Before I was a mother I had my children’s education all figured out! 🤣 That’s right all you Mother’s you laugh! Keep reading!! SO, when I did become a mother it was great…put them in the nearest French immersion school! We are Canadian they should learn French! Then I meet my children and remember that I could not speak French…geez I barely spoke proper English let alone spelling either one of those languages!! 🤦🏼‍♀️ That’s okay I had years before they were going to go to school and we had just bought a cute little starter home with enough room for my husband, myself and the something that was growing inside me!!
Well boom, bam, bing!! Baby 1 then 🤰15 months later baby 2! 🤱🏼School was just around the corner!!! 😱Preschool first as I had always thought that was a good idea. Get them familiar with their school environment…let them discover who they were.
Then, elementary school… Montessori training was the way to go…. yes….NO! With our relatively new house and baby number 3 on the way and me stepping away from the work force to be a stay at home mom!! The cost of private education was out of the question!!! 😔 Sadly you can not pay the bills with love! So #1 child goes off to our local public elementary school which was not local, it was a bus ride away and that was not okay with me putting my baby on a bus and since I drove #2 to nursery school, I would drive #1 on the way!

Well we made the most of that crappy school, the one our school board forced us to attend!! I volunteered and helped!! The devil you know is always better than the devil you don’t!!! While #1 was there I thought “crap, my babies are going to spend 6 hours of every day of the week in this institution with NOT like-minded people” what have I done? French? No, I was too busy making humans to learn a second language. Catholic? No that was a whole other job committing to a church. Private? No money. Home school? 🤣🤣🤣

So, I went to the crap school Principal and told him my situation and because I was honest and kind and hard working, he would grant me a border exemption, NOT!
So, what does any passionate take charge mother do… Lie and cheat her way into another school!! I was not a famous actor to buy my way in and we live in Canada!! but we are also talking grade 1 and kindergarten at this point as well! My lies were working out and I got them into a fabulous public school! Then I got caught…well that teaches you…don’t lie!!! So, I pulled my babies out of public education!!! Back to the question.

Well, in steps my dead Great Aunt whom had a wonderful life and passed away in her 100th year! And left me money…which early in my life I had said to the universe “I hope my children can go to Montessori school” “If I was given money, I would put it towards education for my children” Wow thank you universe!!! Boom, 3 children in Montessori!! We were all blissfully happy. In our tiny house with a Montessori school that looked like a resort!! Mittens were warmed for them in the wintertime, deer would come to their window during math. Teachers would greet you with a good morning and a goodbye, see you tomorrow!! Beautiful!! We met some wonderful people at that school!!

My 3 babies were growing up and we needed a bigger house. We could not keep them in private school forever. Eventually they were going to need to go to public education!!
So, my husband started house hunting and I started school hunting! I was NOT going to be in another School boundary I did not like…for elementary and high school! So, I drew up five questions I would ask every school and principal I went to:

1.What is the school’s EQAO scoring?
(If the principal did not know I felt they did not care about the school they oversaw)
2. What is the school policy on physical education?
(If it’s just gym and recess I was not interested)
3. What is the school policy on homework?
4. Did they have a buddy system…older student helping younger?
5. Did they have a music department?

Five questions, then I walked around the school, inside and out and investigated some of the classrooms. See who would say Good Morning? I did interview principles!!!
I thought, if I have 3 children at this school for 9 years spending 6 hours a day there and I volunteer part-time…I BETTER like it!! Plus, I wanted my children to have school friends that they could go over and play with and vice versa! I feel school and education is very important and the environment I put my children in was even more important to me!! I had to trust strangers with my babies!!!!! So, I decided on the Elementary and High school then got their borders and my husband and the real estate agent looked for a house in those borders ONLY! You can change a house; you can not change a school! (Well you can change a school, but it is hard) The high school was easier as my babies would be older, and I would have given then a good foundation BUT I still wanted a high school that most of the elementary school students would attend.

In conclusion, we found the perfect school. Registered as a “Peace school” with the Peaceful Schools International Students and teachers all say Good Morning and, how are you? We found friends that have been there for elementary and high school floating in our lives. I volunteered full time for this school!! Sitting on the school board, sitting on the home and school association, fundraising, track and field meets, baking…lots of baking! Ran reading programs, book fairs, dances, play days and summer send offs. Made costumes, went on field trips gardened and redid gardens! Fundraising for everything! Even started an in and out of school club that helped the school and the community we live in!

I could do all these things because I had support from my children, husband, my parents and the school and the people that made it a great place to work, play and thrive!! Now we are leaving it. I am I still so proud that I interviewed principals and found a school that we will all have fond memories of and in the end gave my children a foundation of education that was exactly what I intended it to be before I even had them!!

Hard work, dedication, knowing what’s right and taking my most important job to the next level is who I am and what we have created!!!!