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| Fintan looks amazing in a tie! |
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| Aidan Beveridge, Dylan LaMarsna, Fintan |
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| After getting his diploma, he gave Doha a hug. |
We are having a helluva time getting into a kindergarten that is not ghetto and can offer him the attention he deserves and the challenge he needs. That is not our locally zoned "home" school in LAUSD so we tried magnet school application (waitlist), tried to lottery into any good school with open enrollment in the area (waitlist), and the one school I was pretty sure we were "in" was a co-op private, progressive school that matches my learning philosophies quite well, but they decided to not open this year but next year (disappointing, but I'm still going to work with them and make it work for 1st grade). I've been calling around every private school - those applications were due in January so they're all full, and the only one that has an opening is one that will cost over $29,000. We have the option of renting a friend's house in the really good public school I like's zone, but ultimately we'd end up paying something akin to the private school. Friends ushered me to Laurel Hall, which I'm sure will be great, except I'm waitlisted there too. Wendy assures me Sherman Oaks (a public one where I'm waitlisted) will open at least one more kindergarten class come September, but I'm not so sure. If they do, great! If not, my last resort - not a bad option by any means - is he goes back to Exploring Minds for kindergarten. I don't really want to pay for it again but at least I know he'll blossom there. This whole process has been the most stressful time of my entire life, more so than when I changed high schools.
The reason it's challenging is because I believe strongly in the individualized attention every child needs, especially at this age. School can make or break a child's desire and ability to learn. If he is at a school where he is under-challenged, then all the hard work he has put in so far will go to waste. If he is with the wrong kind of kids - i.e. they come from families with significantly different needs and values than we have - he is going to learn bad habits and be exposed to things he is socially and emotionally not ready for. If he is in among a group of learners who are significantly behind his existing skills and knowledge, he will be shoved off into a corner and left to fend for himself, and that is not acceptable to me. Gone are the days when you just let your kid go to your local school, at least in Los Angeles.
Parental involvement and the parent association's ability to raise money, write grant proposals, and organize volunteers is vital to the survival of all the things the state has cut out of our education system, like art, sports, science, supplemental education/tutoring, libraries!!!, media and technology, music, and learning beyond and outside of the over-abundance of mandatory testing and the sad hyper-focus on those tests. It also means children have more opportunities to express themselves and their intelligence in ways that work for them, without which lifelong learning is subdued or obliterated. And it means more opportunities for teachers to reach out individually, allowing each student the opportunity to focus on areas of improvement rather than be left to flounder in a class of 29 students at 29 different ability levels.
Anyway, let's hope something works out. At least knowing I have EM as a back-up helps to relieve the stress I've been under!
Neglected children everywhere will one day get to say, "My mom wrote a novel." Fintan is no exception.
He'll also get to say "My mom climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro when there was still snow on it." I'm so proud of him!