At the same time I was basking in the glow of having a good 2011/2012 school year for Anabelle and Lennon I was struggling with what my next move for Anabelle would be for Kindergarten. I found myself in that all too familiar place of worry and fear of where our next journey of school would take place. My brain hurt. The idea that a school was chosen for my children simply based upon where I lived infuriated me. My kids needed more than just geography.
Every year at Monarch felt safe and I had (have) trust that my children were being taken care. The teacher:student ratios were low and I knew that at any time I could walk in and either observe or sit in the class. So when it came time for Anabelle to "graduate" out of Pre-K and move on to Kindergarten I panicked. Anabelle is, in a few words, an incredible little girl. I cannot talk about her amazing spirit without crying. She is a free spirit with a beautiful soul and a great big creative imagination. She has an energy about her that makes you smile without even knowing it. She does not fit in a box and there was absolutely no way I would do her the injustice of enrolling her at a traditional public school where she would surely be lost in the shuffle. The very thought of her being in an over crowded classroom of 30+ made me want to vomit. Add to that the fact that parent's are "not allowed" to sit in the classrooms on a daily basis made the school our house was "zoned for" completely out of the question. She is a little girl who often times had trouble sitting still. She liked to (needed to) run and couldn't always just sit still, even though it would surely be expected of her. I felt like I didn't have any options. I inquired about a couple of other schools within our district, but was told an inter-distric transfer was not an option. Yep. Not an option. For me personally, homeschooling was not an option either. Anabelle needed social interactions, on a daily basis, and frankly I didn't trust myself to give her a thriving school environment at home. I believe in Co-Schooling and just needed to find a "partner in crime" in this next venture.
One day while dropping the kids at preschool I began talking to the directors of Monarch Academy about my concern with what our next step should be. I explained to them that I had been crying over what to do and I needed to figure out a plan soon. I am not one to ever give up, but I was beginning to feel like I might have to seek schooling further away, and potentially move to another city. I found an amazing school in the city I grew up in, (about 30-40 minutes away) and was seriously considering it. While talking to the directors they had asked me if I had heard of our local Charter School, SCVi. My head perked up immediately as I said, "no.... but please tell me more"! They told me where it was located and suggested I take a tour to really get a feel for it myself. So, I did. I kept my options open and wound up touring both the school where I grew up as well as SCVi. I fell in love with both schools. Immediately. Pros for SCVi were location AND it was a K-10 school at the time with plans to grow to a full K-12 School. The other school, (Mariposa School of Global Education, a Waldorf based school) was only K-8 and that meant public high school as well as either moving closer or commuting. I filled out enrollment forms for both schools, telling myself that fate would take hold of us all and what was meant to happen would happen.
The things I loved most about both schools were the fact that children were allowed to be children. There were no desks that each child had to remain seated at and there weren't any unrealistic expectations. Parents volunteering on a daily basis was not only allowed, but requested. And sitting in the classrooms was often encouraged. Open Door Policy, if you will. Of course after being Live Scanned (with the Department of Justice) and having a current TB test on file). The Lottery for SCVi was scheduled a week before Mariposa and since I was able to attend I told myself that if Anabelle's name was called she would attend SCVi. The truth is as much as I loved Mariposa I did not want to move nor were we in a financial place to do so. I had to put that positive energy out there.
I applied to SCVi on January 4, 2012 and on March 30, 2012 I sat in a room with other eager and anxious parents where they called each name one by one, by luck of the draw.... I was so nervous and every time they pulled a card and started with "Kindergarten" my heart stopped. And then they would begin to say a kids name that was not mine and I would lay my head low. And then, of course, I would clap and cheer for the family of the child who was called because how amazing for them! It's all about your energy people. Put out the good and get the good in return.
They were getting to the bottom of the list for Kindergarten and while I didn't lose hope I was definitely feeling a little discouraged. They called a couple more names and then, like the smell of fresh baked pie, I perked up when I heard, "Kindergarten... Anabelle... Korni...ch?" I stood up and happily called out "Kornick?!" They shook their heads YES and everyone cheered and I cried. And just like that, we were in. It was absolutely meant to be. A week later I was notified that Anabelle also got into Mariposa. I kindly declined and felt ready to embark on our next adventure. Another pro to Anabelle getting into SCVi was that a handful of her friends from Monarch Academy also got in. The years of early friendship would be given a chance to flourish and grow.
