We spent the weekend "window shopping" for a new house. We don't necessarily want or need a new house, but as part of the eventual move of my daughter to a private school we will most likely be relocating as well.
Right now, all the schools we're considering are not in this city because this city simply is lacking when it comes to providing educational opportunities for non-traditional learners.
The schools that do cater to non-traditional learners are all in the city where my husband works; so assuming The Midge goes to one of those schools, we will eventually move in order to save commuting costs for both my husband and myself (aka The Midge's personal chauffer...)
Ideally, we'd like to either downsize our mortgage or simply do an even swap. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is very doable. I was afraid all the houses in the other city would be way over our price range. But we did find a few that could work.
Of course, we will be giving up a lot of space, but I'm actually OK with that. I don't particularly like having a huge yard and house, and the thought of unloading at least half my belongings is oddly cathartic.
For now, my husband and I have decided to just keep visiting schools and occasionally checking the MLS so we can keep an eye on home prices. Then, by February we'll hopefully know where The Midge will be going next year and we can move forward with the house hunting.
On another note, I'm adding $29.26 to the challenge, so my new total is $12,859.89.
Of today's addition, I'm putting $6.76 toward the Vespa fund, so the new total there is $292.51.
Real estate "window shopping"
October 6th, 2008 at 02:35 am
October 6th, 2008 at 03:49 am 1223261379
October 6th, 2008 at 01:47 pm 1223297252
If this is too personal a question, skip it. What constitutes your Midge as a non-traditional learner? I have a 6 year old with a significantly impaired phonological ability (making it almost impossible for him to learn to read. What he has learned has come very slowly, so I am sure by the end of 2nd grade he will be reading). We are in a parochial school which has rigorous academics and I keep thinking to myself, "If he were in a public school, there might be more resources available to him." And we are not in a small school, 400+ students. Just curious ...
October 6th, 2008 at 02:13 pm 1223298839
The Midge has a number of issues that make her a non-traditional learner. Probably tops on that list are severe memory issues. Also, tracking issues with her eyes. And, we suspect auditory processing disorder. She's also got some speech issues -- she knows that she wants to say but can't put her thoughts together into words. There's other stuff going on as well that we're still trying to get diagnosed.
Her public school has been great as far as accommodating her needs, but even the staff there admits she needs a much smaller teacher to student ratio. Also, the school might be closing next year and even if it doesn't we've been told that the teacher to student ratio is going to increase to 24 to 1, which for The Midge won't work.
October 6th, 2008 at 02:44 pm 1223300682
Thanks for the info, Compulsive. My little guy had some major speech issues which caused him to have some major errors in his processing of phonics. The things that he memorized, he memorized according to how he said them; thus, all fs can be f or b. Etc, etc. His impairment also has the cognitive components as to the speech-language pathologist isn't sure how he encoded these in his memory map. His teacher is modifying the curriculum and we have has reader at home. Spelling has been a nightmare. So I sit here and wonder if there would be more resources available to him at a public school. But we love the Christian atmosphere of the school, his sisters love it, he loves it. I guess all I can do is work with him and hope for the best. Good luck finding the right fit for your Midge!
October 6th, 2008 at 03:40 pm 1223304004
October 6th, 2008 at 05:08 pm 1223309310
October 6th, 2008 at 08:05 pm 1223319929
We are doing the speech as well and our pediatrician suggested tackling one issue at a time (speech, firstly). My little guy has a low tolerance for frustation and I can tell when he's at his limit. Glad to see that you are taking one obstacle at a time for your Midge.