Day +1374: A New School for Mina!
Big news: Mina started kindergarten at Grattan School last Tuesday, January 27. This was not something that we had planned, but circumstances kind of forced us to look around at potential new options and when a spot opened up at Grattan School, which is a block from our house, we felt we had to act. Mina is doing well in school and the teacher has already noticed how sweet and enthusiastic she is. Keri and Isaac are still recovering.
We started looking around for Mina due to a series of ongoing problems at Neighborhood Playgarden, which is where both Mina and Isaac were attending a "fours and fives" program. The biggest problem was caused by a water main break which flooded the old site where Mina and Isaac attended the last two years, making it totally unusable for the rest of the year. There are a number of other problems which I won't go into (and I don't even know all the details), but the upshot is that a number of families have dropped out of the program, threatening its continued viability.
When it first became apparent that we might have to find alternative options for the kids, we decided to call the school district just in case a spot had opened up at Rooftop, our first choice for the kids. We were extremely fortunate in our timing, as the district had just made a decision to require each elementary school to make room for one more kindergartener by "over-enrolling". Rooftop was already over-enrolled, but they called us back the next day and said there was a spot at Grattan. We had to enroll her within five days or the spot would go to someone else. After much soul-searching, we decided we couldn't pass it up. We have never been very excited about putting our kids in public school kindergarten, for a variety of reasons including the heavy focus on academics at such a young age and the lack of physical exercise and play. Keri and I both believe that kids need as much physical activity and imaginative play as possible during these early years, which is why a Waldorf-type program like NPG has always been appealing to us. This is especially important for Mina because of her history and potential for health problems related to things like bone density and heart disease.
But with all of the uncertainty about NPG, we didn't want to end up in a position of having no schooling for Mina. And enrolling Mina at Grattan now guarantees her a spot next year, which really helps to take the pressure off the enrollment lottery for next year. We think Mina will have a good chance of getting a spot at Rooftop again next year through her medical exemption, but it's nice to know there is a reasonable, viable Plan B just in case. This also gives us the chance to "test-drive" Grattan for an extended period and see if we like it. Lastly, the school is literally a block from our house, so it could not be more convenient. We will hopefully have a chance to get to know some of the other parents in the neighborhood.
Mina is adapting very well to the change. When we broke the news to her, she squealed and got really excited, and she was bouncing off the walls all weekend. I'm not sure why exactly she was so excited -- I know she likes NPG and all of her friends there, but I did get the sense from working in the classroom that Mina was maybe not getting quite enough stimulation there. She is also eager and anxious to try to new things and doesn't spend a lot of time dwelling on the negatives. When we asked her if she would miss her old friends, she replied that we could have play dates so she could still see them. She also continues to go to after care at NPG and will participate in some of the NPG activities, so it's not a clean break. Then there is the social aspect -- Mina is extremely outgoing and social, and I think she was just eager to start doing what she knows other kids her age are doing, going to kindergarten. Whatever the reason, she was extremely excited and still says she likes her new school and doesn't want to go back to NPG. Not that it has been easy -- Keri said when she picked Mina up the first day, she had lost track of her class and was kind of wandering around the schoolyard by herself in a daze. Keri said she was "catatonic", and it took her an hour or two of play with her NPG friends to return to normal. Keri said she was better on subsequent days, but she says all of the kids look really tired at the end of the schoolday.
Isaac is having more trouble with the move. Julie says he has been alternating between mopey and angry all week. He has never dealt well with change, and he definitely loves his big sister. Unlike Mina, Isaac is shy and sensitive, and I think he relied on her socially in a lot of ways, even though they didn't play together a lot. Mostly I think she was a big comfort to him. She's such a mother anyway, and he is pretty willing to play the "child" role with her. He may be sensing some of the instability surrounding the school as well as other children continue to leave the program. We are really hoping that things will stabilize at NPG and that it will continue to be a viable program, but we are looking into other pre-K programs in the neighborhood for next year just in case. I'm not sure what we would do with him this year if NPG were to close. I suppose the backup plan is a share care program with some other families.
Keri has been having a hard time with the move as well. As I mentioned, this was not our first choice for Mina, and Keri feels very strongly that kindergarteners should not be sitting at desks all day long and should not be doing homework, especially Mina. So while the move makes sense for a number of reasons, that doesn't mean that we are happy with how Mina is spending her time. Keri plans to sit in for an entire school day sometime soon so she can assess the extent to which it is meeting Mina's needs and talk to the teacher about Mina. The district is also required to set up an Individual Educational Plan that meets any special needs Mina may have, so that is another avenue for getting their attention.
Mina's oncologist, Dr. Mignon Loh, also has a kindergartener at Grattan. Katie is not in Mina's class, but for whatever reason they ended up swinging on the tire swing together at recess a couple of days last week. They both know that Mina is Mignon's patient, but neither really knows the full extent of what that means, of course.
So the plan for now is to keep Mina at Grattan for the rest of the year while we wait for the results of next year's enrollment lottery, and to pray that NPG remains viable so Isaac can continue to attend there and Mina can continue to attend after care. Keri is still checking out other options for both kids, though, so stay tuned.
We started looking around for Mina due to a series of ongoing problems at Neighborhood Playgarden, which is where both Mina and Isaac were attending a "fours and fives" program. The biggest problem was caused by a water main break which flooded the old site where Mina and Isaac attended the last two years, making it totally unusable for the rest of the year. There are a number of other problems which I won't go into (and I don't even know all the details), but the upshot is that a number of families have dropped out of the program, threatening its continued viability.
When it first became apparent that we might have to find alternative options for the kids, we decided to call the school district just in case a spot had opened up at Rooftop, our first choice for the kids. We were extremely fortunate in our timing, as the district had just made a decision to require each elementary school to make room for one more kindergartener by "over-enrolling". Rooftop was already over-enrolled, but they called us back the next day and said there was a spot at Grattan. We had to enroll her within five days or the spot would go to someone else. After much soul-searching, we decided we couldn't pass it up. We have never been very excited about putting our kids in public school kindergarten, for a variety of reasons including the heavy focus on academics at such a young age and the lack of physical exercise and play. Keri and I both believe that kids need as much physical activity and imaginative play as possible during these early years, which is why a Waldorf-type program like NPG has always been appealing to us. This is especially important for Mina because of her history and potential for health problems related to things like bone density and heart disease.
But with all of the uncertainty about NPG, we didn't want to end up in a position of having no schooling for Mina. And enrolling Mina at Grattan now guarantees her a spot next year, which really helps to take the pressure off the enrollment lottery for next year. We think Mina will have a good chance of getting a spot at Rooftop again next year through her medical exemption, but it's nice to know there is a reasonable, viable Plan B just in case. This also gives us the chance to "test-drive" Grattan for an extended period and see if we like it. Lastly, the school is literally a block from our house, so it could not be more convenient. We will hopefully have a chance to get to know some of the other parents in the neighborhood.
Mina is adapting very well to the change. When we broke the news to her, she squealed and got really excited, and she was bouncing off the walls all weekend. I'm not sure why exactly she was so excited -- I know she likes NPG and all of her friends there, but I did get the sense from working in the classroom that Mina was maybe not getting quite enough stimulation there. She is also eager and anxious to try to new things and doesn't spend a lot of time dwelling on the negatives. When we asked her if she would miss her old friends, she replied that we could have play dates so she could still see them. She also continues to go to after care at NPG and will participate in some of the NPG activities, so it's not a clean break. Then there is the social aspect -- Mina is extremely outgoing and social, and I think she was just eager to start doing what she knows other kids her age are doing, going to kindergarten. Whatever the reason, she was extremely excited and still says she likes her new school and doesn't want to go back to NPG. Not that it has been easy -- Keri said when she picked Mina up the first day, she had lost track of her class and was kind of wandering around the schoolyard by herself in a daze. Keri said she was "catatonic", and it took her an hour or two of play with her NPG friends to return to normal. Keri said she was better on subsequent days, but she says all of the kids look really tired at the end of the schoolday.
Isaac is having more trouble with the move. Julie says he has been alternating between mopey and angry all week. He has never dealt well with change, and he definitely loves his big sister. Unlike Mina, Isaac is shy and sensitive, and I think he relied on her socially in a lot of ways, even though they didn't play together a lot. Mostly I think she was a big comfort to him. She's such a mother anyway, and he is pretty willing to play the "child" role with her. He may be sensing some of the instability surrounding the school as well as other children continue to leave the program. We are really hoping that things will stabilize at NPG and that it will continue to be a viable program, but we are looking into other pre-K programs in the neighborhood for next year just in case. I'm not sure what we would do with him this year if NPG were to close. I suppose the backup plan is a share care program with some other families.
Keri has been having a hard time with the move as well. As I mentioned, this was not our first choice for Mina, and Keri feels very strongly that kindergarteners should not be sitting at desks all day long and should not be doing homework, especially Mina. So while the move makes sense for a number of reasons, that doesn't mean that we are happy with how Mina is spending her time. Keri plans to sit in for an entire school day sometime soon so she can assess the extent to which it is meeting Mina's needs and talk to the teacher about Mina. The district is also required to set up an Individual Educational Plan that meets any special needs Mina may have, so that is another avenue for getting their attention.
Mina's oncologist, Dr. Mignon Loh, also has a kindergartener at Grattan. Katie is not in Mina's class, but for whatever reason they ended up swinging on the tire swing together at recess a couple of days last week. They both know that Mina is Mignon's patient, but neither really knows the full extent of what that means, of course.
So the plan for now is to keep Mina at Grattan for the rest of the year while we wait for the results of next year's enrollment lottery, and to pray that NPG remains viable so Isaac can continue to attend there and Mina can continue to attend after care. Keri is still checking out other options for both kids, though, so stay tuned.
posted by Arne Olson @ 10:12 PM
1 Comments:
At 9:25 PM PDT,
Rooftop PTA said…
Hi. I came across your blog as I was trying to find information regarding Neighborhood Play Garden (NPG). I'm considering it for my son this Fall. If you don't mind I would like to get information on your experience. Please email me at maryannibrahim@gmail.com. Look forward to hearing from you.
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