Searching for the Best School for my Son, Which is Best?

My son is special and I want the best for him, but trying to find the best school for him is stressful. I went to an orientation this evening and although it sounds wonderful I am having a hard time making a decision.

St. John's Fine Arts school has a great reputation and a wonderful program, but will it work best for my son's needs? Presently he is in grade 3 at our local neighbourhood school along with my daughter, she's in Kindergarten. The neighbourhood school has a fine arts based curriculum (but is not a fine arts school) and it has provided my son with the resources he needs. He has only one more year at this school before he will be shipped out to a middle school that is not fine arts based for two years. Next year would be the last year that both my kids will be in the same school if my son stays where he is.

If he goes to St. John's then he'll be there for the next three years and then will go on to a fine arts jr. high. It is set up like a jr high where teachers teach based on subjects and the kids have more than one teacher and this makes it easier for them when they go into jr. high.

They enable the children to express themselves in many different ways, drama, music, dance, and art. Everything is project based and all the classes work together to build on each other. For example socials curriculum influences art classes and visa versa.

The school is downtown about 30 minutes without rush hour and it's Catholic and we're not. Although I love the idea of religion and prayer in the school, I've never gone to Catholic school and don't know what to expect.

My son is gifted visually and extremely gifted verbally, he has a processing learning disability. What this means is that he gets the lessons quick, he has these amazing thoughts processes but he cannot write them on paper very well. Trying to find a school where he will flourish and expand his potential is stressful because I don't know where he will fit best.

The city has schools for gifted kids, but I'm not sure if my son would fit because he's not an academic kid and has a learning disability. There are also science based, math based, French and Spanish immersion, hockey based, and a variety of other options out there. All these options make it hard to know which is the best and it becomes stressful, every mother wants their child to excel and worrys about their education.