About a month ago I filled out all the paperwork for the head start program so that I could get Timothy started in some sort of preschool, and they would have also accepted Mason and Taylor into the program. It is state funded so we wouldn't have had to pay anything. The best of both worlds. But I have yet to hear anything about them getting in. The word on the street is that the state is shutting down most of the head start programs. CRAP! So that put me into a panic these past two days trying to figure out this whole preschool thing. 
Timothy is already 4 and "technically" he is behind with the whole preschool thing. Most kids start at 3, I guess. As a stay at home mom, I didn't really see the need to put him in preschool for an extra year, and spend more money when I could teach him at home. But now I think we need to get him in for at least one year before kindergarten for the social aspect more.
He is very smart. Knows all his letters, numbers up to 20 and 10 in Spanish, shapes, colors, writes his name, etc.. He is sociable with other children. He just has a very hard time listening to directions, and following directions, sitting for an extended period of time and working on one project. I assume that is mostly because he has been home with me since he was 1 and I have never really worked on that with him.
So anyway, the past few days I have been searching for for preschools. We were looking more towards a public preschool in our school district. For one I assumed a private preschool would cost more, apparently some people are telling me that may not be the case. Then, almost all the private preschools I could find around us had a religious affiliation, and we prefer to not have a church/religious affiliated school.
I could not find a preschool in our school district so I called the preschool in the next closest district. I called today and talked to the lady about the program. Timothy would be able to either go Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 8am to 11am. Or Monday through Thursday from 11:45am until 2:45pm. The Monday- Friday afternoon class is a little bit more money so we would be interested in the 3 days a week morning class. 
Now that I found a close preschool, the only thing we have to worry about is the cost. I am not sure how the heck we are going to afford this. Since when did preschools become so expensive. Tim is talking like we can't afford it, but he really needs to get into some kind of program. I think if he doesn't he will not be prepared at all for kindergarten.
I could also put Mason into the 3 year old program, it would be twice a week in the morning. He would have to be potty trained by the fall, and it would be an extra $100 a month. Tim already pretty much said no, but I would really love to get them both into the school. Mason has never had any kind of daycare or anything, has always been home with me. I really see his vocabulary, and social skills taking off if he started school. 
First I was stressed about even finding a preschool that both Tim and I were OK with. Now I am stressed about how we are going to pay for it. Some way though we are going to have to figure it out. I would take a part time job, or even a evening or night job. But with Tim's schedule and being on call it makes it hard. He gets off so late as it is, and with him being on call I never know if he will have to go back in the middle of the night. I just don't see that working right now.
I just never imagined all this school stress would start so soon. But I know one way or another everything will work out in the end. I just need to BREATHE! 
I hope you all had a great weekend, and start of a new week! I have some pictures I will post tomorrow of our weekend.
1 comment:
I know how stressful the school thing can be! My mom is a Montessori teacher, and I was a Montessori kid up through first grade, so there was never really a choice of where to send Alex, lol. And if it hadn't been for my mom constantly harassing me about how the search for the perfect school was going, I probably would have never gotten around to it.
But, I'm incredibly glad she did. I feel the same way you do about the religious/church schools. We're not a religious family, and I didn't really want to send him somewhere that religion would be a focus (joke's on me, lol, the school we finally picked is run by some really religious people, so they do have a few religion influenced ideas - nothing major, but they say grace before meals, learned about Jesus at Christmas, don't celebrate Halloween, etc.)
It's made SUCH a difference in him. His speech took off within weeks of starting school. He respects his teachers and the school's rules, so when he does something at home, we ask if he is allowed to do that at school, and if not, why does he think he can do it at home?
He's also gotten better with separation anxiety. The first few weeks were rough, but it gradually got better and better. He goes 5 full days, because that's all the school offers. I was really nervous about it at first, but I'm really glad that it was the only option now. It keeps things consistent for him, and I'm able to be a better parent because I get that nice break and am less stressed from dealing with a wild and crazy 4 year old all day.
I never really spent a lot of time working on academics with him. We'd do stuff like colors, shapes, etc, while reading stories, but not flash cards or some of the more serious stuff a lot of moms do. I don't have the patience, lol. He's learned so much at school. I think a lot of it is the curriculum though - Montessori is a very learning based program. I guess I feel like a lot of the church programs are glorified day care, which is another reason I didn't really want to send him to something like that. He actually LEARNS stuff at his school.
I'm pretty sure that he's going to have ADHD - it runs on both sides of the family and he's already showing some tendencies (although, I don't know how much of that is 4 year old boy, and how much of it is actual ADHD), so anything that can help teach him good learning habits and get him excited about school and learning is worth it in my book. I want to do everything I possibly can to help him succeed when he transitions to "real" school.
But anyway, sorry for the long dissertation :) I hope you and Tim are able to come to an agreement on what to do with their educations! Good luck!!
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