvin and I attended our local public schools. They (along with our parents and all the learning at home, of course!) prepared us well for academic and social success in high school, college, medical school, and beyond. We both feel as though efforts to get our kid(s) into a certain *other* (or non-district-assigned) school reek of privilege which we are aware that we may have, but which doesn't feel particularly fair or good. We have never wanted to send our kids to private schools, nor would we ever consider home-schooling them. Many families, for reasons of transportation, jobs, or other, don't necessarily have school choice or the resources to send their kids anywhere but the down-the-street public school, and we both feel that diversity-- of ethnicity, economics, and religion-- is important to maintain in schools and communities. We definitely want our local public schools to thrive and want to be supporters (and have buy-in as true participants) of public education all the way, especially in light of how undervalued we feel that teachers are for the incredibly important work they do caring for and teaching our kids.
All of that being said, our town's early elementary school (about 10 minutes north of our house away from our workplaces) goes from TK- second grade, after which kids have to transfer to a different "upper" elementary school (3rd -5th grades), followed by middle school, and then high school. (Potentially) four schools in thirteen years is a lot of school changes for our sensitive and somewhat slow-to-adapt "orchid" oldest child, although one great benefit of the school is the option of Spanish immersion education, which I think would be a great opportunity. We have been exploring the possibility of an inter-district transfer to a K-8 Arcata public school, which is located right next door to the hospital and prenatal clinic at which I work (and very close to Niall's current childcare center and Kelvin's office), which would probably logistically be the easiest for double drop-offs and also provide a lot of consistency for Iver during these early school years (the school district has to approve the transfer request for this to be an option). The kids would then (potentially) be able to overlap at the same school for several years of their schooling.
There are a couple of other small charter schools in Arcata that operate on an application and lottery system (you have to be "accepted" into Kindergarten!), one of which also has a Spanish language curriculum, but neither Kelvin nor I are particularly keen on expending a lot of energy to go down this road (have you seen the documentary Waiting for "Superman"?). We are somewhat put off by the pressure, intensity, and time commitment of trying to get your kindergartner into a specific school (even if there may actually be a *best* one for their skills and temperament) and sort of feel that it'll all work out in the end... Much of the social, emotional, and academic learning that he's already had in his daycare-preschool years as a great base, and which is reinforced at home, has made us optimistic that our already-reading-and-writing, math-adept observer with the photographic memory will probably do well at any school that'll have him!
Wish us luck!
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