Kindergarten

We heard from the private schools over the weekend.

It's been a very long process. First, we had to decide if we were going to do public or private. Our public school is wonderful until 5th grade. That is,except for my neighbor Sam who pulled her son out of 2nd grade there cause the teacher was saying things like, "Susie is reading, why aren't you?" I switched from public to private in 5th grade and it was academic and social hell until I went back to public in 9th grade. Trying to be friends with kids who had been together since K just wasn't doable. (Probably also had to do with the fact that I am a freak, I just didn't know it then!) At the time, our public high school was one of the best in the country. I'm sure that's changed. And we know that Oakland public high schools are the worst. So we decided to find one school where the girls can go and stay, ideally, a K-12.

Sure, it's a shitload of money, but we are*extremely* fortunate that my parents are footing the bill. Mom's attitude is, "what good is my money if I can't help with my grandchildren's education?" We are truly blessed and we don't forget it for a minute.

Tours began last fall. We were not allowed to even contact the schools until the fall before she started Kindergarten. So we spent a lot of mornings skipping work and visiting schools, about 7 or 8 in all. We applied to 4, which included a hefty application fee (~$75), a long application with questions on it like Why is this school a good fit for your family, How does your family value diversity, What activities does your child enjoy, etc.

Then, in January, the schools met with Haley on Saturday mornings. We called it a playdate, they called it an assessment. Haley did things like the "what's missing" game, the hoki poki, writing the alphabet and her numbers. At each school, we sat in a different room for the 90 minutes wondering what the hell was going on.

We heard that this was a particularly difficult year. Most schools had roughly 36 slots, and 18-20 were given to siblings and teachers kids first. That left about 15-18 slots for the 100+ applicants at each school. Haley was wait listed at three schools, and accepted at one. She was accepted at Bentley, our 2nd choice - an incredible school with amazing teachers, very rigorously academic. The issues we have with it are that it's not diverse, and the high school (and soon the middle school) are out in Lafayette, which means I'd have to drive through the Caldecott tunnel 2x/day. And, having gone to private school in Greenwich, CT, the idea of private school in Lafayette, CA gives me the willies! ;)

Haley was wait listed at our first choice, Head Royce. All 13 years are on one campus just a mile from the house on Lincoln b/n Hwy 13 &MacArthur. They have b&w darkrooms! They are very focused on diversity, so it won't be a classroom of rich white kids. While academically rigorous, they are known to be much more "whole-child"focused, rather than just academically focused like Bentley (although I am very impressed with the lower school art, Spanish and music teachers at Bentley). I have not visited the Lafayette campus.

In order to stay on the waiting list, Head Royce wants a written letter. I typed it up, signed it, and hand delivered it to the dir of admissions yesterday morning. I'm sure I was the first to get my letter in. She and I had a great conversation, and she told me to call again later this week before I send my $ to Bentley. There is no order to the waiting list, it's a boy/girl thing, she told me. Bentley needs a $1,900 deposit check no later than Friday before they give up Haley's space.

The upshot is that we can't lose - Haley (and Alexa, by extension) will get an amazing education either way. But I swear I feel emotional every time I drive past Head Royce I want her to go to that school SOOO BAAAD! Please send your juju!