"When you see a great teacher, you are seeing a work of art." --Geoffrey Canada, Harlem Children's Zone
It seems like yesterday when I dropped off our oldest son, Roland at daycare. At just 3 months old, I stood in his classroom holding him in his car seat in one hand and a box of Kleenex in the other hand. The thought of leaving him there made my eyes well up and before I knew it my tears flowed down like rain.
Looking back now, I couldn't have imagined how quickly the years would have flown by and how much he'd mature. Today, I can't believe that the preschool years will soon be a distant memory as he enters Kindergarten next year. We've decided not to "Red Shirt" our June baby and believe that although he'll get his license later than his friends, he will do just fine enrolling in Kindergarten shortly after turning 5-years-old. I'm proud of our energetic, smart, and caring 4-year-old.
Like many parents, since giving birth, I've often thought about our son's education. I've asked myself these questions: Where would he go to elementary school? Middle School? High School? College? Looking at various schools over the last 6 months, I was very distraught until I discovered a new charter school in our area. I was determined to get Roland enrolled and we were the very first application that school administrators received. The odds of getting him in were looking pretty good early on, until we found out that the school received an enormous amount of applications. Just our luck, we would have to participate in a lottery. There are only 100 slots and hopefully one of them has our baby's name on it.
What are your thoughts about public vs. charter schools? Have you ever had to be involved in a school lottery?
Sojourner Marable Grimmett is an Atlanta-based author who is recognized for writing and speaking about the joys and challenges of being a “stay-at-work” mom and connects with moms, both new and experienced, who have the responsibility of raising a family and maintaining a full-time job. Sojourner has been featured in FitPregnancy, iVillage, MacaroniKid.com, BlackCelebKids.com, MyAtlantaMoms.com, WhatToExpect.com, BlackandMarriedwithKids.com, Fox News, and CNN. She is married to her college sweetheart, Roland and they have two young sons, Roland Jay “RJ” and Joshua Palmer “JP”. Visit her blog sojournermarablegrimmett.blogspot.com follow her on Twitter and like her on Facebook. Also join her new campaign to support establishing lactation rooms in public places www.supporttablefortwo.org.
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