To work or stay home, that is the question, or is it?

We all do the math, playing out different scenarios. Many mothers and fathers have no choice but for both to work full-time, especially if you live anywhere urban and in demand like the Bay Area.

We have played out several scenarios ourselves. One scenario moves us to a sweet little mountain town  in Montana like Bozeman that would allow us to share our passion for the outdoors, winter sports, and just a more simple way of being with our boys. This scenario also has only one parent working full-time while the other attends to the full time to the daily needs of the family.Which everyone know requires both parents to put in overtime after hours:)

As Eric begins kindergarten this fall and both of our jobs and homeowning pressures seem to get even more demanding, the drumbeat call of Bozeman seems to get louder and louder for me. Of course it has been a long time since I have spent a winter there but with the right gear  and the right price to take your family skiing every weekend you can weather and temperature, right?!

The cost of living the life we want to live and raising our kids in the way we have dreamed of just seems so out of hand it makes a person wonder if "here" is worth it.

With both of us working full-time we have needed to find the best way for  our kindergartener  to spend  the other half of his day. He is used to a full pre-K day of full attention! What insane person set up a public school system that short changes a kid's opportunity for learning with a 3 - 4 hour school day, and then loads on homework (before they are developmentally ready for it)that has to be completed by their parents during their precious family hours when parent's get home from work and bedtime. This system clearly dates back to the days when one parent was able to be home.

When we looked at the price for after-school care and before-school care and saw what of attention we  were paying for we decided for the price and value we might be better off looking at a private school. We found a sweet little private school with a full school day and year-round teaching until the 4th grade. Eric's class has only 12 students and along with learning to read, write, and do math he will have weekly classes of music, art, science, Spanish, dance, and gym. Perfect for Eric whose interest in learning is massive!

And it is perfect for us because we know that while we are at work  forging away at some sort of career our impressionable little boy is getting the caring attention he needs at such a young, impressionable age. Private school is priceless for this at least until we decide to flip our entire lifestyle for a scenario where one of us is home.