Public? Private? Who Knows...

I attended the 3rd Annual Conference on Faith, Deafness, and Disabilities for our Archdiocese this morning at one of my local parishes. While it is always nice to connect with other families in our area, my main focus of attending this morning was learning more about the possibility of a Catholic School education for Christian.

Both Chuck and I were educated in the Catholic Schools. We both had absolutely wonderful experiences, and I truly feel that my Catholic education (which went all the way through college) was the most amazing gift that my parents gave me. As parents, we are committed to absolutely sending the children to Catholic High School. We are also very serious about exploring the option of sending them both to Catholic Grade School. However, we're at a cross-roads right now when it comes to our plans for both of our children's education. Christian attends an independent secular school, and our game plan has always been to move him into one of our neighborhood schools for Kindergarten. The question that remains is which school will he go to?

We are incredibly lucky to live in a public school cluster that includes one of the best elementary schools in our county that feeds into one of the top 25 public high schools in the COUNTRY. Our county school system is top notch in regards to deaf education and support. The elementary school is within walking distance from our house, and has a bright and vibrant school community. Christian would receive any services he needed, whether it's speech therapy or note taking when he is older to back up the curriculum, no questions asked through the public school system. The other option is our parish elementary school that is also located in our neighborhood. It is a Blue Ribbon school and has an equally bright and vibrant school community. The tricky part is trying to figure out just what services we could get if we needed them and how our parish school could support Christian.

So what the heck are we going to do?

Wherever we send Christian for Kindergarten, Lily will follow and go there as well. I know it may sound trivial, but I have just about had it having 2 kids in 2 different schools with 2 different pick-up times, not to mention they are in 2 different states right now. As much as I know that I need to think about picking the school that fits Christian the best, I also know that we need to pick a school that fits our FAMILY the best as well. There's something to be said about going to the same school as your sibling, especially when the siblings are as close in age as Christian and Lily.

Again, what the heck are we going to do?

Our public school already has the systems in place and is ready to accept Christian and WHATEVER (if anything) he needs. Our parish school does not have systems in place, but I know will open its doors to Christian and our family and work with us. It's hard to believe but we're nearing the end of this academic year, with just 3 months left of school. Come this September, Christian will begin Pre-K, and I am sure I'll be stressing more.