my newest headspin

planning for preschool is C O M P L I C A T E D. i had no idea. i hadn't given a thought to preschool until 1) my sweet friend carrie posted on her blog about putting down a sizely deposit for preschool just a few months after her daughter turned two, and 2) a WDM representative came to speak to our parenting class about choosing preschools. as i listened to other parents talk about wait lists and tours and tuition, i had one of those "oh shit" moments where i wondered what planet i had been on to be so out-of-the-loop on this. i'm typically a pretty type-A person, so it's ironic that i hadn't even thought to begin looking into preschools for jack yet. since he's not potty trained yet, starting at age three was not an option, and since at this point we figure we'll wait until he turns six to begin kindergarten, there didn't seem to be a hurry.

i started looking into it and found that some preschools had already registered for NEXT fall's program, and others had waiting lists that were available since BIRTH (we're still in Iowa, right??) so i jumped into things fast and we visited eight preschools in two weeks. phew, my head is spinning. we liked the public montessori in des moines, but found that it has a year and a half wait list, and will be $5000 for the HALF day program. we were unprepared, to say the least, for that news. as it turns out, i'm glad we visited so many. although toward the end, they began to look alike, we were able to see the drastic differences between preschools, even in our area. and we ended up choosing one that we never would've imagined we would have chosen.

we were positive that we'd only look at preschools that were not located within churches. we are big fans, to say the least, of the separation of church and state, and it's partly on principle that we'd want our child to attend a preschool that does not interweave religious content into its curriculum. although i was a religion minor in college, and mike and i both have a long history of religious participation and exploration (we even met in a methodist church choir), we feel strongly that spirituality is a personal thing and best left to the private sphere. i want my boys to each answer life's big questions on their own, and come into their own belief systems, without recieving that external push from sunday school, or other types of religious instruction. this is not a popular approach to preschool in west des moines, where 90% of the preschools are inside christian churches and contain some sort of religious content. it's been a complicated decision for us, weighing factors of religious curriculum content against schedules, facilities, educational approaches, and location. we narrowed it down to two church preschools, ironically; one that does not include religious content in their preschool curriculum and one that does (through a snack-time prayer, and discussion of the christmas/easter stories, etc.)

at this point we are leaning toward the one that does have religious content because its facility, teachers, location, schedule, and availability are just downright better than our other top choice. i guess this is one of those parenting decisions where we have to prioritize what will be better for our children rather than what makes the most sense for our politics. i imagine this battle will never end.

still, i find myself irked for those families in this area who need a preschool, but whom are not christian. a jewish friend of mine sends her kids to a private school that used to be a jewish academy. it's nice she has that option, but many wouldn't-- it's about $10,000 a year for tution! what about the other jews/hindus/buddhists/pagans/agnostics/atheists who are searching for a good education for their young kids?

it appears i've now added universal preschool to my list of "wishes" for our country.