I'm just a Chicago mom who figured it out.

When my oldest was approaching kindergarten, I did what any Chicago parent does: I fell down the rabbit hole. GoCPS, selective enrollment, classical schools, regional gifted centers, academic centers — and somehow none of the official documentation actually explained how any of it worked.

I spent months piecing it together from forum posts, Facebook groups, and conversations with other parents who'd already been through it. We got our daughter into a wonderful selective enrollment school. Then I did it all again for my son — this time for private school.

Along the way, I started getting messages from other parents asking me to just explain it to them. So I did. And then I realized: this is actually something families need real help with.

Chicago Schooler is my way of making that help available without requiring you to find the right Facebook group or know the right people. Just a parent who's been through it, helping you figure out your next step.

This is parent-to-parent, not consultant-to-client.