First off, for those of you who read my post yesterday, I added a quote and few clarifying thoughts to the bottom of it this morning that most of you probably missed. Please check it out! To be clear, I can’t stand the term “free-range” when used as a descriptor for parenting choices and our children, and I’m not judging if you ARE a more cautious parent. I’m just often surprised at the fact that I am not, and I was curious as to why people’s feelings vary so widely on this topic!
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At any rate, this morning I got an alert on my phone: Pre-school registration – 8am.
Eek! How is this happening already?
Our little town has one, maybe two options for pre-school. There is a public pre-school, which is thankfully pretty awesome, and a Montessori pre-k, though they aren’t for sure reopening in the fall because of funding issues. The public school has 23 available full time spots, and I’m guessing because people are unsure of the fate of the Montessori school, as of last week the public pre-k already knew of 27 interested families, so you can bet your bottom dollar that we were there early today!
Beginning August 31st, Stella will be going to school 5 days a week from 8am-3:25pm. Wednesday (which happens to usually be my day off) is early release day at 2:20, which works out perfectly for me to get a little extra time with her on those afternoons. Our nanny is going to charge us a very small amount to watch Stella from 4pm-5:30pm the other days (she will be able to ride the bus home and get dropped off about 1 block from our house). The deposit was a whopping $20 “supply fee” which is actually refundable, so it was a no-brainer to get her signed up, even if we end up changing our minds come fall for some crazy reason.
That being said, we are pretty set on the public school at this point. It’s a fantastic school (which we are SO thankful for!), and it has a bus system, which is pretty key with 2 working parents with inflexible work schedules. She can get on the bus in the morning and ride it home in the afternoon with just a 1 block walk. Also, the public pre-k is $25/day ($500/mo) and the Montessori is closer to $850/month, which is a drastic difference that we just can’t justify (or afford) right now.
So yeah… registration went off without a hitch this morning, and in fact we were the very first people there. Between Stella’s excitement to go to school and my desire to ensure she got a spot for the fall, we were there 15 minutes before registration opened, and Stella used that time to check out the cafeteria and make a few friends.
After all was said and done, the only tears that were shed this morning were by Stella – she was upset she didn’t get to ride the bus and that she couldn’t start school right away today!
Yay! So glad you didn’t have any issues and she’s all registered. Such a big step!
You are just going to force me to write all the posts that have been in my head taunting me lately 🙂
Anyway, so exciting!!!! I can’t wait to hear about Stella’s adventures at school and on the bus.
$500 a month for public school? Holy crap! We pay $200 right now and pre -k is free in Iowa for 4 year olds, even in private schools (we’re private for now) – the state pays your pre-k tuition at approved private schools affiliated with the public school. I knew we were lucky, but I had no idea! Montessori here is $7k a year… Not worth it to us for preschool since neither the public or private elementary schools of our choice are Montessori.
Congrats on getting that decided! That’s a huge relief, isn’t it?
K-12 is free at the public school, but because the state doesn’t require pre-school, it’s charged for. $500/month, no summer program. Montessori is )10k/yr with summer programs. Problem is we would also have to pay for after school care in addition to the $10k!
How exciting! I have 1 in elementary now, 2 in preschool and the baby. Time flies!
I had to say my daughter also has that EXACT dress the little girl in the pic has on with the bow in her hair. I have 1 girl and 3 boys and she is a tomboy all the way except for the clothes! 😉
Man, I so wish you blogged b/c I’ve been hearing about your kids for years! You should send me a pic of your fam via email some day so I can put faces to stories. 🙂
Sure! I will try and remember to do that this week lol. My third will be 3 tomorrow sob 🙁 And my little guy is just a few wks younger than Harvey. It’s so weird to finally not be actively trying for another!
So cute. Stella is tall! How does pre-k work? Is there 1 year of kindergarten after pre-K or 2?
She is super tall for sure – always 95th percentile or so. It was hard when she was 2 b/c she was the height of most of the 4 year olds and people tended to expect more of her for that reason.
Pre-k you can start when you’re 3 by September 1st (She was 3 on December 8th last year)…. so she’s in that weird stage where she could either do 1 or 2 years of pre-k because you have to be 5 by September 1st for kindergarten. We have gone back and forth on if she’ll get bored with 2 yrs of pre-k, but she’s such a social kid and not getting as much of that since we got the Nanny, so for that reason alone I think it will be great for her. Plus – she’s a darn sponge, and writing names and such is so exciting for her – I figure there’s nothing hurt by extra work on her reading and writing and art and such!
Stella on a bus? Crazy!!!! The nanny would meet her at the stop right? She wouldn’t walk the one block? 🙂 just curious!
Is there a charge for all public preschools? Goodness I feel so incredibly behind in this… Sigh. Weren’t we just doing fertility treatments trying to get pregnant? And now I need to worry about preschools? Yikes!
I see my question was answered in comments. I need to do some research . Ugh. It’s been in my to do list for months. I need to get excited about it to get it done! Right now I feel like I just moved here to be a sahm, so why worry about preschool? She’ll be going the fall she is 3.5 as well.
Most pre-k’s I’ve heard of charge – definitely for private and often for public these days. I was surprised to read that Courtney’s didn’t!
Not sure about the bus stop. We’ll walk her there in the beginning I’m sure (and I guess the Nanny will load up Harvey and my friend’s baby who she will also be watching and go get her?), but I’m pretty sure we’ll let her walk the block alone after not too long. There is a girl who lives 3 doors down who is one year older than her who will be in her 2nd year of pre-k next year, so hopefully she can just walk her with (and I know her Mom walks with often b/c she’s a SAHM).
That would be ideal if she had a buddy! 🙂 she’s going to love preschool so much! Everleigh is tall too! Like nearly 37 inches. This is so foreign to me. I’ve ben a shorty my entire life. Like Harvey venture is shorter and has a much larger head than his big sis. So strange!
No way. How did this happen so fast?!? And a bus?!? Whoa!
(seriously, this stresses me out – because it reminds me we aren’t all that far behind you)
I hear preschool and think of what Chloe’s doing (2 days a week), but pre-k is a totally different ball game! That’s so exciting that you have it all lined up already. I bet she will love it! Such a big girl!
We are in the midst of this process, too. So exciting!! While the application process for pre-K in NYC is total effing madness (electronic lottery with competition akin to getting your kid into the Ivy League), once we get through it public pre-K in the city is free! After 4 years of paying for childcare here it is going to RAIN MONEY IN MY APARTMENT COME SEPTEMBER!
Oh man, I’m so jealous. Char and I were talking the other day – what the hell did we DO with all our money before daycare for 2 kids and a mortgage?! Oh ya, we drank and traveled. Ha!
It is madness! It’s really, really cool though that there are so many more great public programs than I dreamed there would be, at least in my neighborhood. The city is impressing me for once! They keep sending me emails telling me to apply, though, and I have a minor heart attack each time wondering if they have my application.
It’s awesome that Stella can be in am affordable pre-k program next year! Truth be told, though, that price tag for the Montessori school is mind-bogglingly low to me thanks to living in stupid-effing NYC. We’re going to pay $300 a month for after-care alone (x2 for both girls). Leila’s preschool is well over $1000/month without aftercare and after the 10% annual deposit has been paid, and that’s on the low end of cost for where we are (another program I visited charged $2100/month and I didn’t even dare consider the Montessori and Reggio Emilia schools). BUT pre-k is FREE now for everyone (not aftercare, but still). It’s seriously game changing! Bring on pre-k!
Also, even though free public pre-k is available here, there are still lots of parents who send their kids to pre-k (and elementary school) for up to around $40k/year. It BLOWS MY MIND. I have a colleague who is still paying on loans for elementary school for her kids who are now out of college.
Yeah, if we paid for 5d/wk aftercare it’d be about $300/month as well. We thankfully only have to pay for 3 days/week, so it’s not quite as bad. Blergh. Kids are expensive. It’s a good thing we love them. 😉
so exciting! I can’t believe our kiddos are this big!