well, my friend deb and i went down and handed in our school applications together today. she had a little list scribbled on a piece of paper and i had one in my head i had discussed with rich this morning, as he prepared to go split some wood with his dad in delaware. we ended up sitting at a big coffee table in the lobby of the administration building with assorted friends and neighbors who were all still devising their lists or had just handed them in. lots of talk, talk, talk, and then impulsively i changed some things and filled it in and handed it in. afterwards i had a brief period with a nice empty space in my head, where all the "what should we do?" had been living. brief. soon this space was filled up with "i should have put...". there is a possibility i will call the office tomorrow and make a last-minute switch, but they probably wouldn't do it except in person and i would have to drag 2 kids down, so it is probably over. i feel a little sick thinking about this but it is also probably lack of sleep and eating too much unhealthy stuff. in the end we went largely with spanish immersion, which i feel will be very challenging to miles in the beginning. i kept hearing it was a gift to your child and i kept imagining miles being so overwhelmed and stressed, but at the last minute i guess i had some faith that he could just handle it. hope i was not wrong, hope he won't be the one kid in the class who hates it. and cries. oh lordy. there were so many cool good schools, all very popular of course, but finally i went with doing something different, the exotic and unknown world of spanish immersion...
our final list (if i don't freak out totally and go down there again tomorrow):
buena vista spanish(next door, friendly, cool, arts, i really really want this now--almost 400 people applied last year)
rooftop (not immersion, early, just very cool, over 800 people applied last year)
alvarado spanish (arts, science, money, about 350 people applied last year)
leonard flynn (not amazing but near, "up and coming", spanish, about 160 people last year, very likely more this year)
fairmount (also not amazing, near, nice ,spanish, about 160 people last year)
miraloma (not spanish, early, very cool, good, fun, about 350 applied last year)
sf community (the cool mixed grade hippie school i worried about last minute, about 100 people applied last year)
so i think i should have put fairmount and flynn lower, but i was a little bit insane at the moment, and just went for the spanish.
also, as you can see, almost all of these schools are quite popular so there is a good chance we will get nothing at all. then what??? we will be assigned to starr king, up by the potrero hill projects where oj grew up. or move to brisbane. or homeschool maybe.
readers, tell me this choice of mainly spanish immersion will work out for my little guy...i alternate between faith in him and my motherly instinct to protect my sensitive boy.
i love him so much. that is what this is all about.
goodnight.
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4 comments:
Congrats, Jamie! I can't believe you balked on sf community after making me feel practically as if I should rush out and add it to my list.. haha! Spanish immersion will be wonderful for Miles, and for the whole family. Fingers crossed for Buena Vista, but maybe we'll have boys together at rooftop and we can car pool and sleep late every other day!
love,
G
Maybe some day I'll know myself, but they tell me its all about that mix of love & wanting to protect. He'll be great, you'll be great and I'll keep my fingers crossed for you all.
It sounds like you made some great choices and I can't wait to find out which one he gets!
Now Miles can teach Nina and Niko Spanish when we visit!
xoxo, Cassie
you don't know me, but i know some two-year-olds in your neighborhood. anyway, we put alvarado and got it, years ago when it was NOT the buzzy, money school but had iffy test scores and was up-and-coming. we have loved it, esp the spanish immersion. miles will be just fine! at any of these schools. now we are into middle school (yes it will be sooner than you think) and found, yes! good choices on that level too. (now dealing with a middle schooler is something else again.)
anyway, best of luck with buena vista; we know lots of families and teachers over there. if you get any of these you'll be fine. if you don't--do go through the second round and waitlist process. stressful i know, but you'll get something good, i promise.
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