School Daze

I've been working on enrolling the boys in school for more than a week. The school districts here require visits to the dentist, the eye doctor, and the pediatrician in order to go to school. I've been so focused on that, I didn't realize we also needed a letter signed by our landlord confirming that we actually live where we say we live.

Apparently our school district is so sought after we have to do everything short of providing forensic evidence to prove we live here. I called the district office yesterday to ask if my signed lease was sufficient, but it's not. And then the woman that I talked to said we were so close to school starting (halfway through next week) that even if I signed the boys up soon they might not be able to start on the first day.

What?!

She said it took a few days to process paperwork. I thought, but did not say, "It didn't take that long in the three other states my kids have gone to school in." Instead I thanked her for the information, hung up the phone, and freaked out.

Bryan and I believe in playing to our strengths and supporting each other in our weaknesses. I happen to be terrible at making official, business, non-friends-or-family phone calls. They fill me with dread. I have trouble hearing over the phone under the best circumstances, and there are usually children running and screaming at my house the moment I try to make a phone call, so that exacerbates my poor phone hearing. Bryan picks up the slack and handles most of those exchanges for our family.

But I do most of the kid-related stuff. And Bryan was at work and unable to help. So I did what any clear thinking adult would do: I took my kids to the pool and asked Bryan to deal with it when he got home. That is his strength, after all.

Last night after the kids were in bed, Bryan emailed the document and our landlord responded almost immediately with an e-signature. The only technology our NJ landlords would use was a telephone, so it's lovely to have a landlord that uses email. Bryan and I stayed up last night making sure we had all the needed forms and documents ready.

This morning I gave the wildly false impression to the woman who helped me at the district office that I'm incredibly organized. The application process went smoothly and the boys are not only enrolled for next year, but they also know who their teachers will be.

I made their arrival at the new school official by paying the annual school fees. That's right, in order to attend public school in Illinois you have to pay money. Aside from the dough I plunked down for school supplies and the money I paid for the various doctor visits, today I wrote a check for almost $250 for Peter and Cooper to be in fourth and second grade.

The whole ordeal has made me seriously consider homeschool...