The Switch

This summer Eric and I had done a lot of research and decided that we wanted to get Tatum into Mountainville Academy, a charter school in Alpine. In August I put Tatum on the waiting list and he was #66. I knew it was a long shot getting him in but I thought I would just see what happens. A week after school started I checked to see if Tatum had moved up the list and sure enough he did...barely. I quickly threw that idea out the window and thought we would try again for next year. 

Tatum started school at Cedar Ridge and loved his teacher! I signed up with a friend of mine to be the room mom and it looked like it would be a great year. Well about a month into the school year Mountainville called me and said they had a spot for Tatum. It seemed crazy to me because last time I checked Tatum was #54 on the list. The lady said that a kid moved out of state and they needed to fill his spot asap. They called everyone on the list ahead of us and no one answered the phone!

I quickly called Eric and together we decided this was the right move. The next day Tatum started at his new school!

I have had a lot of people ask me why we switched Tatum and really we didn't have anything against the public school. In fact I absolutely loved his teacher. We just really liked the way this school is run and after praying and researching it, it was clear to us that this was the right decision. This school has smaller class sizes and they are constantly testing the children and moving them into groups for their appropriate level. I did not feel like Tatum was being challenged enough in the public school and I can already tell that he is learning things in the charter school that he wouldn't be learning in the public school until 3rd or even 4th grade. This school also teaches them the 7 habits of highly effective people, so they are learning to be leaders and all around good people.

The switch was really hard on Tatum and me for that matter. I had registered him at Mountainville and removed him from Cedar Ridge without him even knowing. I went to his classroom to tell him the news and let him say goodbye to his friends and it was probably the hardest thing I have had to do as a parent. Tatum was crying which made me cry. We drove home and both of us were just bawling. But after his first day at Mountainville I asked Tatum which school he wanted to go to tomorrow and he said Mountainville. He loves this school and everyday he reassures me it was the right choice.

Tatum with his old teacher, Miss Allen. You can tell he was crying, his eyes are all red and puffy. It breaks my heart to look at this picture....all of the emotions from that day come back.

Tatum's second first day of school. Tatum now has to wear uniforms and I actually really like it.

This is Tatum with his new teacher Miss Van Cleave. She isn't the bubbly 1st grade teacher he had before, but he loves her and gives her a hug everyday.

In Tatum's first week of school they held a spelling bee. Tatum participated and spelled the word "olive" perfectly. He came home with an award and everything!

Fridays are half days so we went one day to visit Tatum's old class and to bring them treats. His classmates worked so hard to put this book together for him. It is filled with letters and pictures for Tatum. This made him so happy!

Overall it was a crazy week or so but I am so happy with our choice. Tatum has been there for about 6 weeks now and loves it more and more everyday.