To share or not?

Here's the thing.

I went to Urban Discovery. It was better than a French movie.
I know I said this before but I saw myself at this place. And because it's a new school, my chances of getting in are pretty decent.

So do I discuss it and hope that the karma of sharing will result in good things? Do I not talk about it for the selfish reasons of keeping applications low?

Give me some time to think it over.

Let's hope it's like a French movie

On Thursday I'm going to visit a school I know absolutely nothing about.

With the other places, I had one-word descriptions already formed: Longfellow = Spanish; Benchley = communications; Museum = awesome; you know, that kind of thing.

All I know about Urban Discovery is that it's another charter (and another lottery) that's located directly across the street from Balboa Park. I don't really know what their "thing" is besides that it's spoken highly of by hipster and suburban moms alike.

I kind of like being in this situation. It's very similar to when I'd get sent to review the most random, obscure foreign films and I had no idea what to expect. Often the movies were forgettable, sometimes they were awful. But once in a while a "Dreamlife of Angels" showed up and completely blew me away.

My birthday - a pictorial

I've been talking about having a roller skating birthday party for a good eight years. It's something that comes up, often at a bar, when I find out a friend has a birthday around the same time as mine.

One of these talks happened at a kid-friendly yet "hipster-approved" restaurant in which Marina heard the whole conversation.

So a few months later, when Matt asked her what we should do for my birthday, of course she said roller skating.

But I've always put ice above roller - especially when dealing with kids who learned how to walk relatively recently. So we headed for the ice rink.

The amount of time it takes for you to look at these photos is about as long as we lasted there. It was "too cold" or "too wobbly" or "too tight" or "too hungry for a cupcake from the cupcake store upstairs."

But for a few seconds, it was pure happiness. Thanks to my cousin Jacky for getting these shots.



Couples skate! I always had to sit out couples skate in high school, so this was both thrilling and foreign.





Bench-warming cousins.



. . .and, time to go.

Someone has to get picked . . . why not me?

Museum School was great. Amazing. Spectacular.

I saw things happening in that kindergarten that I haven't seen in any other classrooms - lots of singing, absolutely no chaos and the cutest way to learn the alphabet, ever.

It was almost too good to write about. Seriously.

There's only about 20 spots open and more than 200 kids trying to get in. It's all chosen by a random lottery so there's nothing I can do to help my chances except what I've done.

The place looks like what I remember, down to the clocks with Hebrew letters hanging on the walls and the floor that gets too slippery when it rains. But it also has it's own vibe thanks to the bright green and orange walls, a sweet little garden and one of the coolest principals around.

Here's other things I liked: the hours are perfect for my schedule, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; there's only 170 kids total in the school; they still do PE at Balboa Park; there's a kitchen/cooking class and sewing and tap and drama and gamelan instrument and art and math and writing and just about everything you'd want in a school. I also liked that the 6 to 6 program was held in a classroom rather than a giant playground where it's easy for kids to go unsupervised.

What I wasn't crazy about was the library, which looked EXACTLY like it did when I was there - just a few shelves of books and more of like an empty meeting space. There's a lot of construction happening on that block. And . . . I really can't think of anything else.

So, now I wait for the lottery pick, which happens in mid-February.

And in the meantime? Well, I'll keep going on tours. I've never won any sort of lottery or raffle in my life, and while I'd like to finally break that streak, I sure can't count on it.

Great expectations

Tomorrow I tour a place called The Museum School and I am really, really excited about it.

Remember the idyllic elementary school experience I described a few posts ago? The one where PE was held at Balboa Park and in music class we learned how to harmonize to "Stray Cat Strut?" Where we broke in our hiking shoes for a class trip to Yosemite by hiking up and down Laurel Street?
It was at this exact location.

Back then it was called Beth Israel and it was a private school run by the synagogue next door. (Beth Israel has since moved to UTC and it only has a preschool, which we don't go to because have you sat in Golden Triangle traffic before?)

But the old building now houses The Museum School, a charter that's heavily involved with the arts. I've been very intrigued with the place, especially after going to some of its fundraisers that feature amazing local artists, designers and restauranteurs. It seems like a great community of parents and teachers.

Tomorrow I get to see what it's really all about. I'm going in fully aware that I'm putting unfair expectations on the place. I mean, I know it's not the same - but I'm hoping that it's just as happy an atmosphere that I remember from my time there.

We'll see tomorrow if that's the case.

New age, new experiences

You are looking at a soon-to-be hospital volunteer.

For the past many years, I've been asked what I would do if the newspaper industry came crashing down. I think people expect me to say something like write a book or become a publicist, but that's not what I say.

I say I want to be a nurse.
Some people, the ones who know me pretty well, think I'm joking. And maybe the answer does have to do a bit with the glamour of ER, my once-favorite TV show, combined with a postcard I once got when I was five-years-old.

See, before I wanted to be a writer, I wanted to be a nurse, but the most I ever "pursued" it was by having a pretty sweet doctor's kit. Around this time, my grandmother went on a trip and sent me a postcard of a girl wearing a nurse's uniform. I loved it so much and it clearly it set off something that I still remember it so clearly.

But am I really going to invest time and money into something that I liked when I was five? Or because I thought Nurse Abby on ER was pretty great? I mean, maybe?

What if I hate blood, though? Or if I get grossed out? Or just realize I do not like people?
That's why I enrolled in a volunteer program at a local hospital. If I like it, I can be around that atmosphere and fill that professional void I think is missing. If I hate it, well, that was that, I guess.

But if I love it, and I kind of hope I don't love it, because then I'll be in trouble. And in a lot of debt.

A moment of thanks

There's something I haven't mentioned yet and it's this: there is already a kindergarten where my kids go to school. In fact, it goes all the way to 8th grade.

I love the place where they are right now. It's a completely loving environment, I was raised with many of the parents who send their kids there and I feel like the education is top-notch. I couldn't ask for anything more.
(Well, except for fewer holidays - I never realized my people had so many occasions to take a day off.)

Sometimes I feel like after I write about a new kindergarten, it makes things awkward when friends from our school read about it. And I just want to say that I'm so grateful for the relationships we've formed there - especially with the teachers - and it's going to be pretty painful to leave.

But we do have to leave.

Tuition almost doubles for kindergarten. It's already a pretty big strain to send two kids at the preschool price - doubling it would be the end of fun at our house. There would be no gymnastics lessons, no new dresses at Old Navy, no stop at Starbucks for "chocolate/vanilla milk in a box," nothing.

We could apply for a scholarship, I know. It is something that's been in the back of my mind - especially after yesterday's incident where a man shot bullets into a Carlsbad elementary school.

So, I guess, really, anything could happen.

But whatever the outcome, I guess I just wanted to take a minute to recognize the amazing place that takes care of my girls each day and lets me do my work without ever having to worry about their well-being. I would name it, but if you hadn't already figured out, I've got stranger danger issues.

The school has helped shape my daughters into the strong, funny, imaginative little people they're becoming. Thank you.

sisters waiting for their first gymnastics lesson

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The one?

Today's school search took me to Benchley-Weinberger, a communications magnet that's about five minutes away from where we live.

I wasn't expecting much, especially since Hearst is pretty much the star of our neighborhood. It's also, in the back of my mind, where the girls will probably end up going and where we'll eventually move so we can get in.

So I walk into the Benchley auditorium and they're playing this video about how great the school is, and the music it's set to is that ukelele version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," you know, the one they played on ER when Dr. Greene died? Ever since that episode, that song just gets me.

In the talk, they mentioned all these awards and test scores and blah blah blah. They talked a lot about communication, which means, yes, the kids do put out a newspaper and also a news broadcast.

But! Wait, it's not like that. I certainly do not want to encourage my children to work at a place where you devote hours and hours and can barely afford to pay the rent.

But I did like the communication aspect where they pair up younger kids to work with older ones, as well as doing class plays and school assemblies. I was surprised to see that they had some pretty cool after-school programs, too, like yoga, art and . . . Spanish classes!

Yes, it's already looking perfect.

The kindergarten is a bit separate from the main school - they have their own playground, garden and even little bathrooms. And it was hidden from the street, which is something I didn't like about Longfellow. At Longfellow the kindergarten playground was totally visible and any old creepmaster could just come right up and talk to the kids. Not that this happens or anything, but it happens in my imagination.

Inside, there was no chaos. The rooms were clean. The kids looked happy. I didn't have the feeling that the teachers were overwhelmed and not totally in control, which is sort of what I felt at Longfellow.

They showed me a music room and met the new music teacher, Miss Marina (see? perfect!) and inside she had everything from xylophones and triangles to bongo drums and maracas.

But what got me was the library. You don't even know.

The library at Benchley is, like, 100 times nicer than the Kensington library, where we usually go. They have rows and rows of books, all neatly arranged and cozy. They even had some Roald Dahl books I've never even seen before and got a vision of Marina sitting in a chair, reading it one day.

I loved this school. It felt warm and friendly and happy.

Of course, there's bad news. Because I live so close to it, the chances of me getting in are very low. I am in cluster one, which is the cluster they pick the fewest students from. But, after a quick search on Craigslist, it seems that living in San Carlos is so much cheaper than living in Del Cerro, anyway.

Next stop: Museum School on Oct. 20. There's going to be a lot to say about this one, which, right now is where I really really want the girls to go.

I'm still here

It's been almost two months since I posted. Wow, I didn't realize that. I thought it was only a few weeks.

For a long while, I was very reluctant to continue this blog. Something happened at work that made me reconsider sharing much about my personal life.

But I'm here.

And for now, I'm going to be writing a lot about schools because I'm kind of obsessed with finding the perfect kindergarten.

I didn't go to public elementary school. And what's more, I loved the place where I went so much that I think I'm holding it up to a ridiculous standard that no school will ever meet.

My third through sixth grade experience was magical. It was a small, start-up school a few blocks away from Balboa Park. The airplanes would roar above us during quiet time; we'd take our snacks to the suspension bridge; art class was on the sidewalk outside the Britt House; we'd have P.E. in the park and have to move the homeless out of the way, which was a weird lesson in appreciating what we had and gave us an early sense of compassion.

Unfortunately that school is gone. Well, sort of gone. (More on that another day.) And we can't afford to do private education for two girls. So I've been really stressed about finding a place that will give them even a tiny bit of what I had.

So I'm on a mission, I'm touring schools. And today I visited my first one: Longfellow.

Longfellow is a Spanish immersion school in Clairemont that's designed for English speakers. They teach the required curriculum only in Spanish from K through 3rd grade and then bring in English bit by bit after that. Because I don't speak Spanish to the girls, or at least not enough, I thought sending them to a place where they'll just be around it would be ideal. I still think that.

I really liked the idea of the school and I also like how it goes up to 8th grade; like if you go there from K-8 you'll be part of a community. But I didn't love it.

I don't know, that part of Clairemont really confuses me, I can't get a read on it. Like why do so many people there own boats? And why is there one mansion next door to three creepy rickety houses? That's just me being weird though.

The kindergarten classes were really, really chaotic. The kids seemed to be running around doing their own thing with only one or two teachers to watch. Again, this is probably due to the California budget more than anything else. I was on a tour with another mom who is also a teacher and she asked to see a first grade class. It was a good call as those classes felt much more structured.

Granted, the kindergarten class has only been in session for a month and the recruiter said that most kids have a really hard time their first few weeks. They're around a new language at a new school and their brains just get worked.

So as of now, I'm not going to rule out Longfellow but it probably won't be our first choice, either.

Next tour: Benchley Weinberger - a communications magnet in our general neighborhood - on Thursday.