CALIFORNIA – PERFECT

• Cater to your child

  • You know your child better than anyone. Alexander, for example, is the most curious little boy I know. Since he was a few months old I could see him trying to figure out how the wheels in his toy cars turned. As soon as he could speak he was asking about space and was curious about why some metals rust. He is also very artistic and loves crafts. He is also very curious about letters and numbers, he could read the alphabet since his early two’s. On the other hand he couldn’t be less interested in sports. He doesn’t care about balls and he completely dislikes confrontation sports like soccer. He doesn’t like to be told what to do; He gets annoyed.

• Ask around

  • I literally would go to the park and start a conversation with every mom that had older kids. I asked about their kids school and if they were happy with it. I also asked if they knew about other schools their friends liked. It is such a safe environment that other mothers are willing to tell you their real feelings about their kids school.

• Public-Charter vs Private

  • So here is where it got confusing for me. There are public elementary schools pretty much in any neighborhood. Here is a link to figure out which school you belong to. You can either stay there or you can “choice in” to a different neighborhood school. The year before, around the month of October, you have a window of about 2 weeks to choose up to three public schools you would like to enroll your kid to. In order of preference from your first to your third choice. This process is done online and it is very simple. The waiting its the hard part. We got the results until March, 4 months later! You will most likely get your first choice unless it’s a very popular school with a lot of applicants.
  • Charter schools are also public schools but there is generally a “lottery” system to get in. Pure luck in most cases, but in some schools they give preference to certain zip code or you might be more likely to get in if you are in the “free lunch” program. You can apply to as many charter schools as you want. Here is a list for the San Diego charter schools.
  • Private schools vary from the ones that are linked to a church to the ones that aren’t. Generally the ones that are linked to a church are less expensive to the ones that aren’t. A church linked school in the San Diego area is about $12,000 a year. A regular private school, project based or montessori, runs for about $19,000-22,000 a year.

• How do I choose?

  • The easier step is to choose from public or private. The main deterrent will be if you can afford private in the first place. If you can: Do you really want to spend 20k a year, or 40k if you have two kids? The second kid discount is never more than 5% a year. Go and check them out too. Adam and I did, and I wasn’t at all impressed with the one we checked out. Definitely not worth paying $40k a year for our two sons.
  • Now it’s time to first visit you neighborhood school. See if for yourself. School tours start in the choice-in period around the end of September. You just call your school and get your name in the next tour date. Then go check out the schools of your adjacent neighborhoods that are well ranked. The rankings of the schools are purely done based on test scores. So that will tell you some, but not all. This website greatschools.org  will tell you the ranking of most schools as well as some parent reviews.
  • Look into the charter schools you can realistically drive to every single day of the week. Go check them out and see what they have to offer. See how they are different from the public schools you have seen. Generally charter schools are project based and the teaching is handled a little bit different. Maybe it’s what you have been wanting for your child all along!

• Apply

  • Apply, apply, apply. I just applied to everything, honestly. I saw my neighborhood school, and even though is very well ranked 9/10, I was pretty disappointed. The school was a mess. The classrooms were small and overwhelmed with stuff. They love bragging about their “International Program” and how they are a “Magnet School” . What I realized is that being in the “International Program” costs a lot of money. So they don’t have money for a librarian nor for the Talented and Gifted Program. They also don’t have money for a music program and forget about any art classes. I’m a Spanish speaker, so 45 minutes of Spanish every two weeks doesn’t impress me at all. I realized that the public school that is 15 minutes away, that doesn’t have an “International Program”, is much more organized. They have art classes and robotics. They also have a librarian twice a week and optional Spanish classes in the afternoon. So that was my first choice in the “Choice-in” application. And Alexander got a spot!
  • I applied to 5 charter schools. I visited them all, did my research and asked around. I realized that a lot of them have no homework and no testing, and that appeals to me but not to my husband. He is worried about accountability. Result: I got into NONE so far. I am in the waiting list in spot number 5 in one of them, but not in yet. So you have to be prepared for that. My heart was crushed. After all that research and visits, Alexander didn’t get into any of them.

• You can change your mind.

  • Nothing is set in stone. If you don’t like the school you end up choosing, don’t settle. There are many other choices out there and you can apply as many times as you want.

My best luck to you moms.