Big Changes, Part 1

Jeff and I have known for a long time that we weren't in a top-rated school zone, but we love our home and community so much that we have worked hard to make it positive. We have considered multiple options over time but ultimately decided that we were probably going to have to move to a different school zone or school district at some point in the future. We were hoping to delay that decision, and in the meantime, I have been very active in Connor's school and volunteered a lot of my time to make sure I felt positive about the environment he was in.

One of the many reasons we love living here -- the beautiful view from our back patio.

Connor's 1st grade year in school has gone very differently than we expected. From his very first day, Connor came home talking about the "troublemakers" (his word) in his classroom and how his teacher had to handle multiple behavioral issues with many kids in his class. I dealt with it by telling him that sometimes in life we have to deal with stuff like that and we just try to set a good example and work around it. Also since day 1, Connor has complained incessently about being bored at school and he has just not been challenged at all this year. I've talked to the teacher and counselor about these things, but the issues continued to get progressively worse. With Connor's negative experiences this year in 1st grade, we started feeling a lot more pressure to take action and make a change in the school situation.

The "brag" board in Connor's classroom -- 3 of the 5 papers posted were his! :-)

For that reason, we started looking at homes in different school zones. We were considering some areas in Cypress (northwest Houston) as well as Katy (west of Houston), which is renowned for its excellence in schools. We weren't in any rush to move because we wanted Connor to go ahead and complete his 1st grade year at his current school. He was still complaining about the behavior and boredom at his school, so I had started working with him at home after school and on the weekends to supplement his education.

One of Connor's recent assignments in "home" school. His last answer made me laugh (next to last word is Wii, his favorite past-time, ha!)

After weeks of considering areas, searching for properties, and even touring some homes, Jeff and I decided that it was time to inform the kids about our decision to move. We sat down for dinner one night and carefully approached the subject. We started by telling Connor that we were considering moving to a new house so that he would have an opportunity to go to a different school. After some brief discussion, these were Connor's first three questions:

1. Can we just stay in this house and change schools? (Oh, how we wish this were true!)
2. Am I going to move closer to any of my friends?
3. Can we move to a school that has more challenging tests? (LOL!)

Fortunately, Connor adjusted to the idea of moving very quickly and easily. We told him that regardless of when we find a new house, he was going to go ahead and finish out his 1st grade year at his current school. He was very excited about the prospect of starting 2nd grade at a new school that is more challenging and that has better behaved kids (I'm not making this up, ha!).

Little did we know how quickly things would change...

Stay tuned for Big Changes, Part 2.