First Day of School

Sophie:

Sophie started 1st grade at Riverton Elementary in the ALPS program.  We were hoping to move before school started, but the house wasn't finished in time so we had to commute for a while at first.  Since we were moving we had to enroll her in a new school.  We were really torn about where to send her.  After talking to some of our future neighbors, it seemed like half the kids went to Bluffdale Elementary and half went to a charter school called Summit Academy.  But Sophie didn't have a great experience in kindergarten, so we were thinking about testing her for the ALPS program.  We were really torn about what to do and almost didn't test her for ALPS, but at the last minute we decided we could test her, see if she actually gets accepted, and then decide to pull her if we wanted.  We didn't really want to send her to Bluffdale because it's a dual-immersion program where they spend half the day learning Portuguese.  And the charter school is a lottery system so there was no guarantee she would get in.  So she took a 5 hr test (2.5 hrs over 2 days) test and got accepted to ALPS.  About that time we found out she was also accepted into the charter school.  We finally decided to give ALPS a shot and see how she liked it.  If it didn't work out we could always pull her out later.  But she's been going for half the year now and it's been a great fit!  It's been really great for her to have friends in her class with the same interests and abilities as her.  She's been learning a lot (her spelling words are intense for a 1st grader).  And we're so glad we decided to send her there.

Aspen:

Aspen started her 2nd year of preschool at Discovery Tree Preschool.  Again it was quite the process to find a school for her.  Originally I found 3 options: Discovery Tree, a preschool at the charter school, and one recommended by some future neighbors that was taught in a lady's basement.  I toured Discovery Tree and really liked it, but it was pricey.  And since Sophie wasn't going to the charter school, we decided that wasn't worth it.  So we enrolled her in the basement school.  In July, I got a letter saying the home with the preschool was raided by the FBI and the husband was found possessing/distributing child pornography.  So we immediately pulled her from that school.  But it was so late in the year I was worried we wouldn't find a spot for her anywhere.  I called Discovery Tree and fortunately they still had an opening.  So it's more expensive than I would like, but she has loved it.