It’s hard to believe that the boy has been here that long. Watching him grow has been an amazing experience, and I continued to be a mess of emotions just thinking about it. (Can one be both proud and humbled simultaneously?)
It’s not a lock that he’ll be accepted (though we are technically a parish family which should weigh in his favor), but we’ve signed Jonah up for kindergarten at Queen of Peace School for next year. It’s 4000 smackers for the year at this private Catholic elementary, but full-day public school would have been over $2000, so it’s not quite huge financial disparity it might seem at first glance. More important than the money, though, is our simple belief that Jonah will have the best educational experience here.
In truth, we would have liked to explore the local public school more, but they won’t let parents or students visit during school hours, so there you go. I also found it vexing that the school district could never tell us which school our kids were supposed to attend. One person would say one school, the next person another. Honestly, you could flip a coin and get more consistent results.
But again more than these minor slights, it was that Jonah was welcomed with open arms into Queen of Peace School. We wholeheartedly believe he (and later, Elisha and Jillian) will thrive in this environment. That makes me think that age five might prove even more exciting than four, and I thought he was a great four year-old. Happy birthday, indeed.