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School Options

Jessica • Jul 25, 2015

We are still very busy with our summer vacation in Chicago, but I cannot stop thinking about Carter starting Kindergarden very soon! I have been working hard to make sure her last few weeks of freedom are a blast and that we take full advantage of our days together. But, I want to take a short break from the fun to tell all of you a little about Ontario’s school system.

The school system is very different here in Canada. Well, it may be just Ontario, but either way, it is a big change for us. Ontario offers four different types of public education; secular public education, secular French immersion education, Catholic public education, Catholic French immersion education. All of these options are tuition free.

Having so many choices is fantastic, but I was not prepared to make any education decisions so soon. After moving here, we found out that Carter would be starting jr. kindergarten in fall of 2015. This means she will be starting first grade when she is only five years old!

French immersion does not start in our district until first grade so that helped rule out that option for this upcoming school year, but in just over a year we will have to make that decision so it is not much more time.

After ruling out FI (French immersion) for now, we were left with deciding between secular or Catholic. We actually registered her to both options and visited both open houses. There are pros and cons of each school. The secular school is newer and has a little better reputation so that’s a pro for the secular school. On the other hand, we are not Catholic so I struggled with sending her to a school that would teach her Catholic traditions and that is a con. However, Ontario has a very liberal sex education program and we feel like discussions of Jesus and biblical teachings could help balance it out so that is a pro for the Catholic school. Also, the Catholic school is closer to our home and a brand new Catholic school is being built in our neighborhood which will be complete by fall 2016, so that is definitely a pro. This is just a sample of all the back and fourth I did.

I think I made Rusty listen to my pros and cons list for each school 15,336 times, but in the end, we decided on the Catholic school. We felt more comfortable sending Carter to a school where Jesus is welcome to go with her, a school where her friends will also know and welcome Jesus. Even if Catholicism is not what we practice in our home, Christianity, in any form, is really about accepting Jesus as your Savior and Carter will definitely learn about that as part of her Catholic education.

So, school starts in just a few short weeks and I will need your prayers of peace and calming as I send my first baby off to kindergarten a whole lot sooner than I planned. As a stay at home mom, I have very little experience with child care in any form, so full day kindergarten is a huge change for all of us, one we are excited for, but a huge change, none the less. For now, I am going to take the next 6 weeks (school starts September 7th) to really soak up the time with my daughter and have as much fun as we can possibly have together.

Mommy and daddy love you, baby girl. You are going to do amazing.

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.

Glaze Family Update + A New Favorite Product WaterWipes

By Jessica • 14 Jul, 2019
Four kids, I have four kids! Sometimes (well, every day if I’m being honest) I have to remind myself that I have FOUR kids to be responsible for. If I’m not forgetting to keep an eye on my mischievous 2-year-old, then I’m walking out the door for dinner without dropping a jar of baby food into my bag. (Fries for dinner never hurt anyone, right? That’s what Mr. August survives on once a week at least.) Life as a parent can be chaotic sometimes. #thisisparenthood Thank God my two older kiddos are basically self-sufficient otherwise we would never be able to leave the house. Being responsible for four other human beings (Sometimes five if my husband is in town, am I right ladies?) is so hard!

How To Prepare Your Kitchen For The Holidays With Frigidaire

By Jessica • 18 Nov, 2017
It’s no secret that I am no fan of winter. If you live up north like we do now, you know just how cold, cold is and I can barely survive the frozen temperatures. Even though I would happily leave behind the cold, but there is nothing I love more than Thanksgiving and Christmas! Best holidays of the year, hands down!

Away We Go, Again

By Jessica • 13 Sep, 2017
It has been three years since we left behind our life in California. Three years since we made the announcement that we were moving to Canada. Three years since we started a new adventures as immigrants in a country that is so close to home, yet so very different. And now, after three life changing years, we are on to our next adventure.

The Dreaded Sleep Transition

By Jessica • 30 Aug, 2017
Eli is 5.5 months old, rolling left to right and every other which way, so that means it’s time to ditch the swaddle. *Que the ugly cry.* If you didn’t know, we love swaddling in our home. Rusty and I can count the number of times we have ever had to wake up more than twice a night with one of the three kiddos on our fingers and we thank swaddling for that luck. We start swaddling from day one and we use that as a basis to establish great sleep habits from the beginning that last forever. Sadly, once the skill of rolling is learned, it is no longer safe to swaddling and the transition from swaddled to un-swaddled can be rough. Thankfully, we found the Nested Bean sleep sack this time around and the swaddled/un-swaddled transition has gone perfectly smooth.

Kids’ Cam – Toronto’s Center Island

By Jessica • 28 Aug, 2017
The Glaze Brigade spent the second to last official weekend of summer (which is kind of a joke because summer never actually arrived here in the GTA) at Center Island and we loved it! I’m actually a little bummed that we have lived here for 3 years and only just decided to make the trip on the ferry over to the island.

Two Must Have Items to Fully Enjoy Summer With an Infant

By Jessica • 14 Aug, 2017
We are just three weeks away from the start of the next school year and I am so not ready! There is nothing I love more than the freedom of summer. No school schedules to follow, flexible bedtimes, endless weekend adventures, and daily trips to wherever we can get some sunshine. Sadly, all of that is about to end and I am already planning our next summer.

Rainy Day Fun with Erin Mills Town Centre

By Jessica • 24 Jul, 2017
Since moving to Toronto, the best part of summer is getting outside. Our days are usually filled with trips to the playground, our near by amusement park, riding our scooters around the neighborhood, or taking a fun road trip, but even in the summer, there are days we are stuck inside. Sometimes we spend those rainy days cuddled on the couch, watching a movie and eating junk food, but another fun rainy day activity we enjoy is visiting our local mall.

5 Tasks That Help Teach Personal Responsibility to 1st Graders with Quaker Oats #OvernightSuccess

By Jessica • 21 Jun, 2017
I was just a little surprised to learn that Carter would be starting kindergarten, at the ripe old age of 3, just a few months after moving to Canada. I considered putting her in a preschool a few days a week, but never did I think I would be sending her to an all day, every day, kindergarten class in a school that holds kids up to the 8th grade. Cue the mommy freak out. Of course, Carter loved it and I had nothing to do worry about.

Sleeping Sound Thanks to Owlet Baby Care

By Jessica • 12 Jun, 2017
My middle child, Monroe, was born with a severe tongue tie, it was actually so severe that he couldn’t swallow. For the first week of his life, we had no idea that his entire tongue was attached to the bottom of his mouth (behind his bottom gums), but over and over again he would choke and sometimes even turn blue. Rusty or I or a nurse would have to suction his airway to get things cleared out. It was the scariest time for me as a parent.

How to Encourage Fathers to Become Hands On Dads

By Jessica • 17 May, 2017
Facebook is filled with groups of moms complaining about the lack of help they get from their husbands. Either dad has never changed a diaper, he doesn’t help pick up toys, dad doesn’t help discipline, or he flat out cannot keep the kids alive if he is left alone. I understand that it can be completely frustrating to get no help from the one person that should be helping you the most, so I am going to share with you a few tips that I’ve used to encourage my husband to be a hands on dad.
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