Hello! We are hoping to move from the USA to an area north or west of Valencia (thinking within 25 minutes' drive of city center) the next 6 months. We would like our two children ages 3 and 5 to attend school there in September. A bit about us and what we would like in a school:
- The kids currently attend a Montessori school. We love how independent and confident this has helped them become. We also appreciate the emphasis on community and friendship, which we felt was lacking in a previous, highly academic school they attended.
- Speaking of which, we don't believe in pushing young children hard academically. Our 5 year old recently tested perfectly average for his age in both reading preparedness and math. We are fine with this. We also do not want a school that will assign tons of homework... or really any homework at this age!
- Our 3 year old has a good Spanish-language base thanks to a previous sitter, but our 5 year old is mono-lingual to the max and will need a lot of help and support learning Spanish.
- We would like to be able to walk or bike to school, so would want to rent a nearby detached house.
Long shot wish:
- Musical training is important to us, and our 5 year old is able to sight-read basic piano music. We would love to find a school that not only encourages musicality, but can adjust to his current proficiency and help him move forward. We also don't know if we'll find a house with a piano, so it would be nice to avoid having to purchase one.
We're coming from Chicago, where a dirt-cheap private school starts at $10,000 per year, so feel free to lob even expensive school suggestions at me.
Thanks!