This is the first year that I’ve had to deal with the whole “Back to School” craze. Though he’s not officially in school yet, we did decide to put Zach in preschool this year. Since he’s been at a home daycare for the last year or so, he needed a few supplies. He already had a backpack, but we bought a brand new cars lunch box and thermos, some new tubs for his cubby spaces, a few new shirts, underwear and socks. You know, all of the essentials.
Yesterday was Zach’s first day at his new preschool. I had a really hard time deciding where to take him. I wanted a balance of convenience (because he and Evie now have two separate drop-offs/pick-ups), cleanliness, friendly teachers, and a good curriculum. It doesn’t help that my sister is an amazing preschool teacher, but is too far away to enroll Zach where she teaches. I ended up enrolling him in a church preschool/day care just down the street from the home day care that Evie attends. He’ll stay there all day, Monday through Friday so I don’t have to worry about any half-day transportation issues.
Zach has been ready for preschool for a long time. I’m the one that has been dragging my feet on it. He really should have been in last year but I liked having both kids at the same place. Over the last six months or so he has been begging me to let him go to school. When we went and visited, he jumped right in with the other kids. He is going to LOVE it, at least until that honeymoon period wears off.
I am just hoping that I picked the right place. There are things I love about this school and a few that I don’t like about it. It will take some time to adjust for both of us. It will take time to make sure that he fits in, that he likes it. It will take time to see if the concessions I made on curriculum are made up for by the friendly teachers and convenience. It will take time to get used to the new morning/evening routine, packing lunches, and getting out of bed earlier.
The scary part is knowing that I have to start this process all over again in a few short months to figure out where the kid is going to go for kindergarten. Unless we are able to move before then, we may be looking at private school which is a whole other world of scary!
