And FINALLY ... a piece of the puzzle falls into place!

The Nutty Buddy's first day of school.  Tomorrow he gets another first day of school!

One of the reasons we moved to CA is because we wanted Kody to fit in even better than he already does.  He's one of those kids loved by adults and even older kids, but the kids his own age regarded him as an oddity; one to be picked on.  He loved his hand full of friends he had in GA, but we strongly felt like the move xc was the right one.

Fast forward to internet searches trying to find out school systems.  HOLY MOLY.  CA is nothing like GA when it comes to schools.  Every little "town" has about 10 schools, and I'm NOT exaggerating.  The districts are such that the homes in radius of the school are close enough to walk/bike to, so there's virtually NO bus service.  You know those mile long lines of the big yellow busses?  Yeah, NOT in CA.  There are also a plethora of charter schools.  Sadly, the charter schools are the best ones because they're strongly supported by the parents; involvement, money, etc.  They are tuition free, but require volunteer hours in order to enroll.  OK, no problem!  Well, NONE of the charter schools, or even the GOOD schools have openings.  The best you can hope for is to either go on a wait list, or enter into the lottery drawing system and hope for the best.  I found the Natomas Charter School online in the area of our apartment complex:  www.natomascharter.org   Looked PERFECT!  Just what Kody needed to go to.  An academically strong school with an emphasis on the performing arts.  Dang, I would have LOVED this school when I was a kid; ballet and music classes??  Heck yeah!  We were hoping our move would place Kody in an environment where he was around other kids "like" him.  Ones that were artistically inclined and focused on their own development.  Yeah, no.

Last year was a pretty big disappointment, school wise.  FIRST thing upon arrival in CA, we drove straight up the street to enroll in PFAA as it's known.  Haha, 60 kids already on the list for 6th grade.  THAT wasn't happening.  So he went to Natomas Park, and that was a year I'd prefer to just forget.  He got suspended for the first time for fighting.  FIGHTING, DAKOTA BISHOP.  He's definitely a make peace, not war kind of kid.  And his grades were just barely squeaking by at "average".  No A, B, C, F grade system there; no, it was 1 (below grade level) to 4 (above grade level) with a 3 being described as 'meets the grade standards'.  He got STRAIGHT 3's, all year long.  Eh, could have been worse I suppose, but definitely could have been better.  This time, we got our registration in early (Jan), got him to the audition for the PFAA in March, and found out in May he was in the top 15% of the audition criteria, AND he lives within district, so he was given top priority in the lottery drawings; 5th on the list.  Woo Hoo!  I was pretty happy with that!  What's crazy is not ONE single 7th grader was accepted.  None.  The rising 6th graders occupied every available spot.  We tried to remain optimistic, but y'all know anything may or may not happen.

First day of school was today.  Sadly, Kody was forced to attend Natomas Middle School which has DISMAL, and I do mean DISMAL test scores.  The student hand book has 3 long paragraphs on what kinds of clothing not to wear since it portrays gang symbolism.  Ugh.  I SEVERELY stereo-typed what kinds of kids live in CA; let me tell ya, they're NOTHING like how I thought they'd be.  Living as close as we do to Sac, the term, "gang banger" isn't an incorrect description when it comes to the average middle/high school kid around here :(  I honestly, seriously, genuinely have been contemplating just yanking him out of school and having him do online school, it's that bad.  And THEN ... I got the call.  HE GOT ACCEPTED TO PFAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  OH HAPPY DAY, GOD SAID "YES", and now Kody's life is forever changed.  Just scroll around on that website a little bit.  Multiple academic and artistic awards, teachers that are involved and CARE about the kids, opportunities for performances and learning ... words cannot express how delighted I am that FINALLY, this part of our plan has snapped into place.

David checked Kody out around 12:30 since everything he did the rest of the day was irrelevent anyway, and I took him with me up to the charter school to hand in his paperwork.  EVERY teacher we encountered smiled and acknowledged us, the 7th grade coordinator lady spent about 45 mins w/ us, building his schedule and then giving us a campus tour and introducing him to some of his teachers.  His day will begin tomorrow morning with "Acting", and will include PE every day, AND a "Dance" class.  He has "Acting" all year long, and the "Dance" elective will be swapped out mid way thru the year for something else.  They also have tech based electives like "Video Game Production", which he will try to do next time.  The best part?  Now, he's IN!  Our son will graduate from the PFAA, and I am SO excited he will get a quality education as well as crucial training and exposure in the arts.  Can't wait for the rest of this year!