The decision to send a child to and the process for choosing a, being chosen by and enrolling in preschool should not be this hard! I am not some socialite rich b**ch who needs my children to be in the “right” schools, tested for gifted and on the wait list since birth for the most elite of the elite preschool program. No, actually Grace and Lily were always supposed to attend preschool at the public school right behind our house. (Well at least since we were aware that there was going to be a school right behind out house) It was going to be the one teeny-tiny sliver lining in the nightmare that has become that school built in our backyard and now… Well now it’s a whole different story.
I spent the entire week last week stressing, calling, visiting, researching and generally pulling my hair out over preschools. After waiting (im)patiently to hear from our public school district when enrollment would begin I finally saw on Monday that they had begun enrolling for the 2010/2011 (pre)school year and I printed my registration packet. A few small red flags went up for me as I filled out and continued to read the information. The biggest one was the word; “lottery”. This word just had me jumpy. What if Grace didn’t make it in? What if the spots were so few and far between that we didn’t get one? That’s when I started looking for alternatives. You know for the “just in case”…
The more I called and asked around the more I learned and the less I liked our public school option. Before I even confirmed the 100% tuition hike I started to get a feel for how the 3 year olds days were spent this past school year… Not Impressed!
I am a stay-at-home mom, I don’t need child care, I need preschool – I can be child care. I cannot deny how hugely important learning social skills is. I realize there are important life lessons learned in organized play and I do want Grace (and Lily) to get that all important social aspect - but ABC’s, 123’s and math, science, that is HUGE! I need to give my girls all the advantages that I possibly can so that they can succeed in school and in life.
So, lottery… tuition… curriculum… The public school option is not working for us we have pretty much come to that conclusion by Wednesday; now, here comes the stress-fest…. The more private schools I call the more I hear “There are no openings”, “There are only 2 spots”, “3 spots”, “ 1 spot left”. AHHHHGGGHHHH! How did this happen?? It’s April…. School starts in August….. Grace is only 3….. How did the whole world know that they needed to enroll their kid in preschool already and I am behind the 8 ball desperate to find the right fit, a good curriculum, something reasonably close to home???
I quickly find that it is easy to rule schools out, time of day, number of days available, location; philosophy; number of students to teachers - all great excuses to rule schools out, most likely why these schools still have openings. Thanks to a neighbor friend when I finally found a school I really liked and shared the information with her she had also found a school she liked and she shared their information with me. After talking to both schools, one of the longest weeks of my life and dealing with more stress than a preschool decision should cause, I was thrilled to find out my neighbor friend and I had made the same decision for our daughters and they will be going to school together this fall!
I must admit that one big pro in the public school column was that my children and most of my neighbors children will attend that school from Kindergarten thru 8th grade, provided we all stay here. The thought of her the rest of the neighbors having 2 years together in preschool and transferring Grace into kindergarten, after the other kids had all that time to bond and form cliques really concerned me. I really wanted Grace to have at least one friend she could transfer in to public school with so she wouldn’t have to feel like such an outsider. I’ve been in those shoes and I know how they feel.
We decided on …wait for it… a parochial school for Grace and I am sure for Lily too….Go ahead, laugh, I am sure you already are!... I have always wanted to send my girls to parochial school but knew we could never afford it. At the very least, two years is better than none. It’s a small Lutheran school in our area that teaches preschool through 5th grade at the moment. They will add a grade every year and eventually teach all the way through the 8th grade. It’s small and situated on a large piece of land just outside our development. Although the church is in the school auditorium at the moment they have plans for another academic building and a church. Their plans are very exciting and all but I am not sure if we will get to see it come to fruition in the next 5 years while the girls there. Doesn’t matter, we are very excited, no one more so than Grace!
During our tour of the school the admissions coordinator brought us into the preschool classroom to see it and meet the director/teacher and Grace and Lily got to spend ‘station time’ with the kids. Lily explored the entire classroom and Grace joined right in with a few of the children and played. While being blown away by the portfolios we were being shown of where the kids were on the first day of school with their art work and ability to print their name and where they were today I tried to observe Grace and her reactions/interactions. I have never seen that child so happy which thrilled Brian and me because what we heard and what we saw was so amazing that “blown away” does not begin to describe how impressed we were/are. August is not going to come soon enough…
I always thought that decisions like this were supposed to be highly emotional. Shouldn’t I be sad and weepy thinking about my baby going off to preschool in August?? I am just as giddy as Grace, well that’s not exactly possible, but I am so thrilled for my baby. Knowing how much she is going to LOVE going to school and that thrills me! Yay Preschool!! The girls and I registered Grace for preschool this morning...Totally worth all the stress this week!
