August '09
Once again as the school year neared, I found myself in turmoil. There's just something about the whole "letting go" process that I have a hard time dealing with. For those of you who are in this stage, you know what I'm talking about, and for those of you who are not... you'll understand when the time nears. It's hard to imagine your vulnerable precious child being exposed to things that you don't necessarily want them to be exposed to, or hearing things and views that you don't agree with, or getting in with the wrong crowd.... and the list goes on. There are a million things that run through the minds of moms from the smaller scale stuff like mean kids and hurt feelings, to the bigger stuff like liberal views and school safety, and this year was no exception.
For starters, we live in Mill Creek, but we are right on the cut-off for the Everett School District. I honestly can't remember one conversation that didn't have this reoccurring theme..."Is Reagan in first grade this year?" "Yup. She's pretty excited about all day school." "That's great! What school district is she in?" "Everett." ....wait for the predictable gasp, which quickly turns into a sympathetic look... then hear the same exact response..."Your home-schooling her right?" If I would respond with, "I don't know... I'm not sure...I haven't decided..." I was overloaded with all sorts of friendly advice and tips, "You do know they start teaching at the first grade level about homosexual lifestyles? Also, did you know that the crime is so bad at the high school level that all the students are required to pass a metal detector before entering school grounds?" On and on the advice would go, which did nothing to ease my already anxious mind. And finally things came to a crux when I ran into one of my old college buddies who did her student teaching in Everett. She told me that because it's lower income, there's a lot more behavior problems, and that she was lucky to get through one lesson in a day, because of all the disciplinary issues. At the end of a very long conversation without sugar coating anything she looked me straight in the eye and said, "If it was my daughter going to school, I would without a doubt, home-school her." It was at this point, that I genuinely started feeling pressure.
Truthfully, I didn't want to home-school Reagan. At least not this year. Call it selfishness, but I felt like I had enough on my plate. I knew I wouldn't give Reagan all the time and energy that needed to go into first grade, all day, every day, schooling. For starters, I took on a full time babysitting job watching a little four year old boy. Fun, but busy. In September I started doing preschool with he and Josiah, and two other little friends. Once again, fun, but lots of work. Then, I knew we would be moving again. Which moving alone is a major process in and of itself. But compound that with having your fourth baby two days before the big move, and it starts to get overwhelming (we're due January 29th, and our lease is up in our apartment January 31st). So...did I think I wanted to take on the task of teaching a first grader all day, every day, when there were so many other transitions taking place? Not so much. In fact, it made me want to cry. But I'm pregnant, so I'll blame it on hormones.
Finally, I talked to Brad about all the pressure I felt, and he, being the fabulous husband that he is, said he's work on it. Ahhh... the burden was lifted. I so love being married, and not having to shoulder all the decisions and stresses that come with being a parent. Within a few days, Brad called me on the phone and said, "Good News! It's all taken care of. Reagan will be going to Cedar Park Christian School. Somebody has taken care of the entire bill!" What?! That would be six THOUSAND dollars, that somebody just took care of! Amazing. Seriously amazing. I was thinking that he might be able to pull some strings and get her moved into a different school district... but to have her go to Cedar Park would be too good to be true! Not only is CPCS a christian school, but it is ranked academically way above even the best public schools in this area. And the best part is she goes to work with Daddy! She rides to and from school with him (most days), gets to eat lunch with him whenever he's available, and even had him as a chapel speaker one day. (Which made her a pretty popular girl)! =0) Brad told me that while they were driving into school the day he was speaking she nonchalantly mentioned, "Y'know Dad, sometimes when a speaker knows one of the students, or is related to one of the students, they'll tell that student to stand up so everyone can see them." Brad asked her if that's what she wanted him to do, and she shrugged her shoulders and said, "Sure, if you want to." =0)
Last year when Reagan was in Kindergarten I had just finished doing a spa day with the youth group girls, so I did a mini-spa day for Reagan and her little friend Serena, the day before school started. This year we didn't do the full blown spa thing, but I did manage to get her nails painted!
I found some cute gems at Fred Meyer... so fun! I thought it would look cute to do one on each of her thumbs, but she thought it would be much cuter to have one on each finger...since it was her special day, we did it her way! They turned out pretty cute! =0)
Outside the highschool
Hanging up her backpack
Sitting at her new desk...it only took her a few days before she was moved away from her friend...chatty, like her mama! =0)
My friend Kim takes her boys out for ice-cream every year on the first day of school, so they can do something fun and she can hear all about their day. I adopted her idea this year... so much fun! Here we are at McDonalds getting our dollar sundaes! =0)
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