Why we moved here

I don't want to fail to mention that from an academic standpoint, we have been absolutely thrilled with moving to this school district, and that was one of the biggest reasons we chose to move here.  At our old school district, there was a computer lab...one lab for each building.  And as a sub, I can assure you that you were lucky if all 25 computers happened to work that day...it was unlikely to be the case.  I can remember hoping for absent students on computer lab days in hopes that we could piece together enough working computers for everyone to use one.  Here, at Thomas's school, everyone in his class, and all fourth grade classes (not sure about other grades) are assigned their own school iPad.  There are also two chromebook mobile labs that his class has used for many things.  Catherine has raved about the technology as well.  They are just amazed after what they came from.

It isn't just the technology though.  Catherine has been able to join Yearbook and Robert is participating in a service club and jazz band...opportunities that would not have existed for them this year had we not moved.  Catherine is also able to attend weekly after school math tutoring...a direct result of living in a college town (college volunteers!).  We did not sign Thomas up for the art lessons he had hoped to take where they would bus him from his school to the lesson (we are waiting until spring) but he is signed up to take a foreign language after school starting in January.  He was able to choose from Spanish, German, Latin, Italian, French, Chinese, Japanese, and American Sign Language.  The class is an hour for nine weeks for only $25...and it's at his school (again, gotta love college volunteers)!  These are the opportunities we are so grateful that our children are receiving.

This move also gave Catherine the opportunity for a fresh start.  This girl prided herself last year on never saying anything in her classroom.  I thought she was just shy and quiet in a classroom setting, but apparently that is not the case.  Her teachers have told us how personable and involved she is in her classes...this is not the girl we knew!  Obviously there was something about the former school's environment (most likely some very poorly behaved girls) that intimidated her.  But here, Catherine is blossoming.

This is why we moved here!