How can my sweet little girl be turning FIVE in a mere 11 days??
She is starting kindergarten for heaven's sake!
(Granted, she goes to montessori school where kindy is the culmination year of the pre-school program - so she's not changing classrooms or doing anything different this year from the last 2 years). Whew!
But still!
If we were like most school districts in Kansas and had full day kindy, I probably would have sent her to public school. We live one block from a great public elementary. However, half-day kindy is such a PITA for working parents. It's worth the extra money (ALOT of extra money) to keep her at Raintree for one more year.
I know some people are opposed to full-day kindy, but when your kid has been in full-day pre-school for 2 years it seems kind of ridiculous to cut back down to 3 hours a day. *Shameless brag ahead* Even though Jenna is about the youngest kindergartner there is (our cut-off is Sept 1), she is reading, doing math, has all 50 states memorized and can tell you more about mummies and volcanoes than any adult I know....she is definitely ready for full-day kindy.
After looking for a Suzuki piano teacher for the last several months, I finally found one and signed her up. And DH decided she needed to play soccer - so I prompted told him I'd be happy for him to take her to soccer on Saturday mornings - and he agreed! YAY for free Saturday mornings starting August 29th :)
One of the biggest pre-kid myths out there, in my opinion, has to do with working. Many women, myself included, naively believe that they'll take a few years off when their baby is born (or in my case cut back to part-time) and then once their child starts school, they'll go back to full-time work. This is BACKWARD. Childcare is so easy from birth - 5 years old. There are a plethora of great childcare options that operate year round from 7am - 6pm wand cater exclusively to the working parent. It's when they start school that childcare becomes hard. What's a working parent to do about Christmas Break, Spring Break and for heaven's sake, SUMMER! I refuse to put J in some kind of summer camp program all summer long for the next 10 summers until she's old enough to stay home alone.
I need to start looking for a school social work job ASAP. Must. Have. School. Calendar.
5 comments:
Aw! How exciting! I'm so not looking forward to the day Gabe starts kindergarten... it's just so unbelievable to me! I used to think the same thing - stay home until kindergarten and then find some sort of work to do when he goes to school. But I agree - that seems to present more problems than it solves! Good luck finding a "school calendar" job. In spite of my own public school teaching experience, I do think working with kids in the school setting can be very rewarding and a lot of fun.
I'm more of a fan of half day Kindergarten. But, only because I don't work. If I did, it would be a hassle for sure. it doesn't really matter, here, though. They only have whole day unless you want to pay an arm and a leg to send them to private for half day.
And, I'm with Heidi, not looking forward to Kindergarten. Its going to make me cry!
Dane is in preK this year and I'm hating every minute of it. Just the mention of the word kindergarten is enough to make me tear up a little.
I can't believe Jenna is turning 5! What a big (and smart!!) girl!
YAY! Jenna in kindergarten. It is so bittersweet! You are right about childcare though, that is one of the reasons I decided I would get a degree in Education, so I could be on the kid's schedule.
I cried the first day of school last year, and this year my 4-year-old will be going to pre-K three times a week - RIDING the bus! I am going to be very hard to console!
Awww, kudos to Jenna for almsot turning 5 and for being such a smarty. How awesome!
I soooo agree with your description of how childcare becomes more difficult as the child gets older, starts activities, etc. Most of the days Em and I have the same schedule. But there are times her private school schedule differs from mine, and then we're left scrambling to find child care for the day. :)
Post a Comment