Photo: Beth Erickson
Today we had Tiny’s interview and assessment for the Dallas ISD magnet program – which sounds a whole lot more daunting than it actually was.
But where did we end up going? Well, we were certain going in that we would be picking Dealey as our first choice school. It was close to our house. It would be almost like going to a neighborhood school. Dealey was the logical choice, right?
Well …
We toured Dealey first, during their open house for prospective students. We appreciated the robust question and answer session. We were impressed by the crowd the event drew. But nonetheless, we left less certain that Dealey was absolutely the choice.
And then we went to Harry Stone – the other Montessori in Dallas public schools. Super organized open house, and what impressed us even more was that the school wisely used its best advertisements to conduct the tours and answer questions – the students. Older students led groups of parents and children through the halls, giving them a full tour of the entire school experience and answering questions about their day, the things they enjoyed about various grade levels, etc. These kids – most of them, anyway, had been at Harry Stone since Pre-K, and were a delight. Harry Stone is also an International Baccalaureate school, too.
And since the tour groups were broken up into organized, small sizes, we had a chance to watch Tiny interact with the teachers, and the learning environment. We were sold, but the clincher was the small voice who announced as we walked to the car, “I want to go to Harry Stone School. For real. Really.”
Well alrighty then.
So we filled out our application online, made our appointment to drop off his additional paperwork, and made our appointment for his assessment. And then we really didn’t do much else. We explained a few days before (because three year olds need preparation for new things) that we were going back to Harry Stone because the teachers really wanted to meet him and talk to him more, and then left it at that. This morning, as he lined up with other prospective Pre-K students, he threw a “Goodbye” over his shoulder and walked into that library like a boss.
As I’ve explained before, the assessment and interview just asks things like colors, alphabet, shapes, and other preschool benchmarks. Teachers also observe to see how children separate from parents, and if they are disruptive during the downtime before and after their interviews.
And I have no idea how he did. He has been doing mighty battle with Mountain Cedar this week and wasn’t on his A game. We will find out in March sometime if he got in. According to Tiny, he had fun, talked about colors and shapes, “And they said I could come back.”
Fingers crossed.