I've been thinking a lot about preschool lately. Truth be told, I've been thinking about preschool since Alex was a fetus. I want to put Alex in a preschool program this fall. He'll be three in September. But I have some concerns. I'd always planned to put Alex in public school starting in Kindergarten. One of the reasons we live where we do, particularly the neighborhood we do, is that I like the schools. They are the schools I attended and they're some of the best schools in our district, which is the best district in the valley. The problem you ask? Well, Alex is going to miss the Kindergarten age cutoff by 23 days. Requiring him to twiddle his thumbs for an entire year before he can start school less than a month from turning six. If I put him in preschool this fall, he'll have gone through THREE YEARS of preschool.
Now, if Alex isn't ready to start Kindergarten when he's five, fine. I'd hold him back if it were the best thing for him. But what if he is ready? Why should he have to be held back just because of his birthdate? Both John and I are uncomfortable with this. Luckily we have an option, unfortunately, it's expensive. Starting him in a private school beginning in preschool. I suppose we'd have two options if we didn't have any moral dilemma with fudging Alex's birthdate on his birth certificate.
I went to a private school until second grade and was able to start school early despite my birthday being a full two months past the cutoff date. We do have the option of putting Alex in the school I went to, but it's crazy expensive and, in my opinion, too academic for my taste in preschool.
There is another option for private school that is a little more affordable, and that's at a private Christian school located in a Methodist church. I've heard nothing but great things about their programs and they're quite a bit more affordable. I have to admit, however, that having Alex attend a Christian school isn't quite my ideal as an agnostic mother. When I first mentioned it to John he dismissed it immediately. My real concern is the last bullet point in the school's preschool curriculum stating: Introduce Biblical concepts into daily classroom life. While I'm not at all opposed to my child learning about the Bible and other religious texts, I'm VERY uncomfortable with him learning about them in a school setting, particularly if the Bible will be the only religious text discussed. I'm not trying to raise an atheist child or a Christian child here. I'm trying to raise a curious, open-minded child who will have the ability to make his own choices when it comes to religion and spirituality (or lack there of). Being taught about the Bible as a factual historical text in school will not accomplish that. I feel it would only complicate things for him. Especially if he's being taught this stuff at the age of three.
Even though I have concerns, it is a great program and has come highly recommended by several mothers I've talked to. GAH! What to do? Go broke for the highly academic preschool? Initiate discussions about other religions and beliefs at home with Alex to offset the "Sunday school" aspect of the Christian school? Bag the whole private school thing and let him have three years of an affordable and religion-free preschool and be the biggest, oldest kid in his Kindergarten class? Home school?
I don't know. Maybe I don't need to worry about it this year. Maybe I should just put him in a fun, lightly structured, affordable pre-preschool program this year and worry about all this next year. But then I talk to other mothers and learn about year long waiting lists and worry that I should have started this process LAST year.
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