Friday, March 27, 2009

lake country academy


*not sure why they picked the boring side of their building to feature instead of the front*

a few weeks ago we received some of the best news we've ever gotten. the little dude was accepted into lake country academy, a charter school focusing on core knowledge and core values. we went and toured the school back in november and on our way out the door, the hubby and i looked at each other and said: "well, that school totally sucks", knowing full well that both of us were in love with it without even having to ask the other what we thought. we both laughed and then quickly became depressed with the odds of the little dude getting in. here's why:

lca was once a private non-parochial school with private school tuition. a few years ago, they chartered with our local school district, which now means it's tuition free. because of this, enrollment is on a pure lottery system. the only way you're guaranteed a spot in the school is if you have an older brother or sister already enrolled. this is really the only school of it's kind in our small town, so it is highly sought after. for the example, the 4-k program (which is the program the little dude applied for) has space for 18 students. of those 18 spaces, 15 were already filled with siblings of current students. the average applications taken for the 4-k program is said to be around 100. so, with these numbers, there were only 3 students who were going to be accepted into the program out of 100 applications!! not great odds. at all. to make it worse, if you don't get in the 4-k program, your chances of ever getting in are extremely slim because it's rare for anyone to drop out. therefore, never making space available for anyone else to come in.

we applied in february and then waited on pins and needles while also lining up alternative options knowing that our chances of getting in were nearly impossible. we were not excited about any of the other options which made it all the worse. it was hard to keep a positive attitude knowing that we'd most likely be stuck with a second choice option that was a long way off from our first choice. i prayed for his acceptance a lot.

i really loved everything that this school believed in and was based on. it was like a parochial school in the sense that they taught virtues and values, how to be a good person, citizen, neighbor, and friend. this was huge for me. we were also highly impressed by their alternative teaching methods we got to see first hand during the tour. although there are grade levels in the school, they move the students around a lot to be at the learning level that fits them. so if you're in second grade, but can do fifth grade math, you go to have math class with the 5th graders. and vice versa. this concept is also really intriguing to me. and, i think, makes a heck of a lot of sense. you can read more about the school and curriculum on their site.

every time we think about the fact that he's actually one of the 3 lucky ones, we get giddy. we were just so prepared to hear "no" that when we heard "yes", we didn't know what to do with ourselves! in fact, when i got the letter in the mail i had to read it over at least 5 times before i accepted that it really said he was in! i then proceeded to run around the house and try to find my phone so i could call the hubby who was at work. looking at it now, it was very similar to the day the infertility clinic called to tell me that we were, in fact, pregnant. maybe he's just always going to be our lucky little guy.

2 comments:

Julie said...

Congratulations! What a wonderful piece of great news!

Melissa said...

That is so wonderful!! Congrats! Sounds like such a wonderful program. I love when schools focus on teaching kids to be good, well-rounded people, instead of just "teaching the test". I think schools like that are tough to find. I'm so happy for you!

Blog Widget by LinkWithin