The hunt, part two
First, I did finally hear back from Preschool #1, nearly first thing this morning. Unfortunately for them, they called as I was in the car driving to Preschool #2, and I recently learned how to ignore a call on my new cell phone, so that's what I did. No voicemail or email from them, however, and I didn't get a chance to call back today, so no idea what they would have said. My bad, entirely, and I should call them back, but....yeah, see, it comes back to the "but". I should take the higher ground, though, and at least call back or reach out with an email. (Is it bad that I'm thinking of it as "higher ground"? I mean, we're talking preschool here. Not world peace.)
Moving on:
Preschool #2 was a mixed bag. What was good was very good. What wasn't was...not so much.
Pros:
--Highly recommended. Every other person I asked about preschools mentioned this one.
--Teachers are well educated - all have training in education, many have master's degrees, most of the rest are working toward them.
--Teachers are cheerful, enthusiastic, energetic.
--Classes are ethnically diverse - mostly. I mean, we're still talking a majority of white kids, but Andrew wouldn't be the only black kid there.
--They get the whole speech delay thing - and they're willing to work with him on it.
--They do gymnastics and yoga and soccer programs, and there's no televisions or computers in the classrooms. They have a LIBRARY, and the County library truck comes back once a week and the older kids can check out books. And Andrew loved the visit, he threw a fit when it was time to go.
Cons:
--It's a hike. Seriously, we're talking at least 30 minutes, if not 40, in the car, one-way.
--The teachers are all young. Like, younger than me young, and granted I'm not a spring chicken, but... while that's good that they can keep up with toddlers, it does mean they don't have a lot of experience.
--He'd only have two years before he ages out of the school, and we might be here for three, which means he'd have to transfer schools for kindergarten for a single year before we go somewhere else. I know that's not too big of a deal - lots of kids go to a different school every year for a while. There was a little girl in Egypt who went to seven preschools in three years. But remember, Andrew's not big into change, and we thought it might be better if he can stick in the same place for all three, if it's an option (and it is, at some schools).
--Enforced naptimes. Well...when I say "enforced", I don't mean they're holding him down and applying chloroform. I mean that he has to remain on his mat for the entire nap period, reading quietly. Also, naptime is two-and-a-half-hours long. Let's all laugh together about that one, shall we?
So, some pretty major pros, and some pretty major cons, and I'm not sure that the cons don't outweigh the pros.
Tomorrow is Preschool #3 and speech therapy, and Friday is Preschools 4 and 5. Very full days. Very tired toddler at the end of them. Very strung out momma. I might need to invest in some Bailey's. And chloroform. I'm not sure which one is for me and which is for Andrew.