I have two sons who are 5 and 2 respectively. Back when my older son (OS) was 2 we began looking at preschools for him for the following year. Why? Because at least where I live you have to register the November before the fall that your child will be entering preschool. I’ve been told by friends who live in different parts of the country that this happens everywhere. I remember thinking that he was still in diapers and talked in very simple sentences, and I just couldn’t imagine what he would be like a year from then much less be able to decide if a school was a good fit. That’s before I even knew that I would have to get too registration way before it started to wait in a line. We made our best call for OS, and it turned out to be great.
This week was registration for my younger son (YS) who is two. Again, the same thoughts went through my mind. This time though in addition to preschool thoughts and concerns, I needed to think about what do to with OS again since next year he will be in kindergarten. Why the worry? Because once again the registration for private kindergarten is the November before the fall in which your child will be attending. On top of that, if he does go to the public school, then we need to decide whether he should go half day or full day. There’s a lottery for the full day, and it is very popular and thus very hard to get a spot. Plus you still have to pay for the extra half day your child is attending school. In other words if your child goes to public kindergarten half day is free. If your child goes to public full day kindergarten and there’s the option of half day kindergarten it’s looked at financially as if your child is attending two half day kindergartens a day and you pay for the second.
I have heard countless accounts about how the public kindergartens in our town work. Ultimately I just need to call the town and find out what exactly is going on and more importantly if anything requires me to stand in line at some obscene hour in the morning. It just leads me to wonder when my kids’ lives got more complicated than mine?
by Alex Elliot
Photo graciously provided by cafemama, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved
1 response so far ↓
STL Mom // Nov 22, 2008 at 9:25 am
My sympathies! I hope your challenges end once you get your child’s kindergarten placement settled. In our case, our daughter went to three different schools for kindergarten, first, and second grade as we tried to find the right fit. I would not wish that on anyone, parent or student.
I do recommend calling any school you are considering (public or private) and ask if they have a packet they can mail you with application forms and information about deadlines, open houses, etc. Then ask verbally about the finer points, like, “Should I get in line with a lawn chair at 5:00 a.m.?”
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