It's Black Friday, It's A Rock Concert, It's...Preschool?

Ever since Mother Hen's* first day of preschool I knew exactly where I wanted Snug to go. Here in the great state of Ohio if your child does not attend preschool, it is like they are jumping directly into first grade when they enter kindergarten. Gone are the days of milk and cookies, games and rhymes, recess and socialization. Not that NONE of that is EVER included, but most of it, on a daily basis, has been removed. In fact, when I taught kindergarten a few years ago, I got reprimanded for taking my class out for 15 minutes each morning to the playground. Seriously? Yes. There are many many great kindergarten teachers out there who strive to keep kindergarten a "simple" and a positive experience, but the state pushes kids level hard. It also depends on if the school runs a half day or whole day program how much "traditional kindergarten" is still present.

Anyway, I took Mother Hen for her first day of school and from the moment I walked in I knew it was a good school. I guess having an early childhood education degree would help in knowing what practices are good and what are not, but almost everything I experienced with her that year was very positive.
Can you believe this boy is going to preschool? More specifically he will be in pre-kindergarten. Monday was "In-house" registration. We know several families who have their children there/have had their children there and knew that most of the openings for pre-kindergarten and preschool (3 year olds) would be filled in-house (students or families currently attending this year). We also had the heads up that if we wanted a spot, any spot for next year I would need to be there at least 2 hours before registration opened today.

You heard me. Two hours. I was at the school at 6:00am to make sure that Snug got in. I was the first one there, but only by 5 minutes. By 6:30 am everyone who was going to get their child into the pre-k program was already there. This morning there were only 6 spots left to be filled, and only for 2 day, no 3 day programs. We only wanted 2 days a week as preschool is not cheap and I do lots with the kids at home and plan to continue that. Both Snug and Little M (who is part of Draycare) will be in the same class/same day. Whew! I don't think I wanted to be driving there 5 days a week.

It seriously reminded me of people standing in line outside of Target on black Friday for electronics deals, or waiting in massive long lines to get tickets to a concert (I've never actually done that though). But nope, it was preschool! Luckily people were very honest about when they arrived and we all sat in our cars until 15 min. before registration opened. I think that is a benefit of a Christian preschool.

I also wanted to share this picture from last night. The boys were being very lovey on each other, and it was so sweet. You know, until one tipped the other one over. Any guesses who has that power?

*Mother Hen was a little girl I used to have at Draycare. She is in school full time now and we all miss her a lot.