Anonymous wrote:She sort of snorted and said," yeah, but that's still pretty nice. " NICE???? Do any of you other moms find cleaning messy houses, poopy diapers etc a "nice" time?

If it was me, I probably would have said, "Yeahhh, duuuuude, it's pretty suh-WEEEET! [Imitating someone from MTV] You should try it. How about tomorrow? You take my kid and the chores and I'll take half your paycheck. Nice, huh!"

OP - Bilingual Edge book can be really helpful as a tool to help you decide what you would like to do. It has actual worksheets (seriously!) to help you think about different aspects of your children, like ages, learning disabilities, schools etc.

It's a quick read - although kind of obvious in parts - and a useful, day-to-day guide. We found it helpful in dispelling some myths we had about our own language experiences. (I'll spare you the details. :wink

For German resources you might want to try Goethe Institute
http://www.goethe.de/ins/us/was/enindex.htm

A neighbor recommended this one. Not much on the website, but seems to have a lot of locations.

http://www.darrylgeesoccer.com/index.html

202 Area Code parents: this post is just a little way of letting off some application-angst steam. Imagine for a moment....

If applicants refused to pay application fees and put the money into one giant escrow account pending lottery assignments...

If schools auctioned off spots on the waitlist instead of some board member's time share in Acapulco at the annual gala....

If NBC's Dateline went undercover "To Catch a Waitlist Predator" by posing as a desparate parent with a big inheritance to nab a "connection" in the act...

So what do you think? Below is a totally sarcastic poll. Hope everyone gets into some place they like!

Ditto for us. Twin 3yr old boys already "playing". Anything in 202/NW DC?

szengotitabengoa wrote:Is there ANYONE out there that is a DC schools guru that we can consult with? We are overwhelmed by the options and there is no way for us to get a handle on what is best for our young children's future. Please HELP.

Here are a few tools. You are the only guru needed when it comes to your kids, right?

On-line comparison of all DC schools, private and public, by statistics
http://dcschoolsearch.dc.gov/schools/quick_reports.asp

Official public charter school board that you may find helpful.
http://www.dcpubliccharter.com/pcschools/index.html

Quick reference on NCLB and AYP (if you have to ask what these are, read this...)
http://www.dcpubliccharter.com/nclbayp/docs/nclbfactsheet.pdf

Charter schools may be the most efficient way to start if your local school is really bad. They are indeed public (free) and 1/3 of DC public kids are in charters anyway. Several offer specialized programs like bilingual and special needs inclusion. Plus you don't have to deal with the whole out-of-boundary issue. Don't be intimidated by the waitlists at "top" schools like Capital City and Haynes. It doesn't hurt to apply.

Dec-Feb is "open house" season. You may find it easiest to pick a school each week to visit. Most will take appointments easily. Most applications (usually just a page or 2) are due by March/April. Lotteries - if there's a waitlist - often happen in April.

I hope you don't move. It would be great to keep involved parents here in the District.