Support our Daughters Early Education

Hi, we are asking for your help. Here's the short version: COVID has thrown our family off track, and we don't have the financial resources to fix it.

Our youngest is 3 1/2 and ready for preschool. And trust me, she NEEDS preschool. She was only 5 months old when COVID hit, so she has spent most of her young life cooped up in our tiny apartment. Up until age 2 or so, she had virtually no chance to make friends her age or learn how to socialize. Although things have opened back up, her circle is still very small.

Her closest playmate is her 7-year-old brother, and he has been hard-hit by COVID, too. He's been spending the better part of his 1st-grade year trying to make up for his below-grade-level reading skills, brought on by a forced home-schooling kindergarten experience with two parents with no professional teaching experience ...with a rambunctious toddler in our midst. This was "accomplished" in a one-bedroom apartment- where the living room served as a family room, a dining room, a school, my office, a back-up bedroom and a playroom. During this time, it was impossible for Dad to work, we were hit with endless car troubles and a miriad of unexpected health bills. Saving money wasn't an option. Needless to say, our son's education did not get off on the right foot, and we are doing everything we can to get him caught up.

Back to our daughter. In the last 6 months, we have applied to seven public schools, one private, 3 forms of financial aid and 1 scholarship. The public schools all denied her admittance this year for various reasons, some we understand... but most that are just an illustration of the backwards way early education is prioritized in this country. As I will describe in just a moment, we didn't "qualify" for many of the help programs for funding education expenses.

As fate would have it, she was accepted to one school, the private one. This school offers an incredible learning opportunity for her, surrounded by staff who truly care about the well-being of nurturing strong, creative, independent girls. What's the catch? The tuition is just over $17,000. Affording that is out of the question. We were fortunate enough to make the deadline for a financial aid program through the school and were offered $6,000 toward her tuition. We are very grateful for this, but it doesn't come close to solving our problem. Even with this help, our daughter's monthly tuition would be almost equivalent to what we currently pay to rent a small two-bedroom apartment.

My husband and I both work now, but my husband can only fit in part-time hours from home so he can watch our daughter. I have a full-time job I love.. and often work overtime to ensure bills are paid on time...but we fall into that "gray zone." Gratefully, our income does not put us officially at the “poverty level " in Hawaii, so we do not qualify for help programs, such as SNAP or WIC, among others. On the flip side, we are far below the income identified as necessary for "meeting the basic needs comfortably" for a family of four. Consequently, we just get by month to month, with no room for unexpected expenses.

We have to let the school know if we're accepting their offer in two weeks’ time. If nothing changes financially, the answer will sadly have to be no. This is my last, feeble attempt to ask if anyone out there can help a family who is stuck in the middle with no great options. Any donations--large or small--would be put directly towards my daughter's tuition, and more importantly, her future.

My HEARTFELT gratitude to anyone willing to consider such a request.

Lastly, if our goal for offset is not reached, and we have to tell the school no, donations will be put towards an educational activity (children's museum/ local environmental activities) or homeschool materials (such as science kits, early learning flashcards, etc. for Maeve.

With Aloha,

B