Where Is Neverland When You Need It?

Athena turns five at the end of April. On July 7, she will start kindergarten.

Wow.

Today, I registered her and expressed my preferences for tracks. Wake County Public School System has a large year-round contingent and we are excited to have the opportunity for our kids to go to school year round. If you are interested in how this works and you are a visual learner, here is the schedule.

But basically, the gist is... they still attend school the same number of days as anyone on a traditional calendar, but instead of one long break over the summer, they take four three-week breaks throughout the year. We are requesting Track 2, which is the least popular track, mainly because it only has seven days in common with the traditional school calendar. Many people prefer to have some days in common so they can travel with friends and family who are on traditional calendars. We have chosen not to take this into consideration, and rather look for the most consistent schedule (no really long breaks lasting more than three weeks... even around holidays). This is, IMHO, the best possible schedule for learning... preventing too many retention problems between school sessions.

When the kids are off, that is known as being "tracked out." I already have vacations planned during two of the Track 2 track-outs... so if we don't get it, we're kind of screwed. We won't find out until April sometime, so fingers crossed 'til then. Currently, our kids will be able to stay on a year-round schedule through middle school if we wish. Right now, all high schools follow a traditional calendar, and it's likely to remain so. I hear that's mainly because of high school athletics, but that doesn't make much sense to me. I think it's more about jobs and college than anything else.

Anyway, I'm trying to deal with the fact that Athena is starting school. I'm terribly excited and terribly sad at the same time. It definitely marks the end of an era... although at least I still have a couple more years to be in denial while Marcus grows up. Too fast.

Superbowl fan

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