Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Pros & Cons. AKA: Are These People Crazy?

Ok, so we're nutters for not leaping straight into the mix, right?  For not filling out the acceptance form rightthisverysecond and mailing it back to CPS HQ, right?

Probably.  (*shrug*)

But here are the beginnings of our conversations about Are You Good Enough For My Little Girl? Elementary:

LOCATION:
AYGEFMLG?E is about a 30-minute drive.  One-way.  Every.single.flipping.freezing.morning.  It's a public school, so we'd score a school bus ride.  And maybe a school bus ride for her won't have the same nightmarish experiences that it does for so many because AYGEFMLG?E is a very small school with kids that come from all over creation corners of Chicago. But still.........

Or there's {Urban} Country Day Academy.  Very short commute.  All the way downstairs.  Or back upstairs for piano practice.  Or to the kitchen to look at our caterpillars.  Or outside to plant some seeds.  Or perhaps to the library.  On really adventurous days, it's a commute downtown to the Shedd Aquarium or Field Museum, what-have-you.

Score one for {U}CDA.

FLEXIBILITY:
AYGEFMLG?E -- now we'd have two people in the house working around CPS's calendar.  And we'd have to do more of our adventures around town when the unwashed masses are also doing them.  Ew.

{U}CDA: Right now we have three busy school days at home, one lighter day due to an oddly scheduled art class, and a busy day of three activities jammed into one day -- so light on pencil/paper academics that day.  Cabin Fever?  Time to go on a field trip.  Tired of Everything? Time to go to do a few errands and find a playground on the way home.  Tired of Everyone?  Time for Grandma Camp, if she's available.

Score two for {U}CDA.


More soon.

8 comments:

Mothership said...

How exactly did she qualify for this fabulous school/ score higher than every other dang kid in the US?

CDA

Another point in favor of her current teachers.

You are doing a great job.

Amy said...

Agree with above. Totally. You rock.

We run the scorecard from time to time around here, and it always comes up very lopsided. When I see it in black and white (okay it's really in my head) it's like, "Duh. No brainer." Of course we're not factoring in 99th percentile or best school in IL, but even so.

Congrats on educating you daughter better than pretty much anyone in the whole U.S. of America! Awesome!

Laney said...

You are doing a great job. Our public schools are atrocious. The elementary principal actually said to my sister, "This isn't Princeton. We aren't educating Einsteins." Uh, OK.

Hey kids! Isn't it great to know your principal thinks you are a bunch of losers?!

We can't afford the school I really want to send them to, unless of course we sell all that we have and move into a refrigerator box. *snort* So we do the best that we can and hope to keep them out of prison.

Hen Jen said...

you are doing a great job! So cool to have validation in print!

good luck with your decision. I hated riding the bus, it was at least a 1 hour ride in elementary (10 minute trip by car) and in highschool it was a 2hr. trip. I did get my homework done, but so much of my life was wasted sitting there...

Tammy said...

I think you should keep the little darling home with you. You are doing a brillant job and she's excelling. What more could you ask for? ;)

G said...

You are obviously doing just fine at {U}CDA. I'd stick with it!

Dy said...

Well, you know who to call if you want the full-on sales pitch for UCDA. :-)

But, on a tangentially (or wholly) unrelated note, CPS always makes me do a double-take. In Arizona, that stands for Child Protective Services, and I always find myself thinking, "WHY are you wanting to turn your children over to THEM?" Then it clicks. And suddenly, I'm back with the rest of the crowd, following the discussion like a normal person. :-)

But, Dude. Seriously. You need to BLOG.

rita said...

I haven't read your previous post (I'm guessing it will fill in the blanks for me) but if your daughter is doing that well, you're doing it all right. My daughter has the opposite problem; her daughter is doing extremely well in her current school, but after next year she'll be shipped to the middle school which has a terrible reputation. She will probably qualify to go to a charter school for the arts, which she'd love, but if not, my daughter wants to home school her.

How do you decide?