Well, we are getting our second snow storm of the season. The weathermen all hyped this to be a huge storm and all of us really feel like the hype was for nothing. So, we do have about 4-5 inches at the moment, and it is still snowing, but it doesn't seem all that exciting. Courtney's school was not delayed at all, which I am not surprised. By Friday it will be in the 60's again. And Halloween is looking nice!
Courtney has her last day at her school today. She starts her new one on Monday! I can not wait! I am so excited for her!
Kasey crawled out of her crib yesterday for the first time ever. She scared me to death. I went to get her up from nap, and she was NOT in her crib. I turned around and looked around the room and didn't see her. I looked in the crib thinking that she just HAD to be in there, but she wasn't! I turned around again, and finally saw her hiding behind her chair. She looked up at me and said "Hi Mom! I done!" Meaning she was done with her nap. For those few moments that I had no idea where she was, I started to PANIC! Whew that was scary!
Well, I am off to run errands!
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
New School
Well, we had a very quick answer to prayers. I can't tell you how much this whole school thing with Courtney was eating me up! 4 days after we saw the neurologist my friend called that I hadn't spoken to for a few months. She asked me for a Courtney update, so I filled her in. She asked me if I had heard of the new charter school in district 11? I said no. She told me all about it and the name. As soon as we got off the phone, I looked it up online. I read all about it and realized it was just what we were looking for. But just to be sure, the next morning I called and set up a tour for Hubby and I. The following morning we went and took a tour and confirmed our suspicions. This school was made for Courtney. The very next day we met with her teacher (her current kindergarten teacher) and following that appointment we drove right over to the new school and put in her enrollment packet.
So, let me back up. This new charter school is named The Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning. It is only in it's second year open, but it was started by teachers and parents from a private school that closed a few years ago called The Renaissance Academy. Apparently that private school was very similar to this charter school, but the owners drove it into the ground, it had to close suddenly and parents lost the money they had paid in tuition. Apparently the idea of the school was such a hit, that this charter school was formed. Charter school means no tuition!
The school has 1 full day kindergarten class and 1 half day kindergarten class. The half day kindergarten class had one spot open. If we didn't move Courtney into that spot we would not be guaranteed a spot for 1st grade. If we didn't put her in the kindergarten class we would be put on a waiting list for 1st grade and then it's a lottery if you get a spot or not. We didn't want to risk it, so we are moving her at the end of this month.
That part was a little tough. Moving her 2 months into the school year is not ideal. We spoke with her current teacher who we do like and respect. I think she was really trying to convince us that Courtney is being challenged enough where she is now. Which she may very well be, but overall this move is a wonderful thing for her! This school deals a lot with double diagnosis kids. So, they are very used to kids with sensory issues and therefore every teacher knows how to work with it! They have a lot of sensory kids there. I am learning that Courtney is very common in the way that kids that have issues similar to her are similar to her in many ways. A lot of kids that have gifted areas, especially mentally or academically gifted, usually have other issues that go along with it, and sensory issues are very common! So, she is going to be in a crowd of kids just like her. She will not stick out and she will get exactly what her sensory system needs. I just can not tell you how happy all of this makes me.
The school is a K-8 school and everyone in the school does the core subjects at the same time. For example, the whole school does math at 8:30am. If a kid in 1st grade is at a 3rd grade math level, at 8:30am that kid would go up to the 3rd grade class for math. Kids can go up or down in the different subjects as needed.
We are thankful for the time we have to work to transition her. She will have a morning this week over there and hopefully one the week after that. The only only downside is the fact that we can't walk there. This school is about 5 miles away and it will be a 20-30 minute drive in the morning. I am hoping once we get in there we will find some families to carpool with.
Other than that things have been going along. Courtney has been sick this past week and missed two days of school. The school was closed on Friday so she got an extra day off without missing school. She still may stay home tomorrow too, we will see how she feels in the morning. It's just a bad cold. The bad thing is that it looks like Kasey is starting to get it now. And we all know how well she does being sick. Here's to hoping it doesn't turn into croup and an asthma flare up for her.
Well, I need to go and give in to my indulgence of late Sunday night TV! Hugs!
So, let me back up. This new charter school is named The Academy for Advanced and Creative Learning. It is only in it's second year open, but it was started by teachers and parents from a private school that closed a few years ago called The Renaissance Academy. Apparently that private school was very similar to this charter school, but the owners drove it into the ground, it had to close suddenly and parents lost the money they had paid in tuition. Apparently the idea of the school was such a hit, that this charter school was formed. Charter school means no tuition!
The school has 1 full day kindergarten class and 1 half day kindergarten class. The half day kindergarten class had one spot open. If we didn't move Courtney into that spot we would not be guaranteed a spot for 1st grade. If we didn't put her in the kindergarten class we would be put on a waiting list for 1st grade and then it's a lottery if you get a spot or not. We didn't want to risk it, so we are moving her at the end of this month.
That part was a little tough. Moving her 2 months into the school year is not ideal. We spoke with her current teacher who we do like and respect. I think she was really trying to convince us that Courtney is being challenged enough where she is now. Which she may very well be, but overall this move is a wonderful thing for her! This school deals a lot with double diagnosis kids. So, they are very used to kids with sensory issues and therefore every teacher knows how to work with it! They have a lot of sensory kids there. I am learning that Courtney is very common in the way that kids that have issues similar to her are similar to her in many ways. A lot of kids that have gifted areas, especially mentally or academically gifted, usually have other issues that go along with it, and sensory issues are very common! So, she is going to be in a crowd of kids just like her. She will not stick out and she will get exactly what her sensory system needs. I just can not tell you how happy all of this makes me.
The school is a K-8 school and everyone in the school does the core subjects at the same time. For example, the whole school does math at 8:30am. If a kid in 1st grade is at a 3rd grade math level, at 8:30am that kid would go up to the 3rd grade class for math. Kids can go up or down in the different subjects as needed.
We are thankful for the time we have to work to transition her. She will have a morning this week over there and hopefully one the week after that. The only only downside is the fact that we can't walk there. This school is about 5 miles away and it will be a 20-30 minute drive in the morning. I am hoping once we get in there we will find some families to carpool with.
Other than that things have been going along. Courtney has been sick this past week and missed two days of school. The school was closed on Friday so she got an extra day off without missing school. She still may stay home tomorrow too, we will see how she feels in the morning. It's just a bad cold. The bad thing is that it looks like Kasey is starting to get it now. And we all know how well she does being sick. Here's to hoping it doesn't turn into croup and an asthma flare up for her.
Well, I need to go and give in to my indulgence of late Sunday night TV! Hugs!
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