Hayleigh and Private School

So, as of lately I've been checking on which school we will be sending Hayleigh to next fall. We could have sent her to Preschool this year, but opted out for various reasons... We just moved back here, we were planning on sending her to Preschool back in Illinois earlier this year to St. Joe, but since we decided to move back, I was at a loss for where to send her. I know she is learning quite a bit at home- we are working with her every day. Allen and I have discussed where we wanted to send Hayleigh now that we are here to stay. I of course wanted to send her to private school, along with Allen. We both feel that the smaller class rooms would be a good thing.

There are a few private schools here in Grand Junction- 8 to be exact. There are no non-denominational ones. So, that pretty much blows the door wide open on where we will be most likely sending Hayleigh- Holy Family Catholic School. Both Allen and I are on the fence on the whole religion bit as far as school goes. I was raised Catholic, but I went to public school, as did my sister. Our public schools here I'm afraid teach towards what is on the testing more so as to how to problem solve. The public schools here unlike little Otown do get to celebrate the seasons as well as Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc... back in Otown, that has pretty much been thrown out. I think Allen and I basically want the best education possible for our kids, while having a normal school life. We got to have that normal school life- we celebrated all the holidays, and were just kids. I know some people will read this and think I'm bananas, but they are kids- having one night of trick or treating getting to dress up as something you would like to be when you grow up, or as some character you admire to us is helping build them for their future. They learn that they can be who they want to be- any goal in life is attainable. That is what I see in Halloween. We don't do the whole dressing up as dark evil stuff- no devils, bad things. We didn't do that when I was little.

Anyway, getting off topic. The whole hang up has been on just how much we will have to contribute to the church. I don't have a problem contributing to the school, but I don't want to be told how much to donate, how often we must attend mass. Ideally we would start attending once we decided that the kids would go there, but I doubt if it would be on a every week basis. The good thing about Catholic Mass is that there is a Saturday service, and a Sunday service.. Allen is never home on Sundays- BUT any of the religious step stones are on Sundays, so he might have to leave to go back to work late on some Sundays, if this is the path that we choose.

It really scares me to be sending Hayleigh to school already. Since we are not doing Preschool this year, we are getting Hayleigh enrolled into gymnastics or dance, so she can at least socialize with kids her own age. We are just wanting the best opportunities for academics, sports, and any other activities that schools can offer. Being out here means even more for Hayleigh and Reid. What blows my mind the most is that we have been getting more bang for the buck here. Having Reid here in a very nice hospital with a NICU cost $8000 less than having Hayleigh in little Otown with no NICU, our wellness checkups are the same with services they provide, so why should school be any different? Holy Family is almost 1 grand less than St Joe is in Otown. I really don't understand it all, but there it all is. I am just really happy to have a few months to get a jump on school for next year for Hayleigh.