no more school

I'm on break, Hurray! Hurrah! It is our fall break and I am off for the next two weeks. I am thrilled. I have all types of plans for the girls and I. So many fun things to do with Halloween next week. And time to catch up on some scrapping and get a little rest. And the really great things is that there are only like 22 days of work between now and Christmas break! (The bad news is that means that I have a lot to teach my students in the next 22 work days.)

So I think we've told most people, but we are sending in an application in the next couple of weeks for Michelle to attend a charter school. I feel just a teensy weensy bit weird since I'm a public school teacher and a public school defender. I'm honestly not doing it to keep her out of public school. But this year a charter school opened up around the corner from the school where I work. It is a dual immersion school. So in every class, half of the students are native Spanish speakers and half are native English speakers. For half the day, they have a Spanish speaking teacher and half the day they have an English speaking teacher. Dual immersion programs are considered to be the best way to educate kids to be bilingual and biliterate. Currently, my district has one dual immersion school (the only one in the state of Utah until this year with the new charter school). So our plan was to send our kids to that school. But while it is in my district, it isn't that close to my school and would be tricky getting my kids to and from there. But this school is literally two blocks from my school, so it would be perfect. Alfredo has always spoken to the girls in Spanish. But we want them to be able to read and write in Spanish, not just speak it. So this would be perfect. Charter schools do not charge tuition. Unlike private schools, they are overseen by the state board of education. Two of the teachers at the charter school are teachers I've worked with previously and respect. It seems ideal. The charter school has a lottery system, so there's no guarantee that Michelle will get in. But I'm hoping that by applying early, it will increase the likelihood.