'Cran goes to school'

In the spirit of the Berenstain Bears, we called today "Cran goes to School."

We went this afternoon to meet with the kindergarten principal at the primary center that Maddie would attend if we decide to go the public school route for next year. IF. It's all a big 'if' right now, but we're leaning towards giving it a try and seeing how it goes. Maddie is not wanting to go to school even in the slightest. She says she has her best friends here at home and learns everything she needs to here, and she doesn't want to be away from us.

Her school houses only kindergarten and 1st grade. The student to teacher ratio is quite low compared to other schools-- they told us it was higher this year, but it's typically 16:1. I liked that. Maddie's two questions that she asked and was (very) concerned about were 1) Where are the bathrooms and 2) Where do I eat my lunch? Haha. My little Cran! The principal was exceedingly nice and very understanding of this being our first ever experience with having any of our three girls away from us for an extended period of time, and she thought it was great that we wanted to see the school and get acquainted with it already. Registration will be in March, and then Maddie will go through an academic 'evaluation' in the summer.

This was a big step for us to see what it would all be like for next year. Maddie was extremely impressed with all the arts and crafts that they get to do, and she liked seeing all the kids' names on the cubbies. She said it was just like she has read in books about school. Dan and I did like the school and the faculty a lot. They seemed to know all of the 140 students that go to this school, and all seemed genuinely caring and interested in the kids' best interests and education.

So, we will see!