All is well here. We're stressed out with school starting- Joey went back this morning for "New Teacher Boot Camp" since he's switched schools from the small De Beque (150 kids in the district) to the larger, and closer to our new house, Grand Valley High School (500 kids in the High School). The art teacher there retired last year after his wife died and he's looking forward to buying a VW bus and touring the country. I'm not kidding. He's an awesome, old hippie and he needs to get out and enjoy life after a few tough years taking care of his wife who was dying of cancer. More power to him! But what luck for us?! Art teaching jobs are very few and far between- there's usually only 1 per school, if that (the middle school here is JUST restarting their art program after leaving it vacant for 7 years) and those people who have the job, especially in High School (which is most coveted), stick around for years. So the fact that we moved to the area, Joey got his license while teaching in De Beque and then the art teacher in Parachute/Grand Valley retired is more than just coincidence, I think. He actually interviewed for the Middle School position too- unintentionally. They just invited the MS principal to join for the interview- but in the end, the two principals decided that Joey should be at the HS because they want him to "lead the art initiative for the district". He took training in late July while my Mom was here to be able to teach AP Studio Art, too!
The girls, on the other hand, are excited about their new school as well. It was our intention from the get-go to homeschool, especially when we were living in Aurora (known for their crappy schools). When we moved to De Beque, they both did the little half day preschool there and did very well, but I didn't love the influence that I saw on their behavior of some of the new friends they were making. Where we moved, we're half way between Rifle and Parachute, so according to everything we looked at, we could decide which district to enroll in. But after looking at both programs, ultimately we decided to home school again. But there was something missing. So when Mom was here, I started researching preschool options for Beatrice and ran across this school:
Which, by the way, is changing it's name to "Liberty Classical Academy" after 19 years because "The Garden School" sounds too hippie for many of the parents now. :)
What we love about it: It's a 2 day a week program, but a full school using a "University Model"- meaning the kids to 2 days of work at school and 2 days at home. It's preschool through 12th grade, with 80 kids- big enough to do something and small enough to be family. They do an all school participating musical every year as a cumulative project for the kids. The program itself, for the younger students, is a combination of Montessori, Waldorf, Classical Education and Charlotte Mason. They're a Christian School, but follow no particular creed. They're teachers, while not necessarily licensed, are incredibly experienced. In most Classical schools, charters even, you'll find that the school prefers teachers who are unlicensed because the Classical program is so very different from the traditional school model, and the school itself would like to train the teacher in teaching to that model. Since Joey only got his license in order to get a Public School job (which pays significantly more) and because his content area lets him have a little more freedom, we very much agree with this. The traditional school model might work for some, but not all, and it tries to be a one size fit all model when it can't be.
Please keep us in your prayers. It's a difficult transition for everybody, and has been for a full year now! Hopefully, things will settle down soon.
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