A New School

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Danya's number came up on the wait list and she was accepted into the City's charter school. This was amazing news, and something we were really not prepared for. Should we move her?

Frankly, I love Silver Lakes Elementary. They have wonderful staff, wonderful programs, wonderful teachers. It is close, Danya enjoys riding the bus, she rides with one of her best friends Kalaiyah. Danya has gone there with kindergarten and has basically the same kids in her class every year. She is in class with another neighbor and best friend, Ana. She came home the first day saying this was going to be the best year ever! So how could we move her?

While we knew Danya would do fine whichever alternative we chose, after prayer and discussion, we decided to move her. The Charter schools are much smaller (1,600 fewer kids in the Middle school) and has higher academic ratings, especially for high school. Also, Caleb is already in the Charter Elementary and so they can go together.

Danya's first day she came home in tears. Nothing bad had happened, but it was overwhelming to her. Thankfully though, she has my next door neighbor in her class, and we take another 4th grader to school with us in the morning, so she already had a couple of friends. Yesterday (Day 2) she came home just fine and was actually looking forward to the year. She is still not 100% comfortable and says she has a lot more homework, but I think it was the right decision and she is going to have a wonderful year!

For those who have asked, Emily is really enjoying YW's. I am pleased and am looking forward to her making friends with the girls in the Spanish Ward as I have heard from one of the YW leaders that there are some very nice girls in there that are beehives too.

All in all, we are starting to settle into a routine. We have been insanely busy these past two weeks and I decided to make a list (mainly for my own record)of things we have been doing to stay busy: babysat a 2 year old 4 or 5 times- twice overnight, watched a newborn for several hours, watched twin 9 years olds a couple of times, Drove the carpool to school and a carpool to stake conference, hosted (not ran) girl scouts, did 4 mystery shops, ran to the school to administer medicine to my neighbor, visiting teaching, subbed in primary, ran around to buy all new uniforms and basically all new school supplies, drove the keys to dan's work when he locked himself out, took emily to volleyball evaluations, made dinner for a friend, made cookies for a different friend, grocery shopping, homework, piano practice (for me too, the Palmer reunion got me motivated), playgroup, did some baking, cookout with the neighbors, and 2 volunteer projects for the school. Nothing overly exciting, and I am sure everyone else is just as busy, but life for me is generally a little slower paced. I like this pace, but I am hoping the kids and homework starts to settle into routine so there is less cajoling (we use marshmallows for that with Caleb) and more efficiency (maybe that is too much to hope for!).

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