National School Choice Week
Greenville Journal highlighted National School Choice Week with a great article. As National School Choice Week wraps up I’ve had a lot of questions about schools- specifically, “Is it a good school?” Giving advice about schools is a lot like parenting advice; I can only tell you what I know through my own experience with 3 very different kids!
We sent all of our children, now 9, 15, and 17 to elementary school at Blythe Academy of Languages to learn Spanish since both Patrick and I speak Spanish. Our kids then went to 3 different middle schools based on their personalities, experience with school, and other life factors!
The magnet school education was great! But as a working parent, I struggled with getting to school events. It’s a bit like working out at lunchtime, sounds like a great idea but when you factor in travel and shower that one-hour work-out turns into 2 plus hours away from work! As the kids got older it was important that we knew their school friends and their parents better and that was hard living on the other (wrong) side of town. You’ve heard the whine ‘all my friends….!” Well, I heard it a lot, as I drove my kids to the other side of town to play with all their school friends.
With 2 in high school and the youngest heading to middle school, we made the decision to give zoned schools a try! Then we got an acceptance letter to Brashier Middle College- for our 11th grader! We had applied when she was a rising 9th! So we threw out our desire to have all 3 kids at zoned schools! 2 out of 3 aren’t bad I guess. Brashier has been a great fit for both our girls. And let’s face it if high school girls aren’t happy ain’t nobody happy!
Maybe I have an old-fashioned view on childhood, but if I were to do it all again (God forbid!) I’d find a school that we loved and we were zoned for! Happy school shopping!
