Back to School

For the last three months, Fox's school situation has been nothing but a nightmare. Actually, it probably all started back in April, when his school told us that they were moving to a new location, because the rent was cheaper. His school had been at that location for about 25 years, so we were shocked to learn the news and not too happy about it. There were some issues with the school before and we had considered leaving, but then decided against it, because we wanted to keep him in the same environment, with the same kids and same teachers.

Fast forward to May, about three days before school was out. Summer camp was supposed to start the following Monday and all of the sudden I was told by another mom, that she heard rumors that summer camp was canceled. Not even from the school, although just that morning I had asked the Preschool Director some questions about summer camp and clearly she knew what was up and straight up lied to me (or didn't disclose the information...however you want to look at it). 

I was furious when I picked him up that day and gave her my two cents when she admitted that summer camp was indeed canceled. Here we were, without childcare and two full time jobs. 

We decided it would be best for me to take some unpaid time off work, since we would be leaving for Europe two weeks later.

But if that situation wasn't stressful enough, two days after said day, we received an email from the school, stating that they were filing for bankruptcy and the school would not open again. Say what?

While we felt incredibly angry to be kept in the dark for so long and stressed to not have daycare lined up for after our trip, I also felt some sense of relief. For the last few months we had contemplated over and over again to take him out of the school and always backed out, because we were scared of throwing him into a new environment, but now the decision was made for us and we had no other choice. 

We were heartbroken about not having his amazing teacher anymore, but felt especially sad for all of the teachers and staff members who had just lost their job without notice.

We were on a mission to find an amazing school for him before we left for Europe, so we only had two weeks to accomplish this. It felt like we had toured so many schools in the last two years and didn't love any of them, but we received some recommendations from friends and Facebook groups and scheduled some more tours. We had to rule out any christian schools because we are a same sex family...it sounds ridiculous, but the sad truth is, that it's not. In Arizona, schools are allowed to legally discriminate against you if you're gay and we didn't want Fox to grow up in an environment where he might be told that his family is not okay and accepted. 

After we toured the first one on our list, we felt like we had hit the jackpot, but did our due diligence and toured the other ones as well, but of course, no one could compare.

We not only signed him up for the coming school year, but also for summer camp, starting the week after we got back from Germany. 

It honestly all sounded too good to be true. The staff seemed amazing, they were very accepting of our family, the facility was top notch including an art studio, super fun playground and splash pad and the curriculum was exactly what we were looking for.

We toured some schools where they wouldn't have a curriculum and "just" play...and while we want Fox to play and have fun, we also wanted a place where they foster his interests and start preparing him for Kindergarten.

They offer so many amazing opportunities for the children: Yoga, Sports Classes, Splash Pad Days, Art Class, Music, Spanish and Hebrew (it's a jewish school and while we are not jewish, they were so welcoming and accepting of our family).

We lucked out big time when we found out that his teachers would be exactly the ones we were hoping for and that he already knew from summer camp. It was such a huge relief for me and I was so happy!

School has been in session for about two weeks now and honestly, I can't say enough great things about it. 

Every morning, he runs in with a smile (at his old school he mostly clung to me and didn't want me to leave) and he learns so many new things there every day! Today, we were driving home from the grocery store and he was singing jewish songs to me..granted, I have no idea what he is saying, but listening to him sing with such joy just made my Mama heart so happy. 

I am so grateful that things turned out the way they did and we are looking forward to the school year!