Big Decisions

Sometimes being a parent is hard. You want what is best for your kids, for you, for your family as a whole...and for your pocketbook.

So.

Bryan was Catholic school kid...from kindergarten through his last day of his senior year of high school. So, naturally, since that was his upbringing you can guess what kind of school he has always wanted to send his own kids to. Fair enough. I, on the other hand, only went to Catholic school for a few years and then finished out the rest of my education at public schools. I maintain that I turned out just fine (though I supposed this is debatable).

Pretty much since the day Simon was born, we have gone back and forth about where to send Simon for grade school. When Cecilia came around we thought public was going to be the best option if for no other reason than she would be less likely to be the only black kid in her class. We pretty much stopped the discussion right there. 

This weekend everything changed, though, and we realized this discussion was far from over.

We went to a birthday party Saturday morning where we talked with a few moms who had kids in the same class at a local lutheran school. After the party, I lamented to Bryan about how I wish we had a sense of community at Simon's school. I wish I knew some of the parents. I wish I knew some of the kids. I wish I knew his teachers for crying out loud. So we talked more about private school, because these things kind of come with the private school territory. We talked about it in depth for an hour drive to Madison and back. 

Then in the evening (it was a busy day) we visited a friend's house and she said, "I know you are planning on going to public school so I don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you, but I just wanted to let you know there is an open house at St. Mary's tomorrow." Ironic that you bring this up, today of all days, since today is the first time we have mulled this over in almost a year. 

So for the past couple of months we have been trying to get to church more. We made a point of going yesterday morning and what was the homily devoted to? Catholic schools. Are you kidding me?? An eighth grader read an essay about how much he loved his school. The priest had every kid stand who went to the school and, of course, we were surrounded. Then he had everyone who ever attended Catholic school stand up...there were a lot. He went on to talk about all those people who were standing and the sacrifices their parents made (or were currently making) to give them the educational experience they wanted for their kids. He talked about not going on vacations or buying a new gadget so that you could make it work. 

I've never felt more spoken to at church in my entire life. Seriously, what are the odds that this would be the message on this day? It overwhelmed me. {As a side, my sister had a similar moment about something totally different at the exact same time that day...what are the odds of that too??}

So after a strange weekend of signs (which I rarely, if ever, rely on), we feel compelled to reconsider.

Does this mean we are registering Simon for kindergarten at St. Mary's tomorrow? No, but it's looking more and more likely every day.

Some decisions are just kind of hard...