Many Moving Parts (AKA Life is Complicated)

As I've mentioned before, Jelly starts kindergarten next year. And while I expected it to be easy to find a school for her, it isn't. Our options are:

1. Send her to our local public school, which we're not thrilled with.
2. Send her to the public charter school, which we're going to see tomorrow, but will likely have it's own issues.
3. Send her to private school.

But it's even more complicated than that. We also trying to move, and we have to figure out Moe's school.

We'd love to move into a better district for both kids. But a better district means more expensive houses, and a very competitive housing market. We might find a house we like in a district we like but still get outbid. Most houses here get many offers, go well over asking price, and are usually all cash, no contingency offers.

We did find a private school that we really like for Jelly. But they have very few open spots so there is a possibility she will not get in. (Though who wouldn't want her? Seriously.) And it is a bit farther than we'd like, although it is on my way to work. If she gets in, we could move closer. But if we moved closer, we'd also be in a better school district, which means we just dropped a lot of money on a new house and we might not need private school. Or we still might not like the public school, which would be a very expensive and disruptive option.

We could stay in our current house, which has the distinct advantage of being the house we live in right now. The house is small and we really could use more space. But it is a nice house and basically Moe-proofed. If we stay, the schools aren't great for either kid. We know the program isn't appropriate for Moe, but if we do decide to fight for a non-public placement, at least it is the devil we know. If we move, we will be starting over, for better or worse. The programs could be better for him, but we really only know their reputations. You don't really know until you get there.

I'm also commuting and our goal has been all along to move farther north, which would make my commute shorter, and Jeff's longer—but he'd be going against traffic. But then, we're back in the better schools means more expensive houses, means... You get the idea.

As I said: it's complicated.