16 schools
The plan is for Motor Mouth to go to a 'real' school next year. The homeschooling this is only for this year, even though it is going well.
In Chicago, if your neighborhood school does not meet your standards, you can apply to schools in other neighborhoods. I researched the schools in the downtown Chicago area and applied to 16 schools.
I studied the scores, the type of curriculum offered, looked for schools with proximity to either our home, or J's office. I did a Google Street View to check out the neighborhood and the school building. I took into consideration the location of the school and its proximity to government housing and ethnic communities. I read what parents said about the schools as well. I put together a spreadsheet listing the school, address, proximity, type of school (magnet, magnet cluster, classical, montessori, etc.), why this is of interest, bus route available, my preference ranking, etc.
16 schools. I've been told one lady applied to the same number and her child did not get into any. I will be researching schools with slightly lower testing scores and apply to at least 5 more. If those don't work, I'll homeschool for another year.
It's nice that you can be flexible about all this - it pretty much ensures that Jazz will get a good education no matter what the final decision may be!
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