Team Neurosis returns Pt. 1 (preschool)

I update sporadically with bits about Phoebe and Beckett and especially updated pictures, but Team Neurosis has been working overtime for the past few years and we haven’t really chronicled any of it. It might make us look like loons, but it’s who we are—and someone might benefit from the ridiculous amount of research we put into preschools, kindergartens, and home buying.

Clearly, we have finished all of those processes, but how did we get here…

It all started in the fall of 2007. We knew we had to begin considering preschools because registration happens any time between late November and early January the year before. We talked to our friends and read many online descriptions. We considered Montessori, but it seems that there are a lot of schools that claim to be Montessori, but are not really—so you have to be very discerning and know what you are looking for and realize that it is fairly expensive. We looked into the local neighborhood preschool, but some of our friend who went to the open house said that the teachers talked about wheeling out the television for t.v. time on certain days. Of course, I thought—if she’s going to watch T.V., she can do that at home. I want her to go to preschool to manipulate and play with things that I don’t necessarily have at home because I don’t have a school room full of children or a house with space for a large playroom full of simulated learning environments (that’s what preschools and children’s museums are for!) I also want her to go to preschool to continue to socialize with other children because she already spent two school years at day care where she had a daily routine and many friends and where she did many crafts and projects and spent hours doing free play. I wanted her to continue to have some of that two times a week for a couple of hours so that she wouldn’t lose those social skills and that enjoyment of spending time with friends and teachers outside of her house. I couldn’t wait to have the time at home with her, but I also knew that she would respond well to going to school two days a week because she was used to going five days already. I did not, however want any of those 2.5 hours spent watching T.V.—that seemed like worst idea any early childhood teacher could have considering the limited time they spend with the children. I also did not want them drilling letter memorization or doing worksheets. I wanted structured play time where most of the games also helped the children recognize important concepts. For Phoebe this would merely help her keep the things she knew in her head because she already knew her colors and her letters and many of her numbers. For Beckett, I imagine, preschool will play a larger role here since his language acquisition has been slower.