I had been feeling a bit sad hearing about how so many were sending off their kids to preschool for the first time, or to kindergarten. I had looked around back in the spring and early summer for a local preschool, but hadn’t really found anything. And day care does a pretty nice job at working academics and stuff. But still, I felt we were doing Teagan a disservice. And she really wants to ride on a school bus.
A few weeks ago, I found out that one elementary school in the district – not ours – does a pre-k. I called and left a message for the administrator to call me back if there was an opening. I got a call yesterday. She said there will most likely be an opening, in the afternoon, starting next week. We could fill in the forms and have Teagan evaluated and she could probably start going almost right away.
I got excited, thinking that Teagan would have a pre-school experience, and finally get to ride on a bus. We asked to talk to the director of day care, to find out if we could swing it. Also hoping for a financial break as Teagan would not be in the day care full time. Well, it turns out that they don’t bus or transport children younger than school age. Also, Teagan’s tuition would only drop if she was there four hours or less. Any more than that, she’d be considered full time, and I don’t think the pre-k would have her out of the day care long enough for her day there to be four hours. Two strikes. We can’t afford to send her to pre-k on top of a full time day care tuition.
The administrator at the school called me today to confirm the address for the forms, so I took the opportunity to ask about transportation. They don’t offer transport to the pre-k kids, unless they were special needs. Although Teagan is special, she’s not special needs. There’s no way we can get her to and from the pre-k every day. We probably could manage a few days a week, but nothing on a regular basis.
I haven’t called the administrator back to let her know that we can’t take the theoretical spot. I worry that she’ll be missing out. That there’ll be something vital that she can only get at an official pre-k, something we can’t give her, or that the day care can’t. I worry that she’ll remember we didn’t care enough to give her every advantage. I worry that it will make Kindergarten too difficult, to large of a transition, to scary.
Then, I remember that this little girl went on the roller coaster with me. Just once. But she did it. I’m sure she’ll get over the scary. I just have to hope she’ll get over the rest too.
Hopefully, she’ll still be able to be a doctor, like she told Stu. She wants to fix boo boo’s.
- August 22, 2012 (lisasff.wordpress.com)
This morning, Ashlin was too hungry for hugs! It may be one sign of the Apocalypse. She had already had her first breakfast at the house, but it must not have been enough. Ashlin will usually hug everyone at day care when she comes in. Today? Nope, she had no time for suck niceties. She even walked past two of her favorite teachers. When Teacher S asked for her hug, Ashlin simply raised her hand and said “hi!”. She then went right up to the table where breakfast was waiting, picked through the stack of bowls until she found the right one. She held it up like Excalibur and announced “pink one,” grabbed a handful of cheerios from the big bowl and put them in hers. Then she sat down, like a princess, waiting for someone big to pour her milk.
