Preschool woes
So I don't know who's been keeping up, but back in FEBRUARY! we signed Emma up for the public pre-k in Athens-Clarke county. Yes, early registration was months ago. We received a letter the first week of May telling us that Emma was on the waiting list and they'd call us when a slot opened. I'd been home from the hospital for a week, so I just waited. May came and went. June came and went. At the start of July I started wondering if we'd been forgotten.
I talked to another mom at storytime who said her daughter was also on the waiting list. She talked to the school district and moved her daughter from one waiting list to another. She also went ahead and put her daughter in a lottery funded pre-k slot in a private daycare. Most of the daycares in town have a limited number of these slots and if you put your child in them, the government foots the bill for the private pre-k. Next year for kindergarten she'll just sign up again and be on the list to transfer schools.
Right around my birthday I went down to the main ACC schools offices (BOE?). I went in and asked if I could find out where Emma was on the waiting list. She was number 6 for Barrow Elementary (the best elementary school in town). I asked how long the waiting list was at Chast St (our neighborhood school) and was told 32. So if I moved her to Chase, she'd have to wait for 32 kids not to go before she could go. I was told if I had more questions to contact the pre-k department at T H Edwards (a school behind Autozone on West Broad-bet you didn't know about it!). I went down there and asked them what my options were. Would it be likely at all that she gets into Barrow? Should I move her? They told me that they recently received funding to open two more classes, one at Cleaveland Rd and one at T H Edwards. Cleaveland wasn't in my attendance area, but Edwards was. There were 7 kids on the waiting list for those openings and they expected at least those kids to take the slots in the 20 student class. I went to T H Edwards last Tuesday after calling them last Monday.
This past Tuesday I call them again just after 5pm, thinking I'll just leave a message. But a person answered and I asked again what number she was and I asked about the class at T H Edwards. She said that Emma was still number 6 for Barrow and there was only one opening left at Edwards. Wow. So then it came down to sending Emma to pre-k at all. As much as we hated to lose our place in line at the best school we switched. Now we get to go through this hell again next summer when we sign her up for kindergarten in Feb!
I went Wednesday to meet the teacher. It had been offered when I called to switch early Wed morning. I called before 8 and was again surprised at the hours! Emma was horrible. She cried and whined the entire time we were there. I really like the teacher. She showed me around and told me a bit about the schedule. I was apparently the first parent out of the 20 students in the class to actually come down to the school to meet her. School started on Thursday, but this class will start about a week late next Wednesday because of the last minute funding. Despite the last minute thing, she had a pretty nice set up of the classroom.
I'm having bittersweet feelings about this. I always knew she'd eventually have to go to school. Obviously, I want the best for her. Plus, had we stuck it out for Barrow and gotten in, then Alex would be going to Barrow for kindergarten...they don't send siblings to different schools. I'm really glad that we signed her up. After we left the teacher, she cheered up a bit and told me she was so upset because there weren't any other children there. I guess that makes sense. Then I told her about the fun stuff she could do, and maybe taking the bus (it'll just be pre-k so I feel a bit more comfortable about it). Still it's going to be weird with her at school.
Oh, the best part is the schedule. Apparently now, they start the school day so early that the students have breakfast AND lunch at school. They get dropped off and are allowed to play in a huge indoor playroom until school starts and they get divided up into their classes. Then they go to the cafeteria for breakfast, which we can buy for her or send with her. After that they do activities. Then they have lunch. Then it's naptime/snack time and they're pretty much ready to go home. The school day starts at 7.30am! and ends at 2.30pm (ok).
Finally, I'm left with a shit ton of free time. I noticed (a bit too late) that I revolved my whole week around Emma. Mondays we didn't do much, but hung out at home. Tuesdays was storytime, Wednesday was storytime and the grocery store. Thursdays would be speech therapy. Fridays we used to do gaming or sometimes just go to the park or hang out. She takes up a lot of my time when she's at home and I have no clue what to do with this newfound free time. Chris obviously says I should just use it to clean the house! Alex will be taking up more and more of my time as he gets bigger, but until he starts the fun sitting up or crawling stuff, I'm not sure what to do.
Almost everyone I knew at UGA has left. There are very few of you left in Athens (and that's ok-we chose to stay). I'm making new friends, but sometimes it feels like cheating. I've had great luck though. Anyone know Mark Helwig-an artist at D*C? I met his wife at my breastfeeding group. They have a 5 year old and a baby that's 6 weeks old. I also met a family at the library who were stand out gamers (dad was in a utili-kilt, Firefly shirt and had anime pins on his camera strap). Their daughter turns 4 in October. She and Emma hit it off two weeks ago at storytime. There are also some of the moms I met at my breastfeeding group. I'll also have more time to check out Full Bloom, a parenting store on Gaines School Rd. One of the moms I met a long ways back at the nature center will be teaching babywearing there. Her son is 2 days younger than Emma. Granted the last two moms I mentioned are pretty tree-hugging hippie vegetarians...but still. Who can argue with a mom who's taken her daughter to Dragon*con every year since conception (she went while pg). Did anyone see a child Jawa last year? That was their girl! And while I'm not quite into the whole giving birth at home thing, I think I agree a lot with the mom's views on how female reproduction should be treated (it's NOT a disease folks!).
Sorry for the long rambling post. Short of it is, Emma goes to school and I'm super happy and crying my eyes out when she's in bed over it. I actually did back to school shopping for my child. That really hits home. There are some good things though. She might start going to bed before 10pm. She might actually EAT food. I can try serving her bento. Not sure on the school lunches. It's cheap ($1 for breakfast, $1.35 for lunch), but do the math...that's 2.35 a day and 7 days a week is $16.45 each week if she gets breakfast and lunch! I'll have to figure out if it's cheaper to send the meals than to buy them...probably is. Then again, I know the peer pressure to fit in and do what everyone else is doing, so I don't want her to feel weird if she has to bring her meals and everyone else is buying them.
Anyone want to comfort me? I really feel like shit. Like, if the depression continues for a few more weeks, I'll probably go see a dr. Good news-As of next Saturday it will have been one year since Alex was conceived. Bug me to put up new pics as he's huge now (14 lbs!).
I talked to another mom at storytime who said her daughter was also on the waiting list. She talked to the school district and moved her daughter from one waiting list to another. She also went ahead and put her daughter in a lottery funded pre-k slot in a private daycare. Most of the daycares in town have a limited number of these slots and if you put your child in them, the government foots the bill for the private pre-k. Next year for kindergarten she'll just sign up again and be on the list to transfer schools.
Right around my birthday I went down to the main ACC schools offices (BOE?). I went in and asked if I could find out where Emma was on the waiting list. She was number 6 for Barrow Elementary (the best elementary school in town). I asked how long the waiting list was at Chast St (our neighborhood school) and was told 32. So if I moved her to Chase, she'd have to wait for 32 kids not to go before she could go. I was told if I had more questions to contact the pre-k department at T H Edwards (a school behind Autozone on West Broad-bet you didn't know about it!). I went down there and asked them what my options were. Would it be likely at all that she gets into Barrow? Should I move her? They told me that they recently received funding to open two more classes, one at Cleaveland Rd and one at T H Edwards. Cleaveland wasn't in my attendance area, but Edwards was. There were 7 kids on the waiting list for those openings and they expected at least those kids to take the slots in the 20 student class. I went to T H Edwards last Tuesday after calling them last Monday.
This past Tuesday I call them again just after 5pm, thinking I'll just leave a message. But a person answered and I asked again what number she was and I asked about the class at T H Edwards. She said that Emma was still number 6 for Barrow and there was only one opening left at Edwards. Wow. So then it came down to sending Emma to pre-k at all. As much as we hated to lose our place in line at the best school we switched. Now we get to go through this hell again next summer when we sign her up for kindergarten in Feb!
I went Wednesday to meet the teacher. It had been offered when I called to switch early Wed morning. I called before 8 and was again surprised at the hours! Emma was horrible. She cried and whined the entire time we were there. I really like the teacher. She showed me around and told me a bit about the schedule. I was apparently the first parent out of the 20 students in the class to actually come down to the school to meet her. School started on Thursday, but this class will start about a week late next Wednesday because of the last minute funding. Despite the last minute thing, she had a pretty nice set up of the classroom.
I'm having bittersweet feelings about this. I always knew she'd eventually have to go to school. Obviously, I want the best for her. Plus, had we stuck it out for Barrow and gotten in, then Alex would be going to Barrow for kindergarten...they don't send siblings to different schools. I'm really glad that we signed her up. After we left the teacher, she cheered up a bit and told me she was so upset because there weren't any other children there. I guess that makes sense. Then I told her about the fun stuff she could do, and maybe taking the bus (it'll just be pre-k so I feel a bit more comfortable about it). Still it's going to be weird with her at school.
Oh, the best part is the schedule. Apparently now, they start the school day so early that the students have breakfast AND lunch at school. They get dropped off and are allowed to play in a huge indoor playroom until school starts and they get divided up into their classes. Then they go to the cafeteria for breakfast, which we can buy for her or send with her. After that they do activities. Then they have lunch. Then it's naptime/snack time and they're pretty much ready to go home. The school day starts at 7.30am! and ends at 2.30pm (ok).
Finally, I'm left with a shit ton of free time. I noticed (a bit too late) that I revolved my whole week around Emma. Mondays we didn't do much, but hung out at home. Tuesdays was storytime, Wednesday was storytime and the grocery store. Thursdays would be speech therapy. Fridays we used to do gaming or sometimes just go to the park or hang out. She takes up a lot of my time when she's at home and I have no clue what to do with this newfound free time. Chris obviously says I should just use it to clean the house! Alex will be taking up more and more of my time as he gets bigger, but until he starts the fun sitting up or crawling stuff, I'm not sure what to do.
Almost everyone I knew at UGA has left. There are very few of you left in Athens (and that's ok-we chose to stay). I'm making new friends, but sometimes it feels like cheating. I've had great luck though. Anyone know Mark Helwig-an artist at D*C? I met his wife at my breastfeeding group. They have a 5 year old and a baby that's 6 weeks old. I also met a family at the library who were stand out gamers (dad was in a utili-kilt, Firefly shirt and had anime pins on his camera strap). Their daughter turns 4 in October. She and Emma hit it off two weeks ago at storytime. There are also some of the moms I met at my breastfeeding group. I'll also have more time to check out Full Bloom, a parenting store on Gaines School Rd. One of the moms I met a long ways back at the nature center will be teaching babywearing there. Her son is 2 days younger than Emma. Granted the last two moms I mentioned are pretty tree-hugging hippie vegetarians...but still. Who can argue with a mom who's taken her daughter to Dragon*con every year since conception (she went while pg). Did anyone see a child Jawa last year? That was their girl! And while I'm not quite into the whole giving birth at home thing, I think I agree a lot with the mom's views on how female reproduction should be treated (it's NOT a disease folks!).
Sorry for the long rambling post. Short of it is, Emma goes to school and I'm super happy and crying my eyes out when she's in bed over it. I actually did back to school shopping for my child. That really hits home. There are some good things though. She might start going to bed before 10pm. She might actually EAT food. I can try serving her bento. Not sure on the school lunches. It's cheap ($1 for breakfast, $1.35 for lunch), but do the math...that's 2.35 a day and 7 days a week is $16.45 each week if she gets breakfast and lunch! I'll have to figure out if it's cheaper to send the meals than to buy them...probably is. Then again, I know the peer pressure to fit in and do what everyone else is doing, so I don't want her to feel weird if she has to bring her meals and everyone else is buying them.
Anyone want to comfort me? I really feel like shit. Like, if the depression continues for a few more weeks, I'll probably go see a dr. Good news-As of next Saturday it will have been one year since Alex was conceived. Bug me to put up new pics as he's huge now (14 lbs!).