High school freakouts

This was on my personal FB page, but man, it was long enough for a post! So...

Next school year is holding many stressors for me (and Catie too, I guess). Catie will be going into high school. There are three possibilities for her.

She could go to our local public school, which is not our best option. It's not a failing school, but it's a little rough around the edges. I think she could do OK-ish there, but I'd be concerned that the environment would mess her up. It's the same crowd she dealt with in her middle school before we transferred her to Holy Name, and I don't know how much they've improved/matured in the last two years.

The second is to send her to the Catholic high school. Academically, this is the best possible option. Socially, it's a great option - we know the kids, the discipline is excellent, all over a great school. The problem is tuition - $6300ish a year. Even though the grandparents have offered their help, that's a lot of money to ask help with. Scholarships are available, but can be hard to get - it's a matter of filing the forms before the well runs dry.

The third is a remote possibility, but one we learned about yesterday and want to learn more about. It's a brick-and-mortar charter high school with a focus on the arts, audition only for admission. Since it's a charter school, there's no tuition to worry about, but a lot of fundraisers are part of the package. Catie is very interested in this, but she has no real background in theatre (which is one thing she would look into), and she doesn't have a portfolio of artwork as yet (which is another field of interest) but she has some flair in her drawing. I told her we would check out some free improv classes and she could see how she feels, and she could always audition for the school and see how she does.


So we have to treat these like Schrodinger's schools, and plan for her to attend each of them and be attached to none. I have to help her organize the application for each, apply for scholarships for the Catholic school, help her prepare for an audition in the busiest season of her school year, and comfort her if the public school is the ultimate end. And that's just what I have to do - she's going to be wired like a bomb with tension about all this.