First day of Preschool

Nick and I were searching and praying to find a good preschool for G, who has been asking us since he was 3 "when can I go to school?"

We make just barely too much money for him to make the cut for Head Start (lots of poverty-level families in our community, even moreso since the recession hit). I was doing all I could think of to try and find an inexpensive alternative, but the only things I came across were daycares that offered preschool on the side, and that wasn't really what I wanted.

Then, we were traveling for a month and I had pretty much given up.

But when we got back just last weekend, my mother-in-law called me with some searching she had done. There was an open house yesterday for a little preschool run out of one of the local churches here. We went to the open house, liked the teacher, liked the curriculum. Though the curriculum is really of secondary priorty to me, as the biggest thing was to just give my son a place where he could learn more social skills, be in a more structured environment, which I think will be good for him as I am one of the least-structured people I know but I want him to learn it from somewhere.

Also, he just responds better in general to being taught by someone else other than me-- at least long-term. He'll learn things from me, sure, but as soon as I try to give him anything like a real lesson, he shuts off.

Anyway, he goes to school for 2 and a half hours, three days a week. And we're paying $150 a month. The teacher says she teaches letters, numbers, shapes, colors, patterning, rhyming and other word games (which I know G will love), and then hands-on stuff like crafts and science exploration.

She is a certified teacher, who in the past has taught kindergarten and first grade.

The class has up to twelve students. When I took G for his first day today, we found out the class is almost all boys, except for two girls. Those poor girls, haha.

He was being really nervous and moody yesterday about the whole thing, but this morning he finally seemed okay with everything. When I took him in this morning and waved goodbye, he was all smiles. He loves making new friends, and he was already introducing himself to the other kids when I left.

After I picked him up, we were driving home and I asked him about his day. I asked him if he learned any songs-- he said yes, but he couldn't remember any. I asked him if he'd made any new friends-- he said yes, but couldn't remember their names. He didn't remember his teacher's name.

Eventually, things started coming back to him and he divulged more details. He was a little disappointed that they didn't learn any letters; I told him that would start next week (today was more of a "get to know you" and orientation day). He was also disappointed that he didn't get to do a craft (though he did draw a picture-- scribble-- of a "pirate ship"). I asked him what toys he played with, and then he told me that he played with the "big legos," and that he and some other kids put on "suits." I'm assuming that means they played dress-up. He said his "suit" was red, and "it was a little too big."

All in all, it sounds like he had an okay first day. He's excited to go back on Monday. I hope he doesn't get too impatient over the weekend.

I am happy and thankful that we found this place. It should be really good for him.