Lindsey's New School

Ben and I have been so blessed to live in an area where we have several different options when it comes to deciding where our children will go to school.  Though it's a blessing, it doesn't come without the elements of frustration and confusion.  Through word of mouth, we heard about a local school called New Horizons Magnet school and decided it would be an ideal school for Lindsey to attend Kindergarten.  It's an English/Spanish Immersion program, where they start out at the beginning speaking Spanish 70-80% of the time and English 20-30% of the time (yes, intimidating for sure--but 5 year old's have been proven to be able to work through it and figure it out).  By the time they finish the program (5th grade), the goal is that they will be fluently speaking both languages.   Unfortunately, you can't just decide that's where you want your child to go and have it happen; and because of the unique program, you can't join in later if you don't get in as a Kindergartner.  It is a lottery based system. There were three parent meetings in April that we needed to attend at least one of.  For each meeting attended, you got another name put into the drawing.  We attended all three to increase the odds, but the day of the drawing, Lindsey's name was not selected.  I was pretty disappointed, but tried to stay optimistic.  Her name was pulled as the third name on the waiting list, so it was likely something could still come along before the school began in the fall.  Lindsey did, however, get accepted for a different charter school though, which was a bit farther out of the way, so we planned on having her go there.  Monday of this week, I received a call from New Horizon's telling me that they had an opening for Lindsey if we were still interested.  I raced down to the school and got her registered.  She (and Courtney for moral support) met with one of the teacher's to see where she was educationally, and was given a little tour around.  The teacher was impressed with how much both Lindsey and Court knew.  (Apparently Courtney talked her ear off).  Lindsey was thrilled when we told her that this was going to be her new school.  Courtney is anxious for the time she too will be able to attend.  When we got home and were looking over the calendar of days she will have school (full days; 2-3 days per week) she decided to count all of the days there would be.  With some help, she counted as high as she ever has counted before...and then came a sigh followed by an intimidated sounding "84 days!  Wow, that's a lot!"  And the joys of school will continue on for years and years and years.