Friday, May 16, 2014

Getting Ready For School!

We are one step closer to being ready for the Fall! We've completed registration and curriculum fees and interviews...whew! It's a high-maintenance process to sign your child up for a private school! (Although, I'm pretty sure my mom friends who homeschool could show me how hard it is to plan everything at home!)

The students wear uniforms, and it's been in the back of my head for awhile now, because the uniforms are expensive! I was so excited to hear that the school has a consignment sale where parents can sell their old uniforms that don't fit their children anymore. I had no idea what to expect; I was just praying my $100 was enough! I kept imagining the sale as a mad-dash, free-for-all where people we're going crazy. Whitney was very supportive - I think she wanted to pat my arm and say, "Aw, honey" because of my nervousness going into the sale. 

I showed up a little early this morning, and there was already a line! Don't you love private-school moms? (I'm including myself in that, since I was there early, too!) I was only about the 10th person in line, so I was feeling pretty good. Thankfully, Whitney had already given me the fancy sweater that Bella will need to wear on chapel days, and her future teacher is giving us a chapel jumper (and those two things are the most expensive to buy, so yay!), so I focused on looking for the other two big-ticket items - a nice fleece that they wear during Winter on "normal" days and a few pairs of skorts that I've heard all the little girls love.

I scored some awesome stuff! I assumed the clothes for little kids would be the most sought after, but I was able to find everything I needed and even stop and compare condition and all of that. One of the moms I know who is also a preschool teacher was there to help as a "personal shopper", and I asked her a ton of questions! 

So, here's what I got...1 red fleece jacket, 3 khaki skorts, 3 red polos (they have to wear these on field trips), 2 navy polos, 1 yellow polo, a dress shirt to go under her chapel jumper, khaki pants for Winter (I was told that most of the little girls like to wear their skorts with stockings when it gets cold, but I figured I'd grab a pair of pants, just in case), 2 pairs of "bike shorts" that go under her chapel jumper, and a plaid hair bow. And all of this was only $80.00 - I was under budget! I love being under budget!

I can't imagine the hundreds of dollars I would have spent if this had all been new! Bella will still need a few pairs of shoes - white sneakers for normal days and brown dress shoes for chapel days - but I can buy those anywhere, so I'm waiting until we're closer to school.

I'm so excited to have all of the clothes she needs for the entire year. It's a huge weight off my shoulders. I wasn't sure how I felt about uniforms at first, but I can definitely see the benefit of knowing what she's going to wear each day and not have to worry if she feels like she's fitting in and all of that. Plus, how cute are little kids in uniforms? 

Sometime in July, we'll get the rest of her school supplies, and I'm weirdly excited about that, too! There is just something quintessentially "Fall" about buying crayons and paper and backpacks! The Sapps got Bella a My Little Pony backpack for her birthday, but I have Whitney's permission to look for a different one if Bella ends up needing one a little smaller. 


Bella's goodies from the sale today!



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