I really had no idea how many layers finding a little ol' preschool would have. I remember before I had a little monster, I would hear other parents talk about schooling, and unschooling, Co-Op's, teaching philosophies, and tuition. I thought, damn....all this for preschool? I mean lets be real. Max's big accomplishment this week was sticking his finger in his nose, and then consequence mine. Is he really ready for "school".
Well I knew I had no knowledge so I, myself needed some schooling on this subject. I attended a preschool open house where about 20 preschools in the area gathered together to be judge by us parents. I sort of walked around blindly, introducing myself. Max I found was a few months shy of being able to enroll, unless for a Co-Op. I decided that a Co-Op wasn't for us just because we spend so much time in California. It would be too hard on the class since it is very depended on parent participation. Which I welcome, but would hate to leave them in a bind when we had to go. So next would be a drop of center. I finally found one that welcomed his age group, that would take him one day a week and was half a day. WIN! It was exactly what I was looking for. The price wasn't too bad, and it followed the Waldorf curriculum. Which is mostly play based.
The big day arrived and I drove up to the preschool. It was in a house, which I knew going in and was open too. I envisioned a warm and fuzzy environment. Once the door was opened I got a funny smell. Not too sure it was urine or food? Either way, it was a mental flag. We walked in and there was two teachers, and one parent hanging in the living room. There were also four kids included Max. Max went right into playing, which I loved. The first real impression was, wow, its super quiet here. No one was talking. No music. No crying. Little weird. SO after about an hour, I was SO bored. This is when snack time started. Max and I's favorite time. The teacher mentioned to me that this was a good transition time if I wanted to slip out. I hadn't really thought about leaving him today, but I guess today was as good as any. He was doing really good, so I thought why not.
I was gone for two hours. I returned and we was eating lunch. A completely organic and vegetarian lunch which was cool with me. He was eating it all up. When he saw me his little voice squealed "mama, mama". My heart bursted inside. Then his grubby little fingers gave me a big hug.
They told me that he did great. That he was sad for about 10 minutes after I left but was otherwise fine. I was glad to hear all this and he looked otherwise unscathed. Of course when I left the room to go to the restroom he completely fell apart. Oh the drama! I packed up our stuff, said Thank you and we were off.
As I got into the car I was actually left with a lot of questions. Like what was the next step? Do I sign a contract or "in case of an emergency" thingy? It was all so laxed that I hadn't thought of these things while inside. I got that feeling.....I think I am gonna have to think on this a little more.
I will write more about that tomorrow.
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