Private School and the fishes out of water

So….school. Who knew this would be such a difficult decision? I mean, it’s kindergarten, right?

I’ll tell you now – this is long and if you’re not that interested, then come back tomorrow for photos. Sometimes the blog is a place for me to write down things so I don’t forget them down the road. This is one of those posts.

Both Conor and I are the products of an amazing public school system. We went to Plano ISD Schools and then public colleges. I personally know several UNBELIEVABLE public school teachers. Hi Lisa, Kim, Jackie, Missy, Chris, Matt…I can only hope my daughter will have teachers like you. My mom works in a public school in Frisco. We could not imagine not loving public schools.

When we moved to our home in central Austin, we knew that we fed to a great public elementary school and a terrifyingly bad middle school. As I told our real estate agent – I can deal with the middle school issue in 10 years. I felt like we’d just go to the local elementary school and then figure out something for middle school.

However, the more we thought about it, and the more we learned about TAKS and the public school life, and the more cuts that were made to public education, the more we started to research private schools. We are not being (completely) biased when we say that our girl is smart. You guys, she’s astounding in what she can comprehend and learn at age 5. She will be smarter than me in not too long and, not to brag, but I’m no slouch. She speaks French fluently and reads so well. She is full of questions about the world around her. She amazes me daily. We wanted to give her every head start we could. You’d like to think that hard work alone can get you anywhere you want, but that is not always the case.

We also have been influenced second hand by Gaga B’s teaching experience. She teaches at a private girls school in Dallas. Hearing about the things she does with her girls and the extra experiences they have and the just plain amazing learning they do has always stuck out to me.

I was put in charge of researching schools. There are a TON of great private schools in Austin. We quickly zeroed in on The Girls’ School of Austin. I will not lie when I tell you that I (and I can’t completely speak for Conor, but I believe him as well) fell in love with this place. The facilities, the art and music program, the small class size (16 in the kindergarten class), the Spanish program, the single sex learning environment (which, will be more important as she gets older, obviously), the flexibility in the math curriculum. It all just spoke to us. I remember at one of the parent meetings literally leaning forward in agreement when the kindergarten and first grade teachers were talking about what they did with the girls.

We went through the application process, which included a kid interview (which Savannah dubbed ea-sy!), a parent interview (which I sweated through), a group playdate with all applicants to see how they interacted with each other and a parent meeting and Q&A. Plus we had to get a recommendation from Savannah’s preschool teachers and also fill out an ivy league college worthy essay.

Yes – for kindergarten.

The funniest story about the process was when we were taking our school tour and were in the third grade class room. It IS an all girls school, so there are some touchy feely elements that Conor wasn’t really used to. I have always admired his willingness to jump in to being a father to a girl, but you know, girls are weird. There was a little space under a desk that had a curtain around it. Conor whispered to me “Hey, do you think that’s the punishment box?” Right then the admissions director pointed out the space and said “This is the feelings corner, where you can go if you need some time to get your emotions under control if you’re feeling badly.” So – NOT the punishment box – the feelings corner. Not the same thing. We tried not to be the giggly, misbehaving parents in the back, but of COURSE we were.

I will tell you that the group play date did not end well for Savannah. I think she was coming down with a cold and was tired, so while she did great in the classroom portion (you’ve heard me talk about her delegating and friend making skills), she had the most epic meltdown I have seen in quite sometime on the playground. Yes, in front of the admissions director, the head mistress, the kindergarten teacher and allllll of the other families. I have never wanted the ground to swallow me whole like I did at that moment. I wept on the way home despite the admissions director telling me not to worry about it. It. Was. Awful.

We waited for our letter telling us if she was in or out and when it came, it was not good news. We were put in the ‘wait pool’. I called the school to find out what exactly that meant and was told ‘ Savannah is qualified – we think she’s great, and if we had room, we’d love to have her, but we just don’t have room’. I have no idea how they decide who to let in, but I was bummed. I felt like I had let her down. I also thought – wow, they don’t know what kind of awesome they’re missing.

We had been telling Savannah that she would either attend the Girls’ School or Highland Park and that they were both good schools and she’d know someone at either that she attended. We told her that there weren’t enough desks at The girls School right now and that it looked like she would be going to Highland Park. She seemed OK with that, but a few times had let it slip that she really liked the Girls’ School. I can understand that, as she had been there three times and it probably felt a little more familiar.

However, we got a call on Monday from the admissions director and a space opened up, so we JUMPED on it. Like, the words we barely out of her mouth and I was all “Yes! I can come and fill out the paperwork right now if necessary. Whatever you want!”

I don’t think I realized how badly Savannah wanted to go to this school until I told her the news. I was picking her up at Petite Ecole and told her I had news for her. When I said the Girls’ School had called, her face lit up and then when I said they had found a desk for her, she jumped up and down, clapped her hands and tackled me yelling “I want to go there! Can I? Please can I go there?!” We are SO excited for her.

Savannah and I dropped off her paperwork this morning so it looks like it’s uniforms and feelings corners starting in the fall!