Pre-K Pressure

This fall our baby girl will be prekindergarten age.  It’s something that has me stressed out beyond belief.

I just can’t believe how hard this is!  I mean, when/where I grew up there was really only one place where every kid went to “nursery” school and after that there was really only one private school so it was pretty much a given that I would just get educated at the school that served my address.  With Nia, there are several choices – from religious to public to private – from half-day schedules to full-day schedules – how am I supposed to know what’s best?

I’ve heard great things about the one religious school and the person in charge of it has been super nice to me on the phone (but like Andrew says – everyone’s nice in this town).  At that school your child can either attend 3 days a week or 5 and the school days only last for 3 hours.  In comparison, the public school pre-k is (of course) 5 days a week and those school days last for about 6 hours.  The other difference – we’ll have to pay a tuition for the religious school but because the public school pre-k is state funded your child is not guaranteed a spot.

So far, the plan is to apply for both schools and see what happens. I just filled out the religious school application and got a little dizzy and nervous when I was asked to describe my child’s personality and abilities.  What the heck do most parents write there?  My son throws a tantrum when he doesn’t get his way – has a tendency to put food in his mouth, chew it and then spit it out – he picks his nose and eats it and continually tries to play with poop.

I just think Nia is such a remarkable little girl and I think she is so super smart – but don’t most parents think that of their kids?  I tried to be as proud and descriptive as I could be without sounding like I was just bragging about my genius 3-year-old.

I hate to think what I’ll be like when her brain really depends on what school we pick.